Jan
Willis, a professor of religion at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.,
will speak about Tibetan Buddhism at Agnes Scott College on Jan. 20.
The
lecture, “Distinctive Features of Tibetan Buddhism: Discussion and Practice
Session,” will be at 7:30 p.m. in Evans Hall, Terrace Level. The lecture is free
and open to the public and is sponsored by the Bonnie Brown Johnson Women’s
Health Lectureship.
Willis will also speak at the college’s Martin Luther
King Jr. Opening Convocation at 1 p.m. on Jan. 20 at Presser Hall, Gaines
Chapel. Her talk is titled “Who Then is My Neighbor?: The Ethics of
Interconnectedness.”
One of the earliest American scholar-practitioners
of Tibetan Buddhism, Willis has published numerous essays and articles on
Buddhist meditation, hagiography, women and Buddhism, and Buddhism and race. Her
latest book was Dreaming Me: An African American Woman’s Spiritual Journey
(2001). Willis also 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).
She has studied with Tibetan Buddhists in India,
Nepal, Switzerland and the U.S. for four decades and has taught courses in
Buddhism for 32 years.
Time magazine named Willis one of six “spiritual
innovators for the new millennium” in 2000. She was a recipient of Wesleyan
University’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2003, and she was
profiled in a 2005 Newsweek article about “Spirituality in America.”
Agnes Scott College educates women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times. Students are drawn to Agnes Scott by its excellent academic reputation, exceptional faculty and metropolitan Atlanta location – offering myriad cultural and experiential learning opportunities. A diverse and growing residential community of scholars, this highly selective liberal arts and sciences college is known for its dynamic and challenging intellectual community. Encouraging students to engage the wider world through study abroad and presenting its curriculum with international context, Agnes Scott College delivers on its promise: The World. For Women.
