Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course
With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan
Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.
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Leaders
Dr. Nicole Willock
Nicole Willock is an associate professor of Asian Religions at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Translating from Tibetan and Chinese languages, her research focuses on the intersections of Tibetan literature, especially poetics, and intellectual history. She is the recipient of FLAS fellowships, the Fulbright-Hays DDRA, and the American Council of Learned Societies’ (ACLS) Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Research Fellowship in Buddhist Studies. Her articles include “Thu’u bkwan’s Literary Adaptations of the Life of Dgongs pa rab gsal” (2014); “Maps and Territory in the 1950s: The Writing of the Dan tig dkar chag—A Guide to Dan tig Monastery,” (2016) and “‘Avadāna of Silver Flowers:’ A Discussion…
Learn more about Dr. Nicole Willock
Nicole Willock is an associate professor of Asian Religions at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Translating from Tibetan and Chinese languages, her research focuses on the intersections of Tibetan literature, especially poetics, and intellectual history. She is the recipient of FLAS fellowships, the Fulbright-Hays DDRA, and the American Council of Learned Societies’ (ACLS) Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Research Fellowship in Buddhist Studies. Her articles include “Thu’u bkwan’s Literary Adaptations of the Life of Dgongs pa rab gsal” (2014); “Maps and Territory in the 1950s: The Writing of the Dan tig dkar chag—A Guide to Dan tig Monastery,” (2016) and “‘Avadāna of Silver Flowers:’ A Discussion…
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Julie Regan, Ph.D.
Dr. Julie Regan was first introduced to Asian religions as an undergraduate student of Comparative Literature at Brown University, where she subsequently earned her MFA in Literary Arts. After several years devoted to writing fiction and plays, and teaching writing, she decided to pursue a Ph.D. at Harvard University to deepen her understanding of Buddhist literary traditions and their relationship to bodily practice. Her secondary fields are Religion, Gender and Culture and Comparative Literature, and her scholarship takes an interdisciplinary approach to reading a variety of texts, performances and rituals, from early Sanskrit court poetry to acts of self-immolation in…
Learn more about Julie Regan, Ph.D.
Dr. Julie Regan was first introduced to Asian religions as an undergraduate student of Comparative Literature at Brown University, where she subsequently earned her MFA in Literary Arts. After several years devoted to writing fiction and plays, and teaching writing, she decided to pursue a Ph.D. at Harvard University to deepen her understanding of Buddhist literary traditions and their relationship to bodily practice. Her secondary fields are Religion, Gender and Culture and Comparative Literature, and her scholarship takes an interdisciplinary approach to reading a variety of texts, performances and rituals, from early Sanskrit court poetry to acts of self-immolation in…
Learn more about Julie Regan, Ph.D.
Pema Khandro
Pema Khandro is an internationally renowned teacher and scholar of Buddhist philosophy. Ordained in the Nyingma lineage, enthroned as a tulku, and trained as an academic, her teachings celebrate the dynamic coalescence of tradition and the modern context. She is the founder of Ngakpa International and its three projects: The Buddhist Studies Institute, Dakini Mountain and the Yogic Medicine Institute. In her work as a Buddhist teacher she is an authorized Lama and lineage holder of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and was enthroned to carry on the lineage of her predecessor, the first Pema Khandro, an early twentieth century…
Learn more about Pema Khandro
Pema Khandro is an internationally renowned teacher and scholar of Buddhist philosophy. Ordained in the Nyingma lineage, enthroned as a tulku, and trained as an academic, her teachings celebrate the dynamic coalescence of tradition and the modern context. She is the founder of Ngakpa International and its three projects: The Buddhist Studies Institute, Dakini Mountain and the Yogic Medicine Institute. In her work as a Buddhist teacher she is an authorized Lama and lineage holder of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and was enthroned to carry on the lineage of her predecessor, the first Pema Khandro, an early twentieth century…
Learn more about Pema Khandro
Lama Willa Miller
Founding Teacher, Spiritual Director Natural Dharma Willa B. Miller, PhD is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, MA and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. She has also practiced in the Shangpa and Nyingma lineages. She is editor, author and translator (respectively) of three books: The Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work (2012), Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to…
Learn more about Lama Willa Miller
