The Transformative Journey of the 18th Sakyadhita International Conference

by Pamela Ayo Yetunde| July 13, 2023

Lion’s Roar Associate Editor Pamela Ayo Yetunde reflects on her experience of joining a “worldwide sisterhood of liberation” at the 18th Sakyadhita International Conference in Seoul, S. Korea.

Tibetan Buddhist nun and professor of theology and religious studies, Dr. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, founder of Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women (Sakyadhita) and I have orbited each other for a few years in a few places for a few reasons. We’ve met at the American Academy of Religion in Denver, Colorado, the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Australia and Canada, the Lotsawa Translation Workshop at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and most recently at the 18thSakyadhita conference in Seoul, S. Korea. This time, I was able to be at the conference Lekshe (as she is affectionately known) envisioned over 36 years ago and be with 3,000 of the Buddha’s “daughters,” which meant being with my adopted long lost sisters. Now, I’ve had that transformative experience of what U.S. Soto Zen priest, author, and quilter Judith Ragir wanted me to have in my life when she gave me a small quilt she made – an experience of feeling Indra’s Net. So what am I to do with this unexpected feeling Ragir prophesied for me?

Buddhist women are getting the job done of respecting, uplifting, and empowering women.

I flew all the way to Seoul from Chicago to simply offer a workshop, share my project with this yet-to-be-experienced international Buddhist nun’s organization, lead a meditation in English with a Korean translator, see Lekshe again, meet a few people, go to a few workshops, then come home largely unchanged — or so I thought. The dakini’s joke was on me! I came back home with the vibrations of the 14-hour roar of a jet and thousands of lionesses’ chanting voices all mixed together, possessing me with fierce and collective dakini-spirit that was simultaneously draining and rejuvenating at the same time. I’ve had to bring my equanimity practices to the forefront to remain stable as I feel myself in the net — to better reflect what I experienced in Seoul and to respond appropriately.

More than 5,000 people attended the opening ceremony, with 3,000 people registered for the conference. Every day the conference began with meditation in the Bongeunsa temple, followed by breakfast prepared by some of the most renowned temple chefs in S. Korea. Breakfast was followed by paper presentations at the COEX conference center by women (and a few men presenting on behalf of absent women) all over the world facing challenges and obstacles I’m sure many people would find absolutely discouraging – but these presentations were inspiring because Buddhist women are getting the job done of respecting, uplifting, and empowering women. The morning presentation papers were followed by lunch, then another plenary followed by a tea break, another plenary, chanting, then a practice-oriented or cultural program.

Many people went to the Jinkwansa temple after the extraordinary closing session where I truly felt my unique place in Sakyadhita’s international web of connections. At this session, each person was invited to join a discussion group so as a pastoral counselor, I joined the one called “Buddhists Responses to Loss and Grief.” The questions posed in that group regarding the value of religious care vs. spiritual care and when is one more appropriate than the other, what pain is greater fear of loss or loss itself, what Buddhist practices help soften the blow of our existential experiences, etc., led me to feel there is the possibility of an ongoing connection and relationship, from my social location as a Black lay woman in the U.S., with Buddhist women worldwide, and after the years-long isolation and alienation from the COVID-19 pandemic, I doubt I could feel Indra’s Net more than I do right now.

Being in Lekshe’s orbit and watching the hundreds of nuns flocking to her to be photographed with her, has been a fascinating criss-cross of a journey of observing a great living Buddhist teacher in action, one of the biggest Buddhist blessings of my life. Certainly she has not done this work alone, for Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, another great living Buddhist nun, who I met for the first time, has been instrumental in building Sakyadhita. Lekshe and Tenzin have not done this work alone. Charlotte Collins introduced me to Sakyadhita USA about seven years ago, and there are many women involved in the U.S. chapter. My hope for all Buddhist women is that they will consider attending a Sakyadhita conference to know what it feels like to be in a worldwide sisterhood of liberation. There’s no time like to present to being planning to attend the 19th conference, which will be held in Malaysia in 2025.