Women and the Dharma

Two Buddhist leaders, one Tibetan Buddhist and one Zen Buddhist, talk about their roles, approaches and experiences as women practicing the Dharma.
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmoleft her native England for India in 1964, and at the age of twenty was one of the first Westerners to be ordained as a Buddhist nun. Vicki Mackenzie’s international bestseller Cave in the Snow chronicles her twelve years of seclusion and meditation practice in a remote cave in the Himalayas. During more than forty years of Buddhist practice, she has witnessed how women are neglected in spiritual communities and often forbidden to receive the highest teachings. Deeply concerned with the plight of Buddhist nuns, she established the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in 2000 in northern India. A residential and academic center, the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery is a visionary new model for the spiritual training of young women. Jetsunma is the author of Reflections on a Mountain Lake. Hernew book, Into the Heart of Life, has just been released by Snow Lion Publications.
Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara is a Zen priest and certified Zen teacher in the Soto tradition. She studied with John Daido Loori Roshi of Zen Mountain Monastery and Taizan Maezumi Roshi of the Zen Center of Los Angeles/Zen Mountain Center. She is a Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order and is the Abbot of Dotoku-ji /Village Zendo. Having received Dharma transmission in both the Soto and Rinzai lines of Zen Buddhism through the White Plum Lineage, her focus is on the expression of Zen through caring, service, and creative response to the dying.