Conference
Community Engaged Buddhism: Honouring 2,500 Years of Bhikkhunī Ordination
9 Nov 2026
William Doo Auditorium, New College, University of Toronto, Canada
Toronto Centre for Applied Buddhism
The Toronto Centre for Applied Buddhism marks 2,500 years of full ordination for Buddhist nuns (bhikkhunī ordination) with an afternoon and evening of talks, discussion and meditation. It is sponsored by New College, University of Toronto, and the Buddhist Education Foundation of Canada.
Monday 9 November 2026, 2:00–8:30 pm (Toronto time) William Doo Auditorium, New College, 45 Willcocks Street, Toronto
Programme
- 2:00–8:30 pm: Buddhist community booths, with refreshments.
- 3:00–4:30 pm: public talk in Mandarin with English translation. Venerable Bhikkhunī Aloka on Confucian ethics and relationships, the Western individual, and the Buddhist teaching of non-self.
- 5:00–6:30 pm: meditation and panel on the past and present of bhikkhunī ordination.
- The panel opens with a meditation on poems from the Therīgāthā, the verses of the early Buddhist nuns.
- Visita Sirin Leelaratna traces how bhikkhunī ordination reached Sri Lanka and then China.
- Venerable Bhikkhunī Thich nu Tinh Quang speaks about receiving full ordination as a Canadian nun in Vietnam.
- An open discussion follows on keeping the ordination lineage alive, including a call for UNESCO to recognize it as intangible cultural heritage.
- Moderated by Dr. Henry Shiu (Emmanuel College, University of Toronto).
- 7:10–8:30 pm: public talk in English. Venerable Bhikkhunī Aloka, From the Ideal of Individual Autonomy to Buddhist Non-Self: what the Buddhist teachings on non-self and dependent origination can say about freedom, responsibility and relationships in an age of AI and information overload.
Speakers
- Venerable Bhikkhunī Aloka (Shi Dunyu) is a Chinese bhikkhunī and Dharma heir in the Linji Chan school, and Senior Sangha Advisor of the Buddhist Embassy, Ottawa. She is completing a PhD on Theravāda Abhidhamma at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
- Venerable Bhikkhunī Thich nu Tinh Quang teaches at Little Heron Zen Hermitage and Wat Khmer Krom Buddhist Temple in Hamilton, Ontario, and spends time at her monastery in Vietnam.
- Visita Sirin Leelaratna is founder and president of the Buddhist Embassy Canada in Ottawa, and has campaigned for formal recognition of Buddhist heritage in Canada.
- Dr. Henry Shiu is Shi Wu De Professor in Chinese Buddhism at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto.
How to attend
Free. To register, email the names of everyone attending to registration@appliedbuddhism.ca. See the organizer's events page for any updates.
