Interfaith Zen Group to Host Discussion on the Benefits of Meditation

The Fordham Interfaith Zen Sitting Group will host a discussion next week about the purpose and benefit of meditation, featuring two experts in the Zen Buddhist tradition.

Theology Roundtable: Meditation
Tuesday, March 19
4:30 p.m.
Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J., Chapel
Lowenstein Center | Lincoln Center Campus

Leading Tuesday’s discussion will be Robert Kennedy, S.J. an American priest and Zen Roshi, and Khenpo Pema Wandak, a Tibetan Buddhist monk who has taught Westerners for 30 years.

Following his entrance into the Jesuit order in 1951 and his ordination in 1965, Father Kennedy studied in Japan, learning the practices of Zen Buddhism. He became a Zen teacher in the White Plum Asanga lineage in 1991 and became in 1997 Roshi, a title for highly respected teachers in Zen Buddhism. Currently, he is an elder in the Zen Peacemaker Order, teaches theology, and is a practicing psychoanalyst in New York City.

Wangdak is a Tibetan teacher and founder of the Vikramasila Foundation, which runs Palden Sakya Centers in New York City and throughout the Northeast. He is also the founder of various monastic and lay schools for children in India and Nepal. In 2009, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethical Coalition of Organizations for his humanitarian work around the world, becoming the first Tibetan to have received the award.

The speakers will also provide introductory meditation instruction at the event.

The roundtable discussion is sponsored by Fordham’s Department of Theology and the Zen Sitting Group, a meditation group sponsored by Campus Ministry and based on the teachings of Father Kennedy.

— Joanna Klimaski