This one-hour continuing education workshop offers counselors a foundational introduction to core Buddhist concepts and how they can inform therapeutic practice. Participants will explore key principles such as mindfulness, compassion, non-attachment, and the nature of suffering, with practical insights on how these ideas can support clients in their healing journeys. No prior knowledge of Buddhism is required.
Ji Hyang Padma, PhD
Dr. Ji Hyang Padma has done intensive Zen training and teaching for over twenty-five years as a scholar- practitioner, fourteen years in monastic training. She has received Lay Entrustment Transmission in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. She has served Tufts University, Northeastern University, Wellesley College, Brandeis University, and Babson University as a chaplain. She has served as Meditation Teacher in Residence at Omega Institute for seventeen years. Ji Hyang Padma directed the Comparative Religion and Philosophy Program at California Institute for Human Science. She has written two books, Living the Season: Zen practice for transformative times, and Field of Blessing: Ritual and consciousness in the work of Buddhist healers. She holds a B.A. degree from Wellesley College and a PhD degree from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She is also an MBSR teacher and reiki practitioner and enjoys facilitating restorative justice circles on issues of race and gender.
During the pandemic, Ji Hyang Padma served as chaplain resident at UCSF Medical Center. Ji Hyang’s recent writing has been published in Our Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interfaith Encounters and Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work. Her book, Zen Practices for Transformative Times, was published by Quest. Her next book, Sourcebook of Buddhist College Chaplaincy, will be published by Sumeru in 2025.
Books
Padma, J. Field of Blessings: Ritual and Consciousness in the Work of Buddhist Healers. March 2021: Mantra Books.
Padma, J. Living the Season: Zen Practices for Transformative Times. October 2013. Quest Books.
Articles & Essays
“The Growing Edges of Community: Crossing the Race Line” in Four Winds Journal, Orenda Healing International. New York: Fall, 2018.
“Meditations on the Heart Sutra.” In From Text to Life: Religious Resources for Interreligious Engagement, ed. Orr Rose and Soren Hesslet. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, Fall 2017.
“College Chaplaincy.” In Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work ed. Cheryl A. Giles and Willa B. Miller. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2012.
“Practicing in the Temples of Human Experience.” In My Neighbor’s Faith, ed. Jennifer Howe Peace, Orr Rose and Gregory Mobley. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2012.
“Buddhism as a Pluralistic Tradition.” In Education as Transformation, ed. Victor Kazanjian and Peter Laurence. New York: Peter Lang, 2000.