Ninth Annual Student Symposium
Monday, March 23, 2026
Location: SW Upstairs Lounge & Conference Room (Room 228)
The event will be held in-person only. An audio recording will be made.
Program
8:30-8:40 Welcome Remarks Dean Stacy Chen
8:40-9:35 Session 1: Buddhist Practice for Today
- Lavanya Adhikari, Beth Khuenkhan, Shuxing He, Adam Valadez, John Chandara, Adam Smith, Joe Stanton, Meiying Cen, Bhikshu Sajal: Recitation 1: Samantamukhaparivartasya gāthāḥ (Recitation of the verses from the Universal Door Chapter)
- Bhikkhu Suriya: Prevent, Abandon, Develop, Maintain: A Practical Guide to Daily Transformation
- Taylor Bowser: Not Passive: Patience as the Foundation for Skillful Response
- Bhikshuni Mira: Meeting Kukkucca: Regret in Abhidhamma Psychology
- Caleb Hernández Castillo: Recitation 2: The Heart Sutra in multiple languages
9:45-10:50 Session 2A: Wisdom & Compassion: Theory and Practice
- Beth Khuenkhan: Śankara’s Poetics of Negation and the Emergence of Non-Dual Compassion
- Bhikshuni Xing Xing: Transforming Delusion into Wisdom: A Reflection on the Three Natures and the Four Knowledges in the Three Texts on Consciousness Only
- Adrian Samuelsberg: The Great Compassion: Vegetarianism in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
- Bach Nguyen: Leaping with Caution
- Bhikshuni Jin Zheng: Recitation 3: Fojiao san zi jing 佛教三字經 (The Buddhist Three Character Classic) by Chan Master Chui Wan (1582-1639)
9:45-10:50 Session 2B: From Daxue to Dao: Words and Their Meanings
- Li Tao: The Evolution of the English Translation of Dao in The Daodejing
- Layla Foster: Wuwei: It’s Method and Application through De as Presented Within the Daodejing
- Miltan Bhattarai: Impartial Care: Understanding Mozi’s Jian’ai
- Vayu Aranda: On Translating the Daxue
- Vidyādevī Leiva: Recitation 4: Caturbrahmavihārāḥ (The four divine abidings)
1:10-2:25 Session 3: Self, Duty, and Society
- Noa Eads, Oscar Chikoya, Kaochua Choua Vue, Art Lozinsky, Miltan Bhattarai, Layla Foster, Juniper Miller, Rafael Méndez, Nita Taktanikkul: Recitation 5: Poem: Tīngyǔ 聽雨 (Listening to the rain) by Jiang Jie (1245-1301)
- Lavanya Adhikari: The Duty-Free Loop
- Nita Taktanikkul: The Paradox in Free Will
- Bishnu Bhatta: Personal Duty, Conflict, and Happiness
- Monica Wei: In Understanding Socrates’s Death
- Sehen Gamhewa, Caleb Hernández Castillo, Adrian Samuelsberg: Recitation 6: Three Heroes of the Bamboo Grove [Inspired by Zhu li guan 竹裏館 (Lodge in the Bamboo) by Wang Wei 701-761)]
2:45-4:10 Session 4: Lotus in Mud: On Afflictions and Bodhi
- Taylor Bowser, Tsering Dickyi, Ivwananji Namonje, Huiyi Ouyang, Alice Fan: Recitation 7: Poem: Deng Guanque lou 登鸛雀樓 Climbing Stork Tower by Wang Zhihuan (688-742)
- Chair: Fedde de Vries Panelists: Caleb Castillo-Hernandez, Adam Smith, Lavanya Adhikari, Adam Valadez: Panel: Why I Can’t Visit Vimalakīrti
- Meiying Cen: The Root Cause of Afflictions Relating to Objects of Desire
- Daryle Chang: Counteracting Poison with Poison: Applying Materialism to Actuate Consciousness-only
- Joe Stanton: Meditating on the Manifestations of Bodhisattvas
- Bhikshuni Mira, Bhikshuni Jin-Nan, Yidan Wang, Aryashree Bhagat, Daniel Winner, David Wei, Sean Kerr: Recitation 8: Kumāra-pañha