Fearful of receiving a curse from hijras, Hindu families often welcome them in and pay them for their services, even when uninvited. PALOMA LANDRY: And so this wisdom alone is not enough. Most students receive institutional financial aid and are eligible for other support. Serena Nanda, Neither Man nor Woman, xx, 15-19, 24-26. And then we can walk in that direction. Harvard Divinity School launched this week Religion and Public Life (RPL), a new initiative and degree program with the core mission to advance the public understanding of religion in service of a just world at peace. He says that RPL is aiding students in their vocational call to change the world in a multitude of ways., In the foreign service, which is the professional corps of workers in the United States Department of State, theres a woeful lack of religious literacy, Casey says. When it comes to mind training, that wisdom is always, by definition, positive. And I was really struck by the deep and felt sense of dedication and love that Rinpoche has for all of us in his words, very profound, what is being transmitted through his writing. When they graduate, M.R.P.L. Many people have used new technologies on behalf of their religious traditions. 8. PALOMA LANDRY: And if we're specific, so it's the same with our mind. It doesn't stay still. candidates to engage in coursework, mentoring, internships, and projects that bring a nuanced understanding of religion to areas like education, government, humanitarian work, and entertainment media. PALOMA LANDRY: Like what we get from food and clothes and physical comfort and so forth, that's all that it can give us. PALOMA LANDRY: So our mind is able to know our own-- to know itself, to know what it's experiencing, to know I'm experiencing pleasure or happiness, to know that this is pleasant or suffering and so forth. 4, (2012): 498. Hijras are often treated with both respect and fear. As always, when thinking about religion and gender, maintain a focus on how religion is internally diverse, always evolving and changing, and embedded in specific cultures. He established Katog Choling, a nonprofit organization, and oversees approximately 20 meditation groups across the country, community outreach programs and as well as a retreat center in the Ozark National Forest. Master of Religion and Public Life (MRPL) Program - Harvard Divinity School RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE, Harvard Divinity School14 DivinityAvenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. my.hds |Harvard Divinity School |Harvard University |Privacy | Accessibility | Digital Accessibility | Trademark Notice | Reporting Copyright InfringementCopyright 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College. If everything that we do is for that, and if we consider all of the time and sentient beings, the length of time that our actions have been in the pursuit of that, if we consider the number of beings in the pursuit of that, all of us as humans and also other living beings, numberless beings, and if we consider the kind-- all of the actions that have ever taken place in the pursuit of well-being and to rid ourselves of suffering, there's no stone left unturned. It certainly wasnt a way to work for justice. Nearly 90% of the country is Buddhist, and most are members of the majority ethnic community known as Burmans. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Yeah, lots of air here. New admissions policy seeks to build on the success of free Sunday and Thursday events tied to dramatic visitor growth. And then when we do, we can be very successful with working with our mind. And so wisdom is like the eyes that see where we want to go. They can only give us a small degree of happiness. Ritu Kalra will assume her new role July 1 after having served as assistant vice president of finance and treasury. 21, didnt expect an epiphany when he joined students from Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and six of the Universitys other graduate Schools for a January-term course in Israel and Palestine, but thats what he got. And yet, if everyone just have in a state of happiness and well-being, we have plenty of people who lost their money, plenty of people with lots of power, plenty of people with great fame, but then these-- do we-- when we look at getting those things, does it bring you mental well-being and peace and happiness? It is not a state of affliction or negativity. PALOMA LANDRY: So then we usually determine when we're suffering over something that the action that must be taken as we have to change it to something outside of ourselves. Other hijras are born intersex. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Me, I'm not talking about fictions. And yet, most of us don't know what it is. It's how we relate to it. And so this is because the way things are, is that they don't actually have the ability to give us the happiness that we're looking for. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Different ways. PALOMA LANDRY: So if you think about your cellphone, you can barely handle being next to it without looking at it, constantly checking, checking, checking it. So mind creates its own happiness. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Why are we begging all the time? Learn how Harvard is structured, explore our long history, and discover our extended community. Why does the conflict persist? PALOMA LANDRY: So what is the mind? Yet, despite all of these actions based on external objects and circumstances, we have yet to find happiness. PALOMA LANDRY: If we engage in lots of negative and harmful actions--. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: If there is a people when we talk, and we have questions, answers, question, answer, we all the time do that. Religion and Public Life at HDS, directed by Diane L. Moore and founded in 2020, provides an umbrella for programs and scholarship across Harvard that explore the ways that religion is entwined with social, political, and economic dimensions of human experience and institution s. Women's Studies in Religion Program Evidently, we want to uncover and discover the positive qualities that we all possess within ourselves, within our mind. PALOMA LANDRY: I am often astonished by the way things are. Geeta Pandey, India court recognises transgender,; Vidhi Doshi, Indian train network makes history by employing transgender workers, The Guardian, May 12, 2017. And that has a QR code on the back of it that will take you to these great resources. We can see directly our mind, our experience. And what does it do, because it is different from any other object in the universe. And so when we consider the history of sentient beings, then all of our actions have been for this purpose. And it uses-- and then we need methods, we need wisdom, the knowledge about what will work on the mind. And this is because those objects do not have the power to give us complete happiness nor to free us from suffering. PALOMA LANDRY: So for example, when we look at a positive wisdom, knowledge about how things operate, take for instance, if we become angry, there are remedial factors, ways of working with our minds that remedy anger that can reduce and eliminate our anger. PALOMA LANDRY: We have to stop somewhere. PALOMA LANDRY: But the majority of how we experience something is our mind's way of thinking. And so if we focus only on what we dislike and what's not OK, then that's going to be our entire experience. And human beings here, so come here. This case study was created by Kristofer Rhude, MDiv 18, under the editorial direction of Dr. Diane L. Moore, faculty director of Religion and Public Life. PALOMA LANDRY: So the way that we define the mind is by two qualities, two defining characteristics, which is that it is conscious and aware, aware in the sense of knowing. PALOMA LANDRY: The water's nature is not muddy. And we're trying to get away from suffering. First, we have to see where we're going to go. And not only that, it can give you insight into why people are entrenched in their views. So wisdom knows that. Dedutt Pattanaik, The Man Who Was a Woman and Other Queer Tales from Hindu Lore, (New York: Harrington Park Press, 2002), 10; Geeta Pandey, India court recognizes transgender; Serena Nanda, Neither Man nor Woman, 50. And so one of the most important things that we should be able to define and understand is what is our own mind. PALOMA LANDRY: We really don't have an independence. PALOMA LANDRY: --because that's not our actual nature. Video: The Power of Mind: A talk with Khentrul Lodr T'hay Rinpoche And so there are traditionally 17 points of mind training. PALOMA LANDRY: So really, there's just one object in front of us, food. It's defined by characteristics that no other object has that make it what it is, no matter what we look at, whether it's an object, whether it's another living being, another human or otherwise, whether it's a tree or a rock or a flower. But it's not the actual remedy to the mental problem in the first place, to having that emotional reaction in the first place. Ideas and assistance for your trip to our campus. In this patriarchal context, religions have responded in very different ways, sometimes upholding and supporting misogyny, and sometimes subverting and rejecting it in favor of gender equality. PALOMA LANDRY: That's what I mean when I say our mind is not independent. Rinpoche then spent over 20 years studying in some of the most prestigious schools of Buddhist philosophy and was fortunate to study the practices of Buddhism with some of the greatest masters of this century. And we are not OK with this, and then we're not OK with that and so forth, and so on. 5. PALOMA LANDRY: We need tolerance, which means not being easily disturbed by things. So great honor to have you here. There is no other object in the universe that we can find, which has these two defining characteristics. Many rose to significant positions of power under both Hindu and Muslim rulers. It has-- it knows its own happiness and suffering. They call begging just as [INAUDIBLE]. You will missing us. 2023The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Master of Religion and Public Life (M.R.P.L.). and M.Div. So we'll be joined by them all the way through. We've tried so many things. We have to do something external to ourself. Are we ready? Then mind's actual nature cannot be changed because it's its nature. Like our mind is going to get happiness from those things, extracted from those things, and then it will get better. We want to feel good. Powerful women, feminists, and members of the LGBTQ community have played major roles in all faith traditions, in diverse ways across different times and cultures. All rights reserved. And then its function, the function of consciousness is that it is knowing that it is able to know any knowable objects. Your mind is constantly being controlled by the external conditions. