Bhiksuni Dr. Yifa

Taiwan

Bhiksuni Dr. Yifa of Taiwan earned her Ph.D. at Yale University (USA) in Religious Studies. Her research focused on the Buddhist monastic code. She holds a faculty post at Hsi Lai Buddhist University in Hacienda Heights , California , USA , where she teaches Chinese Buddhism.

She is a native of Taiwan , and in 1997 received the Taiwanese Award as an Outstanding Young Person. She also holds a post on the standing committee of the International Buddhist Progress Society, which has temples throughout the world.

In 2002, she published Safeguarding the Heart: A Buddhist Response to Suffering and September 11 (Lantern Books, New York : 2002) and The Origins of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China (Hawaii University Press, Honolulu : 2002). Currently, she is the abbess of The Greater Boston Buddhist Cultural Center in Boston , Massachusetts, USA.