Buddhist Nuns in India / U of T conference

The University of Toronto/McMaster University Yehan Numata Buddhist Studies Program is pleased to announce an international conference on the lives of ordained Buddhist nuns in India from the time of the Buddha until the eventual disappearance of the bhikṣuṇī saṅgha from Indian soil.

BUDDHIST NUNS IN INDIA
April 16-17, 2011, University of Toronto
Trinity College, Combination Room. 6 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto
Sponsored by the University of Toronto/McMaster University Yehan Numata Buddhist Studies Program
All conference sessions are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Shayne Clarke: clarsha@mcmaster.ca
http://buddhiststudies.chass.utoronto.ca/buddhist-nuns-in-india/

PANELISTS INCLUDE:

Shayne Clarke (McMaster University) “Guṇaprabha, Yijing, Bu sTon and the Lack of a Coherent System of Rules for Nuns in the Tibetan Tradition of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya”

Christoph Emmrich (University of Toronto, Mississauga) “And Then There Were None? Mrs. Shakya and the Sketchy History of the Nepalese Bhikṣuṇīs”

Ann Heirman (University of Gent) “Beyond Gender: Bodily Care in Indian Buddhist Monasticism”

Oskar von Hinüber (Universität Freiburg) “Pious and Useful: Women Who did Not Become Nuns in Early Buddhism”

Hiraoka Satoshi (Kyoto Bunkyō University) “Did Yaśodharā become a Nun? On the Indebtedness of the Lotus Sūtra to the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya”

Petra Kieffer-Pülz (Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg) “Buddhist Nuns in South India as Reflected in the Andhakaṭṭhakathā and the Anugaṇṭhipada”

Jinah Kim (Vanderbilt University) “At the Feet of the Buddha: Representations of Buddhist Nuns and Monastic Women in Medieval South Asia”

Kishino Ryōji (University of California, Los Angeles) “On Possible Misunderstandings of the Brahmacaryopasthānasaṃvṛti Requirement for Female Ordination in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya”

Jason Neelis (Wilfrid Laurier University) “Female Ownership of Buddhist Monasteries? A Closer Look at Vihārasvāminīs and Feminine Patronage in South Asian Sources”

Sasaki Shizuka (Hanazono University) “An Analytical Study of the Bhikṣuṇī Pārājika rules in the Vinayas”

Gregory Schopen (University of California, Los Angeles) “The Buddhist Nun as an Urban Landlord and a ‘Legal Person’ in Early India”

Jampa Tsedroen (Universität Hamburg) “The Foundation of the Order of Buddhist Nuns According to the Tibetan Translation of the Kṣudrakavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya”

Yao Fumi (Tokyo University) “The Story of Dharmadinnā: Ordination by Messenger in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya”

Yonezawa Yoshiyasu (Taishō University) “Re-editing the Bhikṣuṇī-vibhaṅga Section of the Vinayasūtra”

Respondents: Kate Crosby (University of London), Paul Groner (University of Virginia), Shimoda Masahiro (Tokyo University)

A letter to Patrick Deane, President, McMaster University

This is about the symposium upcoming at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, The Future of the Academic Library. The symposium is co-presented by Library Journal and McMaster.

It was announced on Twitter this past Sunday and there was a bit of a Twitter-storm about the conference as quite a few people (myself included) thought the program participants a bit problematic, to say the least.

But I'll let my University of Windsor colleague Mita Willliams take it from here. With her permission, I'm reposting the letter she wrote yesterday to President Deane.
I am writing this letter to you today on International Women's Day. Or, to be more accurate I'm writing you this letter *because* it's International Women's Day.

I am writing to ask you if you think that it's acceptable for a symposium that you will be a speaking at - The Future of Academic Libraries - to have what appears to be only 3 women presenting out of a possible 21 speakers.

The percentage of women in Canadian academic librarianship is 73% [CAUT Almanac, pdf].

Last night I got a call from a student from McMaster as part of the University's current Alumni fund-raising drive. She was kind, clear, engaging and polite. When I told her that I was able to apply my geography and environmental science degree from McMaster in my work as a science librarian, she told me that she really appreciated librarians and just recently a McMaster librarian helped her find the data she needed for her GIS class.

