Buddhism and the West is the topic of the Oreck-Alpern Interreligious Forum

Release Date: 03/26/10

Buddhism and the West is the topic of the Oreck-Alpern Interreligious Forum at The College of St. Scholastica at 4 p.m., Sunday, April 11, in the Mitchell Auditorium on campus. The event includes three speakers and a reception, which are all free and open to the public.

Steve Hagen of Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis and the Rev. Chandana Karuna from the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles will begin the evening with a discussion entitled "Buddhism from the Inside Out."

A reception will follow from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Foyer. The reception will include sushi from Zen House and books on Buddhism offered for purchase by Northern Lights Books.

Donald Lopez, Jr., one of the most prominent experts on Buddhism in the United States, will give a talk entitled "Who is the Buddha?" in the Mitchell Auditorium at 7 p.m.

Lopez received a doctorate in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. He is a professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan and is Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. In 1998 Lopez was named "Arthur F. Thurnau Professor" - the University of Michigan's highest award for undergraduate teaching.

He is the author and editor of more than 20 books on various Buddhism topics, which have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Czech, Polish, Korean, and Chinese.

Steve Hagen has been a student of Buddhist thought and practice since 1967. He is currently head teacher at Dharma Field and is the author of four books on Buddhism.

Rev. Chandana Karuna stepped onto the Buddhist path in 1963, practicing and studying alone and with various teachers. In 1983, she began to work with The Venerable Karuna Dharma at the International Buddhist Mediation Center in Los Angeles, where she was fully ordained in 2008.

Buddhism and the West is part of the St. Scholastica's two-year Oreck-Alpern Interreligious Forum series exploring six religious traditions: Catholicism, Judaism, Anishinaabe culture and spirituality, Buddhism, Islam, and Protestant Christianity.

The Oreck-Alpern Interreligious Forum promotes understanding, respect and peace among the diversity of faith communities in the Northland through sustained cross-cultural discussion, shared study, and collaborative projects and events.

For more information contact Oreck-Alpern Interreligious Forum director Elyse Carter Vosen at (218) 723-6446 or evosen@css.edu.

The College of St. Scholastica is regularly recognized as one of the finest colleges in the Midwest. The 2010 "America's Best Colleges" survey by U.S. News & World Report magazine ranks St. Scholastica in the top tier of Midwestern universities. The Washington Post has rated St. Scholastica as one of the nation's 100 "hidden gems" among U.S. colleges and universities.