Upcoming Events
San Francisco Zen Center
Join us for an illuminating online session with two remarkable voices, authors Paula Arai and Ruth Ozeki. This event will dive deep into the transformative power of rituals and their role in healing, drawing its essence from Paula’s latest book, The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love.
November 18, 2023 / 2:00pm - 3:30pm (PST) online
Numata Symposium
October 6, 2023, 19-5 pm (Pacific)/In-Person & Online
This day-long symposium will bring together 18 contributors to explore themes from the 2022 publication, co-edited by IBS faculty member Paula Arai and Kevin Trainor of the University of Vermont. The handbook explores transformational practices that require practitioners to move, gesture, and emote in prescribed ways, including the ways that scholars’ own embodied practices are integral to their research methodology.
Recent Events
August 28 FREE IN-STORE EVENT: Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Paula Arai for a reading and signing of The Little Book of Zen Healing, her new book which is filled with accessible and adaptable Japanese Buddhist rituals to infuse your life with purpose, healing, and gratitude when you need it most.
Past Events
Blue Beryl podcast, “Healing Buddhist Studies (with Paula Arai). Dr. Pierce Salguero & Dr. Lin Li, April 5, 2023.
https://blueberyl.buzzsprout.com/2044347/12598066-6-healing-buddhist-studies-with-paula-arai
“Dharma and Justice Dialogues: Integrating Grief as Social Justice Work,” Virtual Conversation,
Union Theological Seminary, March 2, 2023. https://utsnyc.edu/event/dharma-and-justice-liberatory-rituals-for-integrating-grief/
Curator: “Painting Enlightenment: Experiencing Wisdom and Compassion Through Art and Science.” Morikami Museum, Delray Beach, FL, May 8-March 27, 2022. https://morikami.org/archives/painting-enlightenment/
“The Transformative Power of Ritual and Ceremony in Buddhist Practice,” conversation with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, Insight Meditation Center, April 2022.
Keynote: “Giving and Receiving: Buddhist Women’s Past, Present, and Future,” Federation of
Buddhist Women’s Association, Oct. 14, 2022.
“Blossoming in the Mud: Healing Practices of Japanese Buddhist Women,” The Ho Center for
Buddhist Studies at Stanford University, Oct. 14, 2021.
“Conversation with Pico Iyer and Paula Arai,” Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India and Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, June 10, 2021.
“The Role of the Intellect in the Buddhist Tradition: How Visual Scripture Illuminates and Heals
the Buddhist Mind,” Faiths in Conversation, Dallas (virtual), March 2, 2020.
“Contemplative Practice of Sutra Copying: Visual Scripture for our Times,” American Academy of Religion National Conference, Boston, Nov. 2020.
“Painting Emptiness: Healing Viewed Through Microscopic and Telescopic Lenses Focused on the Heart Sutra,” American Academy of Religion National Conference, San Diego, Nov. 25, 2019.
Keynote: “Healing Art: Seeing the Female Heart of Wisdom and Compassion” 16th Sakyadhita International Conference, Blue Mountains, Australia, June 23-28, 2019.
Workshop: “Bringing Zen Home: Domestic Buddhist Practice in Everyday Life,” Jikoji, Los Gatos, CA (virtual), July 16-18, 2021.
Workshop: “The Healing Power of Everyday Activities in the Time of Covid-19,” Kannon-do, Mountain View (8/2020); Great Spirit Sangha, San Francisco (12/2020)
Workshop: “Brushing the Heart: Heart Sutra Copying,” Nalanda of the West, Seattle (3/2019); Crow Collection of Asian Art (3/2017); Austin College (3/2017).