But as able as she was, she was not ultimately effective in getting closer to her fund-raising goal for reasons that were not her fault. So after I told the student my reasons why I would not donate to McMaster University, I told her that I would write you personally and tell you those reasons myself because... well because it only seemed fair.

I support McMaster librarians and the excellent work that they do. I'm looking forward to working with them at Code4Lib North (that McMaster University is kindly sponsoring) and I hope to run into them again at The Humanities and Technology Camp being held two weeks later at UWO. (As an aside, did you notice that there are no McMaster Librarians speaking at The Future of Academic libraries at the symposium? Others have.)

I will not be attending The Future of Academic Libraries Symposium because 15% doesn't sound fair to me. I want a future that's more fair than the present, for myself and for the student I spoke to last night.

Mita has it exactly right.

Consider me an additional signatory to Mita's letter.

Another thing that I find problematic is that most of the presenters from the library world are senior administrators -- university librarians and others at that level. While I have nothing against senior administrators per se, it seems to me that a symposium on the future of something could certainly benefit from some younger blood. See Peter Brantley's excellent call to arms, Get in the goddamn wagon, for some further thoughts in that direction.

A panel discussion featuring some of McMaster's front-line librarians would seem to be a natural for dealing with at least some of the aforementioned issues -- lack of women, lack of Mac librarians and lack of early-career and front-line librarians.

I realize that it's probably too late to change the program significantly, in particular since the schedule of events seems inordinately packed. However, I feel the three prominent omissions seriously damage the credibility of what should have been a significant event in the spring calendar for academic librarians in southern Ontario.

PACE lab opens at McMaster

The PACE Lab established by General Motors (GM) and PACE Partners Autodesk, HP, Oracle and Siemens PLM Software at McMaster University is giving engineering and technology students an edge as they prepare for careers in the world of automotive design and engineering.

Patrick Deane, President of McMaster University, and Matt Crossley, director of Canadian engineering at GM Canada, opened the PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) Lab at a ribbon-cutting ceremony held at the University Thursday. Also participating were representatives from Autodesk, HP, Oracle and Siemens PLM Software.

"We want our engineering and technology students equipped to thrive in the automotive industry of the future," said Deane. "That industry is one that is global in scope and collaborative in nature. PACE provides our students with the chance to work with their peers from around the world and gives them exposure to tomorrow's technologies."

PACE has made an in-kind contribution of state-of-the-art computer-based hardware, such as 3D navigation devices and engineering workstations, and engineering software used by automakers around the globe for product planning, engineering, analysis, and data management. The University also receives technical and educational materials for student and instructor training and academic support.

Sixty-seven computer workstations have been installed in two locations at the University, one in the Engineering Technology Building and the other in the John Hodgins Engineering Building. The workstations are used by students in both the Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Technology programs. PACE software on the computers includes Siemens PLM Software NX and Teamcenter; and Autodesk Alias Design, Maya, and Sketchbook Pro.



A student team demonstrated their work for the PACE Next Generation Sustainable Urban Transport (SUT) project at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The students are collaborating with their peers at the University of Cincinnati to develop a near- pollution-free vehicle propelled by compressed air. McMaster is developing the propulsion system and students at the University of Cincinnati are developing the frame and chassis. The project will be presented at the 2011 PACE Global Annual Forum this July in Vancouver.



"Students experience a greater depth and breadth of learning when they are able to work with their peers and other professionals on real-world projects," said David Wilkinson, dean of engineering. "We are increasing opportunities for these types of experiences at McMaster and partnerships with organizations like PACE are essential to their success."

PACE is a corporate alliance between General Motors, Autodesk, HP, Oracle and Siemens PLM Software with contributions from 14 other companies. Founded in 1999, PACE supports 56 leading academic institutions in 12 countries through the contribution of computer-based engineering tools. Its goal is to prepare the engineers, designers, and analysts of the future by providing students in mechanical design, engineering, analysis and manufacturing with the digital and collaboration skills they need to succeed in their professional careers.

McMaster University is one of Canada's leading automotive research and education institutions, with the greatest concentration of powertrain research anywhere in the country. Under the MacAUTO umbrella, the University is involved in a wide variety of studies, from hybrid technology to lightweight materials to software and simulation. A new 50,000 square-foot automotive resource centre being planned will provide an innovation ecosystem to promote daily interactions among industry, university and government on market-oriented and industry-driven research.