Paula Kane Robinson Arai

Paula Arai's newest book, The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love (Shambhala Publications), is now available. Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra––the Buddhist Art of Iwasaki Tsuneo, is available through (Shambhala Publications). Filled with color images of stunning art, it makes Buddhist teachings visually accessible. She is also author of Women Living Zen: Japanese Buddhist Nuns (Oxford University Press) and Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Buddhist Women’s Rituals (University of Hawai’i Press), and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice (Oxford University Press). She received her Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University and did Zen training at the Aichi Senmon Nisōdō nunnery in Nagoya, Japan. Approaching her research with focus on embodied experience, she has received generous support from Fulbright and American Council of Learned Societies Fellowships, and grants from the Mellon Foundation, Reischauer Institute of Harvard University, the American Academy of Religion, and ATLAS (Awards to Louisiana Artists and Scholars). In addition to curating exhibitions featuring the art of Iwasaki Tsuneo, she is an active public speaker and leads workshops on healing rituals. A devoted teacher, Arai is the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies Professor at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, CA. She enjoys hiking, playing the violin, seeing her son do magic tricks, loves dogs and playing games with family and friends, especially Pictionary.