Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, hosted some 70 people at a landmark symposium on 25 October titled “Sexual Violence in Buddhism: Centering Survivors’ Voices.” The event, part of a larger three-day conference, brought together academics, survivors, and advocates to explore the prevalence of sexual abuse within Buddhist communities and to foster dialogue on healing and justice. Organizers emphasized that this symposium was the first public-facing event in the academic study of Buddhism focused explicitly on sexual violence.

The event was organized by Nancy Floy, founder of the Heartwood integrative health and healing center,  Dr. Ann Gleig, associate professor of religion and cultural studies at the University of Central Florida, Dr. Sarah Jacoby, professor of religious studies at Northwestern University, and Dr. Amy Paris Langenberg, professor of religious studies at Eckerd College.

“For the conference itself, our goal was to show that sexual violence in Buddhism is a global phenomenon that occurs across lineages and in multiple cultural contexts, and has devastating impacts on its victims and their wider communities,” the organizers stated following the event. “Moving forward we hope that the conference inspires our colleagues in Buddhist studies to take sexual violence in Buddhism seriously as a legitimate scholarly and pedagogical topic. We want to continue to foster collaborative scholarly and advocacy efforts across cultural contexts and develop global networks of support.”

The symposium was funded primarily by the Hemera Foundation, with additional support from Heartwood, the Henry Luce Foundation, Khyentse Foundation, and Northwestern University. Notably, the Hemera Foundation’s contribution included funding for more than 600 therapy sessions for survivors of sexual violence in Buddhist contexts, available over the next two years.

The symposium began with a welcome from Sarah Jacoby amd Nancy Floy, followed by a series of presentations addressing abuse in different Buddhist settings. Ven. Dr. Choela Tenzin Dadon, a Bhutanese nun, and Ven. Dr. Karma Tashi Chodron, a Malaysian nun ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, discussed “Sacred Spaces, Silent Suffering: Sexual Abuse in Tibetan Buddhist Contexts,” while Lama Willa Blyth Baker, PhD, founder of the Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, presented, “Coming Forward: The Treacherous and Empowering Path of Breaking Silence,” detailing her public and private process of exposing sexual abuse by her teacher.

Dr. Chandana Namal Rathnayake, from Sri Lanka, delivered a talk on “Buddhism and Sexual Abuse: A Burden on Sri Lankan Buddhist Children,” based on research from his recently-awarded PhD. Reflecting on the event, Dr. Rathnayake noted that the symposium formally recognized sexual violence as a crucial issue in Buddhist practice and scholarship. “I walked away realizing that sexual abuse in Buddhism is a global and ongoing crisis,” he told BDG, adding that he “wanted others to understand where Sri Lanka was located in that crisis.”

Dr. Rathnayake highlighted the experiences of children in Sri Lanka in his talk, “Buddhism and Sexual Abuse: A Burden on Sri Lankan Buddhist Children.” He remarked: “This event—perhaps for the first time—recognized the issue as a legitimate one for both the field of Buddhist studies and Buddhist practice.”

The program also featured a roundtable moderated by Rachel Bernstein, where survivors—including Catherine Pilfrey, Nancy Floy, Linda Modaro, Caroline DeVane, and Rachel Montgomery—shared personal stories and reflections. Montgomery, a survivor and co-founder of the Heartwood Connecting Survivors program, expressed gratitude for the supportive environment. “The symposium was notably warm and inclusive. As a survivor of harm within Buddhism, the supportive and caring environment was profoundly meaningful,” Montgomery stated. “My key takeaway was the overwhelming sense of solidarity and support—it felt like there are more people cheering us on in our healing and recovery than there are seeking to silence us.”

Caroline DeVane, a former Zen Buddhist priest and abuse survivor and a PhD student in anthropology, told BDG: “It was incredibly impactful for me, now that I’ve left both the priesthood and academic religious studies, to see these two communities in productive dialogue about an issue that is so painful but necessary to discuss.” She added, “From the presentation I gave, I hope people could hear the confluence of social, structural, and doctrinal factors that facilitated the abuse I went through. I also hope people see this is not a problem of individuals, but that abuse is systemic, therefore the causes and conditions for abuse merit academic inquiry.”

Carol Merchasin, a lawyer who has worked with abuse survivors, concluded the individual sessions with her talk, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Can the Legal System Offer Justice to Survivors of Sexual Abuse in Spiritual Communities?” She spoke about the slow and often arduous legal process faced by survivors. Nonetheless, Merchasin noted that high-profile lawsuits had helped educate the public about the endemic nature of sexual violence in Buddhist communities.

The event concluded with a roundtable discussion on how Buddhist studies as a discipline could contribute to the support of survivors. Panelists, including Ann Gleig, Damchö Diana Finnegan, Kali Cape, Amy Paris Langenberg, and Sarah Jacoby, explored ways to bridge academic research with survivor advocacy. Jacoby told BDG: “We tried to start up a conversation that centers diverse survivor voices, with the hope that talking more openly about these issues will help reduce harm.”

Montgomery expressed optimism that the event could inspire ongoing dialogue between survivors and scholars: “I hope this symposium paves the way for more survivors to share their experiences with Buddhist scholars, and that those scholars feel they have the tools to listen.”

The symposium aimed to position sexual violence within Buddhist communities as a critical topic for both academic inquiry and religious practice. Damchö Diana Finnegan, PhD, University of Wisconsin Madison and founder of the Dharmadatta Community, told BDG: “This conference will make it impossible for scholars to overlook this central part of the experience of Buddhism. Survivors of abuse by Buddhist teachers are often pushed out of their sanghas, so a conference bringing them together with Buddhist studies scholars was one important step toward healing that harm and beginning to hold teachers and communities accountable.”

See more

Heartwood center for body mind spirit
Ven. Dr. Tenzin Dadon & Ven. Dr. Karma Tashi Choedron — Silent No More! [trigger warning] (YouTube)
She Said No: Toward a Survivor-Centered History of Vajrayāna Buddhist Sexuality (Journal of the American Academy of Religion)

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