Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Taiwan
Yifa has been a nun at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan since 1979. She received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University in 1996, was named among the "Ten Outstanding Young Persons" in Taiwan in 1997, and received the "Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award" in 2003. She has been an administrator at Fo Guang Shan Buddhist College and at Hsi Lai University in Rosemead, California, a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University, and a faculty member at National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan. Now she is on the faculty of Hsi Lai University.
During these years Yifa has been engaged in interfaith dialogues, some of which were supported by UNESCO, and was a contributor to the "Safe Motherhood Project" by UNICEF in the South Asia Office. Her current research focuses on monasticism and women in Buddhism. She is working on "Women in Buddhism through the Ages" and a project to develop a Database of the Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Women. She is also the author of The Origin of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China, by Hawaii University Press, and Safeguarding the Heart: A Buddhist Response to Suffering and September 11, by Lantern Books, NY.
Greater Boston Buddhist Cultural Center (GBBCC) is a branch temple of Fo Guang Shan. GBBCC embraces the vision of Humanistic Buddhism: to disseminate Buddhist values for the benefit of humanity. It strives to serve the community by providing educational opportunities, sponsoring cultural events, engaging in charity work, and conducting worship and meditation services.