The First Buddhist Women
with Tracy Cochran and Wendy Garling
Saturday, March 30th, 2019 | 10:00am-5:00pm
This daylong retreat will share little-known stories of the first Buddhist women, including the mother, stepmother, wife, and harem of the historical Buddha.
Present from the beginning but long suppressed by patriarchy, these women’s stories are like carefully hidden termas, or teachings, emerging now to guide and inspire us in a challenging time.
They offer a more engaged, emotionally alive and gender-balanced Buddhism, filling gaps we have sensed but haven’t named.
Join Wendy Garling, author of Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha’s Life, and New York Insight teacher Tracy Cochran for a day of contemplation and exploration, alternating silent meditation with storytelling and writing exercises designed to explore relevant themes and questions.
This retreat is open to anyone who identifies as a woman or loves women. Beginners and advanced meditators are welcome.
Registration:
The registration fee includes teacher support. If you wish to give more in addition to the registration fee, the total (registration fees and additional contributions) will be shared between NYI and the teacher(s).
Note About Registration:
If you have questions about your registration (cancellation policy, membership discount, email confirmation, etc.), please read our FAQs. If your question is not addressed in the FAQs, please email [email protected].
New York Insight Meditation Center is offering a new structure for registration. Members receive 15% off of the Sustaining Rate via a code provided in the membership email confirmation.
NYI is committed to ensuring that our programs are available to all, regardless of ability to pay. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. No financial assistance application is needed when registering for a program.
We offer new sliding scale fees, and ask that you choose the highest fee you are able to afford based on your financial means. The Sustaining rate represents the actual program operating cost. If you can afford this level or higher, you assist our efforts to offer reduced rates and support ongoing financial assistance. If you are unable to pay the Base Fee, you can set up a payment plan or let us know how much you are able to pay at this time by emailing [email protected].
Teacher(s)
Tracy Cochran
Tracy Cochran has taught meditation and spiritual practice for many years. She is a speaker and author whose most recent book is Presence: The Art of Being At Home in Yourself (Shambhala, 2024). Tracy is the founder and guiding teacher of the Hudson River Sangha and has taught mindfulness and mindful writing at New York Insight, the Rubin Museum, and many other venues. Tracy has served as the editorial director of the acclaimed spiritual quarterly Parabola, and her writings have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, The Best Spiritual Writing series, Parabola, many other publications and anthologies. For more about Tracy, please visit tracycochran.org and parabola.org.
Wendy Garling
Wendy Garling is a writer, mother, independent scholar, and authorized dharma teacher with a BA from Wellesley College and MA in Sanskrit language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley.
She is the author of Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha’s Life, (2016, Shambhala Publications), a groundbreaking new biography of the Buddha that relates his journey to awakening through the stories of Buddhism’s first women.