Field of Blessings: Ritual & Consciousness in the Work of Buddhist Healers (Paperback)
Ji Hyang Padma believes that we are hungry for a direct experience of the sacred in this culture. We try to fill the void with technology, and its 'quick fix' of images and information. This leaves us hungry for true connectivity. We don't need more information. We need more appreciation. Gratitude opens the heart, and gives our life meaning; it becomes a form of spiritual experience that gives us strength. Field of Blessings explores how meaning-making can be approached by deep examination of the stories of our lives, which bridge the gap between the inner world and the outer world, giving shape to our experience. How can these narratives be spoken, written, or embodied? Ritual is the story brought-to-life, and a powerful vehicle for spiritual transformation, for reconnecting people with an embodied wholeness. Ji Hyang Padma shows that Chod, Medicine Buddha practices, and other Tibetan rituals are used by healers to evoke sacred energies, radical empathy, and to contact deep archetypal realms of the psyche.
Ji Hyang Padma holds a doctorate in psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology/Sofia University. Her dissertation research focused on consciousness and healing, through the lens of traditional Buddhist healing practices. She currently serves as Director of the Comparative Religion & Philosophy Program at the California Institute for Human Science. She has also taught Zen at Wellesley College, Harvard University and Omega Institute. She lives in Encinitas, CA.