Yifa | |
|---|---|
依法 | |
 Yifa in 2008 | |
| Title | Venerable |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1959 (age 66–67) Taiwan |
| Nationality | Taiwanese |
| Education | National Taiwan University (LLB) University of Hawaiʻi (MA) Yale University (PhD) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Senior posting | |
| Teacher | Hsing Yun |
| Website | www.woodenfish.org |
Yifa (Chinese:依法; born 1959) is a Taiwanese lawyer, theologian, and writer who is the founder of theWoodenfish Foundation. She is a nun ordained in 1979 byFo Guang Shan, a Buddhist organization in Taiwan. She served as a department head and dean ofUniversity of the West during her tenure at the college.[1]
Yifa attended law school atNational Taiwan University, where she obtained anLL.B. degree, then completed graduate studies in the United States. She earned a master's degree incomparative philosophy from theUniversity of Hawaiʻi and aPh.D. inreligious studies fromYale University.[1] As a graduate student at Yale, she was mentored by Buddhist studies professor Stanley Weinstein and wrote her doctoral dissertation on theVinaya and Indian and Chinese monastic codes.
Yifa has participated in many interfaith dialogues such as the Gethsemani Encounter and contributed to theUNICEF South Asia's Safe Motherhood Project. She is also the current director of theWoodenfish program for college students.[2]
In 2003, Yifa was awarded an Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award. In October 2006, she was honored at the 9th Annual Juliet Hollister Awards Ceremony, which was held at the United Nations Headquarters.[3] Yifa was recognized along withWall Street Journal reporterDaniel Pearl, who was honored posthumously.
Venerable Yifa has also been involved in translating sutras from Mandarin to English. Since 2006, Yifa and others have published translations of theHeart Sutra,Diamond Sutra,Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra and theAmitabha Sutra.[4]Yifa is based in Beijing, China and travels often to meet with scholars and members of the global Buddhist community.
Yifa has also co-authoredBenedict's Dharma: Buddhists Reflect On the Role of St. Benedict, along withNorman Fischer,Joseph Goldstein, Judith Simmer-Brown,David Steindl-Rast, and editor Patrick J. Henry.[10]
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