Founding Teacher, Spiritual Director Natural Dharma Willa B. Miller, PhD is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, MA and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. She has also practiced in the Shangpa and Nyingma lineages. She is editor, author and translator (respectively) of three books: The Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work (2012), Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to…
Learn more about Lama Willa Miller
Amy Langenberg
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Eckerd College Amy Paris Langenberg is a specialist in classical South Asian Buddhism with a focus on monasticism, gender, sexuality, and the body. She also conducts ethnographic research on contemporary Buddhist feminisms, contemporary female Buddhist monasticism, and, more recently, sexual abuse in American Buddhism. Dr. Langenberg is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Eckerd College. She is the author of Birth in Buddhism: The Suffering Fetus and Female Freedom (Routledge, 2017) and is currently collaborating with Dr. Ann Gleig on a study of sexual abuse in American Buddhism, titled Abuse, Sex, and the Sangha, which…
Learn more about Amy Langenberg
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Eckerd College Amy Paris Langenberg is a specialist in classical South Asian Buddhism with a focus on monasticism, gender, sexuality, and the body. She also conducts ethnographic research on contemporary Buddhist feminisms, contemporary female Buddhist monasticism, and, more recently, sexual abuse in American Buddhism. Dr. Langenberg is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Eckerd College. She is the author of Birth in Buddhism: The Suffering Fetus and Female Freedom (Routledge, 2017) and is currently collaborating with Dr. Ann Gleig on a study of sexual abuse in American Buddhism, titled Abuse, Sex, and the Sangha, which…
Learn more about Amy Langenberg
Dr. Ann Gleig
Dr. Ann Gleig is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Central Florida. She is co-editor of Homegrown Gurus: From Hinduism in America to American Hinduism and has published widely on contemporary Buddhism. She is the author of “American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity,” from Yale University Press.Gleig received her doctorate in religious studies from Rice University, her master’s in religious studies from Lancaster University, and her bachelor’s in theology and religious studies from Bristol University. She joined UCF in 2012. Her research interests include Asian religions, Asian religions in America, Religion and Psychoanalysis, Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. To…
Learn more about Dr. Ann Gleig
Dr. Ann Gleig is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Central Florida. She is co-editor of Homegrown Gurus: From Hinduism in America to American Hinduism and has published widely on contemporary Buddhism. She is the author of “American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity,” from Yale University Press.Gleig received her doctorate in religious studies from Rice University, her master’s in religious studies from Lancaster University, and her bachelor’s in theology and religious studies from Bristol University. She joined UCF in 2012. Her research interests include Asian religions, Asian religions in America, Religion and Psychoanalysis, Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. To…
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Dr. Nida Chenagtsang
Dr. Nida was born in Amdo, in Eastern Tibet. Interested in the traditional healing science of his people, he began his early medical studies at the local Tibetan Medicine hospital. Later he gained scholarship entry to Lhasa Tibetan Medical University, where he completed his medical education in 1996. He completed his practical training at the Tibetan Medicine hospitals in Lhasa and Lhoka. Dr. Nida has published many articles and books on Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine). He has extensively researched ancient Tibetan healing methods, and has gained high acclaim in the East and West for his revival of traditional Tibetan external…
Learn more about Dr. Nida Chenagtsang
Dr. Nida was born in Amdo, in Eastern Tibet. Interested in the traditional healing science of his people, he began his early medical studies at the local Tibetan Medicine hospital. Later he gained scholarship entry to Lhasa Tibetan Medical University, where he completed his medical education in 1996. He completed his practical training at the Tibetan Medicine hospitals in Lhasa and Lhoka. Dr. Nida has published many articles and books on Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine). He has extensively researched ancient Tibetan healing methods, and has gained high acclaim in the East and West for his revival of traditional Tibetan external…
Learn more about Dr. Nida Chenagtsang
Lama Rod Owens
Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist minister, author, activist, yoga instructor and authorized Lama, or Buddhist teacher, in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation and author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger. Owens is the co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community. Has been published in Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle and The Harvard Divinity Bulletin,…
