Reflections from the Convent Bhikshuni Heng Hsien, Bhikshuni Heng Yi & Bhikshuni Heng Liang How do we find balance between our intellectual lives and the spiritual path? In this piece, three bhikshunis (nuns) reflect on how they integrate both scholarship and practice. Heng Hsien, a bhikshuni since 1972, holds a doctorate in South and Southeast Asian Studies from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Mediterranean Studies from Brandeis University. Heng Liang, a bhikshuni since 1982, received her Master’s degree from Dharma Realm Buddhist University, where she is registrar. Heng Yi, a bhikshuni since 1991, received her Bachelor’s degree in Taiwan and her Master’s in Translation from Dharma Realm. This article includes excerpts from a lecture given on December 3, 1998, as part of the Institute for World Religions Fall Faculty Lecture Series, Walking the Way: Praxis and Gnosis in Religious Experience. Bhikshuni Heng Hsien: I have been asked to reflect upon my own experience and how I have integrated the intellectual or academic aspect of my life with my spiritual path. Some people start on the spiritual path as monastics and go out into the world to pursue academic degrees. I have had the opposite experience: I came to the monastic life through the door of academia. I was born and raised in the intellectual community. My father was a professor at Stanford, then later transferred to UC Berkeley. Even before high school, I began asking questions like, “Do I believe in reincarnation or not?” In the U.S., our schooling was largely scientific, so I was really asking, “Does reincarnation match my scientific beliefs?” Actually, it did. I had learned the principle of the conservation of matter, and thought, Why shouldn’t there also be the conservation of spirit? If matter changed into different forms, including energy, then why shouldn’t spirit, from life to life?
issue 1, june 2001
49