A new road

About six years ago, I came into contact with a Buddhist community based at a monastery called Santi, tucked away deep in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Its very existence seemed unlikely. For a while I had a quote from a Hobbit walking song on the whiteboard in my office in the Old Quad at the University of Sydney, reminding me of this other world:

"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun."

      (J. R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings)

Recently I was invited to write a post for a blog called Awakening Buddhist Women. I decided to take the opportunity to reflect on my experiences at Santi and what they taught me about the challenges facing women in Theravada Buddhism. You can read the results here.