Learn more about Lama Rod Owens
Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist minister, author, activist, yoga instructor and authorized Lama, or Buddhist teacher, in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation and author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger. Owens is the co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community. Has been published in Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle and The Harvard Divinity Bulletin,…
Learn more about Lama Rod Owens
Dr. Jim Hopper
Dr. Jim Hopper is an independent consultant and Teaching Associate in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. His research, clinical and consulting work has focused on the psychology and neurobiology of trauma and how meditation and other contemplative practices can transform the brain to bring healing and genuine happiness. Dr. Hopper is a long-time meditator and co-editor of Mindfulness-Oriented Interventions for Trauma: Integrating Contemplative Practices. Dr. Jim Hopper is an independent consultant and Teaching Associate in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and consultant to the Outpatient Addictions Service of the Cambridge Health Alliance. For over 25 years Dr. Hopper’s research, clinical…
Learn more about Dr. Jim Hopper
Dr. Jim Hopper is an independent consultant and Teaching Associate in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. His research, clinical and consulting work has focused on the psychology and neurobiology of trauma and how meditation and other contemplative practices can transform the brain to bring healing and genuine happiness. Dr. Hopper is a long-time meditator and co-editor of Mindfulness-Oriented Interventions for Trauma: Integrating Contemplative Practices. Dr. Jim Hopper is an independent consultant and Teaching Associate in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and consultant to the Outpatient Addictions Service of the Cambridge Health Alliance. For over 25 years Dr. Hopper’s research, clinical…
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Dr. Elizabeth Call
Elizabeth Call, PsyD, formerly a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is currently a sub-investigator and therapist on the FDA phase 3 trials for MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. She is in private practice in Cambridge and draws on Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, EMDR, IFS, Mindfulness and trauma-informed therapy as allies in healing. She has had a committed Buddhist meditation practice for over 30 years. Elizabeth Call, PsyD, interned at McLean Hospital and is a former clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. After graduate school, she was a staff psychologist on an inpatient forensic unit at MGH…
Learn more about Dr. Elizabeth Call
Elizabeth Call, PsyD, formerly a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is currently a sub-investigator and therapist on the FDA phase 3 trials for MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. She is in private practice in Cambridge and draws on Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, EMDR, IFS, Mindfulness and trauma-informed therapy as allies in healing. She has had a committed Buddhist meditation practice for over 30 years. Elizabeth Call, PsyD, interned at McLean Hospital and is a former clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. After graduate school, she was a staff psychologist on an inpatient forensic unit at MGH…
Learn more about Dr. Elizabeth Call
Damchö Diana Finnegan
Damchö Diana Finnegan After a career as a journalist based in New York and Hong Kong, Damchö Diana Finnegan ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1999. In 2009, she received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a thesis on gender and ethics in Sanskrit and Tibetan narratives about Buddha’s direct female disciples in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. After completing her dissertation she worked closely with the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, serving as co-editor on various publications, including Interconnected: Embracing Life in a Global Society and The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out. In…
Learn more about Damchö Diana Finnegan
Damchö Diana Finnegan After a career as a journalist based in New York and Hong Kong, Damchö Diana Finnegan ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1999. In 2009, she received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a thesis on gender and ethics in Sanskrit and Tibetan narratives about Buddha’s direct female disciples in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. After completing her dissertation she worked closely with the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, serving as co-editor on various publications, including Interconnected: Embracing Life in a Global Society and The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out. In…
Learn more about Damchö Diana Finnegan