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Buddhist Chaplaincy Summer Update 2022

Venerable Priya Sraman, Buddhist Chaplain

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Emory University Buddhist Chaplaincy and the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life (OSRL). The 2021-2022 academic year has been a wonderful first full, in-person year for me at Emory. It has been especially wonderful to connect with our Buddhist community – students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.

Our priority this year was to build connections and to strengthen our community. Looking back, I believe we were able to accomplish that and more through various Buddhist and collaborative programs. We not only resumed our regular weekly Buddhist meditation gatherings, but we also expanded our programs to include other meaningful activities. Please see below some highlights from our programs in the past academic year.

In August 2021, Emory OSRL launched the Welcoming Interfaith and Spiritual Exploration (WISE) Pre-orientation program. This program is designed to welcome entering first-year students to Emory's Atlanta campus while providing an opportunity to learn about faiths and interfaith, social justice, and explore campus and Atlanta.

As a part of this program, Geshe Phende from Drepung Loseling Monastery joined students for a virtual meditation. He explained the concepts of Bodhisattva, compassion, and inter-connectedness to the group of interfaith students.

Buddhist teachers from Emory University and greater Atlanta continued facilitating our weekly Buddhist meditation gatherings on Thursdays at 6:00 p.m. throughout the year in Cannon Chapel. On average, the gatherings had about 25-30 participants.

Students from Emory's undergraduate and graduate schools participated in our first off-campus Buddhist retreat in November 2021 at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center in Highlands, North Carolina, organized and led by Buddhist Chaplain Venerable Priya. Students loved the off-campus Buddhist retreat, and so we organized a second one in March 2022. Both retreats were supported by OSRL.

Emory Buddhist Club (EBC) members participated in a number of service events this past year. EBC leaders collaborated with Emory Recreation and Wellness to organize a Clothing Swap Event in April. A large amount of clothes was collected and exchanged with the Emory community. More than 500 pieces of remaining clothes were donated to the Emory Decatur Hospital and other local charities.

EBC members also volunteered at Kim Cang Monastery in April for their day-long Mindfulness Retreat for local children and adults. Venerable Priya facilitated some sessions with Venerable Dong Hue and Sister Pearl who have facilitated EBC gatherings before.

After a two-year hiatus, the Emory Buddhist community celebrated an in-person Buddha Day (Vesak) honoring the Buddha’s life, enlightenment, and final passing with several Buddhist and interfaith leaders from Emory and the greater Atlanta community. On this day, we also celebrated the arrival of our beautiful new Buddha statue donated by a campus scholar from Sri Lanka.

Before the spring semester ended, students, staff, and faculty participated in replanting the Living Mandala Garden outside of Cannon Chapel. Once again it has become a beloved spot for rest and reflection.

Emory Interfaith Center

The coming months will bring much excitement as we continue developing the new Emory Interfaith Center. The building re-design and construction phases have begun, and we are now excited to arrange for our Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist communities to have designated shrines in the new center. These will be custom-made to reflect the beauty and imagery of these traditions, and will also be mobile so that they can be used for gatherings in different parts of the center.

As we continue to work with our wonderful artisan on the design of these new shrines, we would welcome with gratitude your continued support in our efforts to raise $10,000 for our custom-made Buddhist shrine and related religious goods. If you or others you know would be interested in making a gift to this exciting project, please email me at priya.sraman@emory.edu or donate to our Buddhist Life Fund here.

Support Buddhist Life at Emory

All of us in the Emory Buddhist community and in Emory OSRL are grateful to you for your connection and support throughout the year. Your donations, especially on Giving Tuesday and Emory Day of Giving, helped to make possible the above programs supporting and enhancing Buddhist life at Emory.

We wish you the best of health, joy, and peace. May you and those around you be at ease.

Warm regards,

Priya
Venerable Priya Sraman
Buddhist Chaplain
Office of Spiritual and Religious Life
Emory University

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