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: And don't hate [SPEAKING TIBETAN]. Our minds' pure, positive nature is who each of us are. I really want to do film and RPL shows me that my life wont fall apart if I put time into something I love. HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Harvard Divinity School is a nonsectarian school of religious and theological studies that educates students both in the pursuit of the academic study of religion and in preparation for leadership in religious, governmental, and a wide range of service organizations. It is a great honor to be here and to have this opportunity to speak with all of you this evening. It's being affected by it. In fact, hijras also can curse a family if they are disrespectful or refuse to pay for the blessings. I feel empowered to take on whatever comes next., Exhibition goes beyond idyllic landscapes to cramped apartment, 19th-century wardrobe malfunction, cancer-defying self-portraits, Pathbreaking scholar will start in role on Aug. 1. No religion is inherently violent or peaceful. So these techniques specifically focus on transforming adversity, otherwise known as carrying adversity onto the path. Hanson began teaching at Harvard in 1971 and was Lamont Professor of Divinity until July 2009 when he retired and was named Lamont Research Professor. It's inherent to us. Paul D. Hanson, Florence Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Harvard Divinity School, died June 9, 2023, at the age of 83. And on top of that, she is the editor of my new book, The Power of Mind. Max Bearak, Why terms like transgender dont work for Indias third gender communities, The Washington Post, Apr. Then in--, PALOMA LANDRY: --these talks, then the advice is don't hate suffering. 98, was U.S. special representative for religion and global affairs during the Obama administration and a 2019-20 RLPI fellow who co-taught the initiatives Religious Literacy and the Professions I: Government and Humanitarian Action course. meets the urgent need for a more sophisticated understanding of religion in a wide range of professions., Divinity School grad Salvador Pea left the corporate world to answer a deeper calling, Divinity School graduate finds his community in ministry, Nicole Powell puts power of words into action at the Divinity School. And we should know what our mind is and what defines it as a starting point. And then there's the characteristics associated with the nature of our mind. PALOMA LANDRY: It's an independent format, same with food, clothes, a computer, the devices in our houses. In Focus is a curated examination of Harvard's research, scholarly work, and community. All rights reserved. And mind will follow you. Religion and Public Life has developed a series of case studies that illustrate how religious traditions deal in diverse ways with issues of climate change, gender, minority status in the United States, and violence and peace. It seeks to do so by integrating many of our current programs and building new bridges from the academy to a wide range of stakeholders in business, law, humanitarian work, journalism, the arts, and many other fields. "Were dealing with an alien intelligence thats capable of astonishing feats, but not in the manner of the human mind," said psychologist Steven Pinker. The external circumstances are very limited in what they can give us. Faculty Director Diane L. Moore shares the four principles informing every aspect of our work. We could say authentic knowledge or wisdom and great compassion. PALOMA LANDRY: We were trying to extract happiness from a place that doesn't come from. And then I say, OK, come back, come back here. PALOMA LANDRY: So like this flower here--, PALOMA LANDRY: There was a seed for this flower had the potential to become this flower. 10. And so our mind is constantly experiencing pleasure, pain, and neutrality. So there are a lot of things to share about Rinpoche, about his qualities and activities. There is an urgent need to promote a more sophisticated understanding of religion in public life to mitigate these consequencesand to leverage religious resources that promote human and planetary flourishing.. PALOMA LANDRY: And so when you build a habit for tolerance, for the mind that thinks, I can be OK. PALOMA LANDRY: So the two primary methods that summarize all of the 17 points in the many techniques for working with our mind, our profound wisdom and great compassion. And then we become afflicted and respond and react and so forth. How do Hindu reactions to hijra performances illustrate the internal diversity of Hinduism? He also wants to make a film about the ways that different religious organizations relate to beauty in the city of Istanbul, Turkey a documentary and a work of art that would inspire conversations about cultural violence and activism. And that is because we are not in our natural state of our mind. To address this need for religious knowledge, one of RPLs two programmatic pillars is the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI). It might be jarring when a complete stranger pulls up his shirt while youre trying to eat dinner. And what that does is it empowers our mind. There is nothing more powerful than our mind. And then there's ones that don't work. And I'm saying, our mind also has that pure and positive potential. I don't think so they listen to anybody. Recently, hijra have regained some of the rights and freedoms which they have been denied. Our history of all of our personal lives and everything that we have done and all innovations and development have ultimately-- been ultimately for that pursuit of well-being, to find more ease and comfort, happiness, and to reduce suffering. And this is a very profound quality to our mind being a state of genuine compassion. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. And so it gives me just a huge, huge joy and a tear of joy, that feeling of joy and love, just seeing them being out here with us. Then we believe it. And that has a clarity to it-- that has an impeded factor because it's not a physical or material matter. Nothing else has the power to give that to us. Only the mind can tame mind. But if those things don't have happiness to give us in the beginning, then it's not going to matter if we get them. And we can learn how it functions with logic and reasoning. And the way that we do so, making evident and accessing our minds own natural resources is by using methods, methods that correspond with how things work with the way things are, so not just random, made-up methods that aren't based on logic and reasonings that can't be established according to the way things operate. Visiting Harvard Art Museums now free for all. Harvard Divinity School is a nonsectarian school of religious and theological studies that educates students both in the pursuit of the academic study of religion and in preparation for leadership in religious, governmental, and a wide range of service organizations. And because we experience pleasure and pain, a.k.a. There's nowhere you can go wherein you find a place where there's nothing you dislike. And many then are not sure of life as being something separate from the brain as being its own thing. Khentrul Lodro T'hay Rinpoche was born in Eastern Tibet. But there is no people, and then you question and answer yourself. "Master, Host, Demon, God RELIGION AND PUBLIC LIFE, Harvard Divinity School14 DivinityAvenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. my.hds |Harvard Divinity School |Harvard University |Privacy | Accessibility | Digital Accessibility | Trademark Notice | Reporting Copyright InfringementCopyright 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College. PALOMA LANDRY: So inert material matter doesn't-- isn't its essence isn't conscious? And when I was a Buddhist chaplain at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute, where Ibby had just entered into her treatment process with acute leukemia. And he's been traveling and teaching in the US and other countries ever since. And so I'm not going to live thin-skinned, like easily upset and sensitive over things. Rheumatologist, epidemiologist discusses growth, spread of deer ticks, which transmit malady, and offers tips for how to avoid parasites, Political experts suggest ways media can blunt former presidents skillful manipulation of coverage to spread falsehoods, divisiveness, Mashail Malik was always interested in human experience. Ferdinand Marcos | Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School All living beings, one after another, since time immemorial, we've been in the pursuit of well-being. And it has an enormous amount of positive potential. Many people mistake, in the English language, compassion for being empathy, where we can understand someone else's suffering or we're aware of it. And you set that commitment every day, I'm going to be OK today. So if you want electricity, you need to have the right set of causes and conditions. Turning it over to Paloma. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: Thank you. And that who works with that? It tames itself. PALOMA LANDRY: And so then those factors can be removed. The Master of Religion and Public Life degree is a focused program aimed at experienced professionals from a diverse range of fields.. The programs internships put students in the field at institutions like the United Nations, the European Union, and the humanitarian nonprofit Oxfam, where they gather real world experience. And our mind is. PALOMA LANDRY: But I usually like to give this advice. But it is much more profound than just thinking, oh, poor things, or oh, yes, others are suffering. 