Karuna Dharma ( vi, Thích Nữ Ân Từ; April 21, 1940—February 22, 2014) was an American Buddhist scholar and nun. She was the first American-born woman to become a fully ordained Buddhist nun in the Vietnamese tradition. She was the abbess of the International Buddhist Meditation Center of Los Angeles.

Biography

Karuna Dharma was born Joyce Adele Pettingill on April 21, 1940 in

Beloit, Wisconsin Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people. History Twelve men in Colebrook, New Hampshire, created the "New England Emigrating Company" in October 1836 and sent ...

to a Baptist family. She attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

where she met Ben Ting Fun Lum. They married and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where he was an aerospace engineer for

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

. She met Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master

Thích Thiên-Ân Thích Thiên-Ân (釋天恩) (September 22, 1925—November 23, 1980) was a teacher and Buddhist monk of Vietnamese Thiền (Zen) Buddhism and was active in the United States from 1966 to 1980. He was ordained at Chua Chau Lam in Hue, Vietnam. ...

in 1969 when she signed up for a class on Buddhism. She was one of his first students. She helped him establish the International Buddhist Meditation Center (IBMC) in 1970. She took full ordination in the Lieu Quang school of

Vietnamese Thiền Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Over ...

from Thích Thiên-Ân in 1976. This made her the first fully ordained female member of the Buddhist monastic community in the U.S. Following Thích Thiên-Ân's death in 1980, she succeeded him in directing the International Buddhist Meditation Center. Karuna Dharma used the International Buddhist Meditation Center to assist Vietnamese refugees and was greatly influential in their resettlement in the United States following the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Dharma interpreted the Prātimokṣa's prohibition on sexual misconduct as not applying to people in a committed relationship. She estimated at one point that one third of the community at IBMC was lesbian or gay. During Venerable Karuna Dharma's lifetime, she ordained nearly 50 bhikkhunis and hundreds of Buddhist clergy and laity. She served as president of the American Buddhist Congress and vice president of the College of Buddhist Studies and the Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California. She founded Sakyadhita, the Buddhist-Catholic dialog, Buddhist Sangha Council of SoCal, Inter-religious Council of SoCal. She had two daughters, Chrystine and Elan. Venerable Karuna Dharma died on February 22, 2014 from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharma, Karuna 1940 births 2014 deaths American Buddhist nuns American Zen Buddhists People from Beloit, Wisconsin Thiền Buddhists University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Zen Buddhist nuns 20th-century Buddhist nuns 21st-century Buddhist nuns 21st-century American women