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Enlightened in One Lifetime; Ganden Mahamudra Oral Tradition Masters with Dr. Jan Willis
May 10 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Enlightened in One Lifetime; Ganden Mahamudra Oral Tradition Masters with Dr. Jan Willis
In this talk, Professor Jan Willis, Emerita of Religion at Wesleyan University and scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism for over fifty years, will focus on the rnam thar (sacred biographies) of six of the earliest Ear-Whispered lineage-holders of the Ganden Mahamudra Oral Tradition, narrating the lives of the earliest Geluk practice-lineage masters.
Open to all; registration required (note: We offer a monastics/staff “dana according to my means now/ at door option” for every event, please email program@maitripa.org to register for this option”)
Jan Willis (BA and MA in Philosophy from Cornell University; PhD in Indic and Buddhist Studies from Columbia University) is Professor of Religion Emerita at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She has studied with Tibetan Buddhists in India, Nepal, Switzerland, and the U.S. for five decades, and has taught courses in Buddhism for over fifty years. She is the author of The Diamond Light: An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation (1972), On Knowing Reality: The Tattvartha Chapter of Asanga’s Bodhisattvabhumi (1979), Enlightened Beings: Life Stories from the Ganden Oral Tradition (1995); and the editor of Feminine Ground: Essays on Women and Tibet (1989). Additionally, Willis has published numerous articles and essays on various topics in Buddhism—Buddhist meditation, hagiography, women and Buddhism, and Buddhism and race. In 2001, her memoir, Dreaming Me: An African American Woman’s Spiritual Journey was published, and in 2008, it was re-issued by Wisdom Publications as Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist—One Woman’s Spiritual Journey.
In December of 2000, TIME magazine named Willis one of six “spiritual innovators for the new millennium.” In 2003, she was a recipient of Wesleyan University’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Newsweek magazine’s “Spirituality in America” issue in 2005 included a profile of Willis, and Ebony magazine in 2007 named Willis one of its “Power 150” most influential African Americans.
In October and November of 2012, Jan spent seven weeks in a Buddhist nunnery in Thailand and, in September of 2013, she walked the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. In April of 2020, her book Dharma Matters: Women, Race, and Tantra–Collected Essays by Jan Willis appeared. >MORE
About the Maitripa College Buddhist Scholar-Practitioner Speaker Series, Spring 2025
Maitripa College presents a series of talks by esteemed Buddhist scholar-practitioners who will share their decades of scholarship and meditation for today’s audiences. This spring, we explore lineages of philosophers and meditators who have developed methods for investigating the nature of mind, with a particular focus on mahamudra. We are grateful to the accomplished Buddhist Studies professors and friends of Maitripa College who will present talks in person and online, and we invite you to please join us for learning, insight, and dialogue!
Talks in the Series:
February 26: Buddhist Scholar-Practitioner Speaker Series: The Tantric Songs of Atiśa with Patrick Lambelet, PhD
April 26: Saraha Has Stretched His Bow: The Life and Teachings of a Tantric Poet with Roger Jackson, PhD
May 10: Enlightened in One Lifetime; Ganden Mahamudra Oral Tradition Masters with Dr. Jan Willis, PhD