1. PALOMA LANDRY: Rather than that, if we can protect our own minds so that we have a healthy, undisturbed mind, then we can take action to protect. Don't hate. And he also spent several of those early years in meditation treatment. This is because the external objects that we focus on, our external circumstances alone cannot give us what we're looking for as is evidenced by overachieving on that up to now. PALOMA LANDRY: So when we look at this pursuit of happiness, in this yearning to be free from suffering, then when it began was when sentient beings began. The potential for these resides within ourselves already. is an opportunity for practitioners from fields such as business, law, the arts, nonprofit work, and many others to gain advanced knowledge about religion. That's amazing, our mind, when you look very closely. It is led by Diane L. Moore, senior fellow at HDSs Center for the Study of World Religions and lecturer on Religion, Conflict, and Peace, who has over 40 years of experience working with students and educators. By 2014, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh had all officially recognized third gender people as citizens deserving of equal rights. We need moisture. The Certificate in Religion and Public Life (CRPL) is designed to prepare HDS graduates with the tools, skills, and experience to explore professional pathways outside of traditional ministry or academic scholarship. For example, some hijras center their community around the Hindu goddess Bahuchara Mata while also taking a Muslim name and observing Islamic traditions such as Ramadan. We have to understand something and what it is, such as the methods for working with our mind, and then we can implement it into our experience. "Religion and Politics Revisited." School of Criticism and Theory, Cornell University. Terence McCoy, India Now Recognizes Transgender Citizens as Third Gender, The Washington Post, Apr. The degree provides an opportunity for journalists, government officials, humanitarian aid workers, educators, artists, health care professionals, businesspeople, lawyers, and other practitioners to develop in-depth knowledge of the complex ways religion influences public life relevant to their arenas in ways that will advance their own vocational aims. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: When you think you're going to run on the sky, and maybe there better, no. PALOMA LANDRY: As much as we dislike is as much as we suffer. All of those terms are wrapped up in this word happiness. But this compassion is much bigger quality than that it encompasses that as an aspect of it, but just as one component. Harvard Divinity School was established in 1816 as the country's first nonsectarian theological school. And so when we use authentic methods, then the mind is able to produce negative emotions and afflictions and experiences that are temporary. PALOMA LANDRY: So when we work with our mind, when our mind uses methods, it's directly reducing the suffering by eliminating its own flaws and afflictions. The Master of Religion and Public Life degree (MRPL) is a one-year graduate degree program designed for experienced professionals in primarily (but not exclusively) secular arenas whose work is focused on having a positive social impact and who are inspired by a vision of just peace. A young person is initiated by following a guru, or teacher, who will teach the chela, or disciple, in the hijra ways of life. And so this has always been underlying all of our pursuits throughout time and throughout history, throughout numerous generations and millions of years. Many Hindus, and the hijras themselves, take these blessings and curses very seriously; hijras say they only curse in extreme circumstances. RPL is one of the few programs in the country that trains students how to grasp religious literacy in a more sophisticated way.. PALOMA LANDRY: And so however our mind think is going to be how we experience. PALOMA LANDRY: During that time, our mind is thinking about a million other things, not just what's in front of it, not just what's present in that moment that's being cooked. In the office that I ran [Religion and Global Affairs], it was a real struggle to find people who had the kind of expertise I needed to help diplomats get a deeper understanding of religion in context around the world. So here it goes. But when we look at wisdom, then there is wisdom or knowledge that can have a positive outcome and also a negative outcome. 4. And although we won't be able to get into the topic in great detail, we have a book for more extensive teachings. We can see that it doesn't. Our mind, OK, then somebody come, your mind, right now, I'm going to changing this way, that way, doesn't work. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: No, not you, it's somebody. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. PALOMA LANDRY: --the more that we suffer over things. KHENTRUL LODRO T'HAYE RINPOCHE: [SPEAKING TIBETAN] So against our true nature. And we all have minds. Everything in the universe has a definition. And so the primary companion to wisdom is great compassion. HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. And this conscious, this clear quality of consciousness is a kind of conscious clarity or clarity that is not a material object. But if we only focus on what's wrong with it, and we see it as our adversary, as categorically bad and intolerable, then there will be no end to our adversaries. PALOMA LANDRY: It's actually going like going against our true nature--. Michael D. Jackson | Harvard Divinity School (HDS) Harvard Divinity School Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences .