Welcome from Ji Hyang

Creating the World Around Us

Buddhism is a practice and a path which come out of an appreciation of interdependence. In Buddhist tradition, our way of speaking this connection is “Om Mani Padme Hum”, may the jewel be within the lotus; may the mind may be within the heart.

To create space in higher education for a connection between the student’s self- reflective awareness and the world around them is, as Kabat- Zinn mentioned in his visionary talk last spring, to create a new Renaissance. Here at Wellesley College, I work to bring about that Renaissance through our practice community, as well as through Education as Transformation, a movement founded on the principle that education is inherently a spiritual process. Our field of spirituality and education is expanding and developing with such creativity and energy, and the ability to make these connections so necessary in the twenty-first century-- that it calls me to deepen my own experience and to get to know myself better. Like aspens in a forest, which seem separate trees but are actually connected at the roots--the more we all deepen our insight and compassion, the more we may serve as catalysts, to bring about a more interdependent and awakened world.

So--may we be instruments of this awareness, may we together awaken, may all beings have deep and natural peace.

In the Dharma,
Ji Hyang Padma
Buddhist Advisor