To Explore the Divine Feminine
Vision
To gather a group of 5 leaders, 7 facilitators, and 28+ practitioners from a variety of traditions and cultural backgrounds to empower each other and create connections that ripple outward and inward for years to come.
Project Questions
- What is the divine feminine? How can we manifest what we cannot see?
- What internalized oppression do women in leadership experience?
- What is the denied feminine? What is the twisted masculine? How do we embody patriarchy?
- How are the five wisdom energies a pedagogy for leadership?
Project Goals
To fully awaken, we need to:
- Recognize internalized oppression and embodied patriarchy
- Explore the power of divine feminine
- Identify feminine power and leadership structures within Buddhist teachings
- Articulate Buddhist pedagogies that reflect the sacred feminine and untwisted masculine.
Teaching Team
- Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Casting Indra’s Net: Fostering Spiritual Kinship and Community (2023)
- Ilia Shinko Perez, The Zen Priestess and the Snake: A Woman's Path of Transformation and Healing Through Rediscovery of the Great Mother Tradition (2020)
- Hsiao-Lan Hu, This-Worldly Nibbāna: A Buddhist-Feminist Social Ethic for Peacemaking in the Global Community (2011)
- Sister Clear Grace Dayananda,“Traveling Nunk,” presently
- Thanissara, Time to Stand Up: An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth (2015)
Schedule
Part 1: Why We Are Here? - Weaving Our Divine Energies
Aug 7, 2024 — Wed @7 - 8:30 pm PST
(hybrid: zoom and in-person (ZCLA))
Aug 8-10 — Thu, Fri, Sat @ 3-6 pm PST
(hybrid: zoom and in-person)
Part 2: Exploring the Project Questions
Aug 20-Nov 29 — Tue @ 5-7 pm PST
(zoom only)
Part 3: Manifesting the Sacred Feminine
Jan 10-11, 2025 — Fri, Sat @ 3-5 pm PST
(hybrid: zoom and in-person (ZCLA))
Open to women, nonbinary, and transgender individuals.
For more information, please contact: Dr. Jitsujo Gauthier <JitsujoG@UWEST.EDU>
The course is made possible by a grant from the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation. University of the West in collaboration with the Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA).