• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Elaine Yuen

Contemplative Chaplaincy – Buddhist Chaplaincy

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Contemplative Chaplaincy
    • Contemplative Chaplaincy
    • Articles
    • Powerpoints
    • Guided Meditations
    • Videos
  • Art in Everyday Life
    • Art in Everyday Life
    • Space, Form and Energy
    • Kintsugi
    • From Knitting to Sitting
  • Workshops and Classes
  • Blog
  • Contact

So what’s it like to be a Buddhist chaplain?

January 14, 2021 By Elaine Yuen

From 2000 to 2012 I was a Buddhist (and interfaith) chaplain intern at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, where I also worked as a Research Professor of Public Health.  While Buddhism is far from being a mainstream religion in the United States[i], I found that my Buddhist practices and understandings supported me in my training as an interfaith chaplain.

I was part of a team of multi-faith chaplains at a large, tertiary care hospital in downtown Philadelphia.  Our care supported spiritual and emotional needs of patients in the many clinical departments of the hospital.  I was “on-call” approximately once a month, responding to calls from the nursing floors, as well as to emergencies, and rounding in the many medical and surgical intensive care units.

In addition to our on-call time, we also had supervision-type meetings where all of the people in my internship group got together and discussed patient cases, intermixing clinical discussion with theological perspectives.  There were often 4-6 chaplain interns in my peer groups; at that time, I was the only Buddhist.  Most of the others were Christian and reflected the diversity of Philadelphia’s demographic, ranging from Catholic to black Baptist.  Many of the patients I visited were not Buddhist either, although I was the Buddhist chaplain on call.  In that role, I visited Vietnamese and Chinese families as their loved ones were dying, as well as Western-trained Buddhists who were in for bone marrow transplants and cancer treatment.

My training as a Buddhist and meditator supported me in this activity.  I vividly experienced the Four Noble Truths, one of the first teachings the Buddha gave – where he spoke of birth, old age, sickness, and death.  The Buddhist teachings became very visceral and immediate, providing tremendous ground for my personal formation as a chaplain.  My practices of mindfulness and awareness supported an intention to open to myriad situations within the hospital, and to listen deeply.

And, a trust in Bodhicitta[ii] – a basic goodness that exists in all beings – was key to my caregiving as a chaplain.  When I interacted with patients and staff, I used our encounters to look for that personally felt connection to Bodhicitta.  This connection was often created through conversation and physical gestures.  It was an exploration of what topics, words, movements – warmed the heart, and opened up the humanity within the hospital room.  It could be noticing family photos, or what sports team was playing on the television, or equally a prayer from a religious tradition.

In the urban environs of Philadelphia, I discovered many ways that people expressed their connection to their human-ness, Bodhicitta.  And, I felt it was one of the chaplain’s roles to support and enhance that quality through words and gestures, particularly in times of grief and transition.  I would mirror Bodhicitta back to them – perhaps through a spontaneous prayer – or gestures – perhaps by joining hands – in a way that would bring comfort to them.  It was seldom that I overtly proclaimed my being Buddhist, unless I was asked.  However, I felt that my Buddhist training supported an ability to be present with suffering and to offer compassion, as well as to be open to a creative expression of what was appropriate for a specific encounter.

It has been years since my first CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) trainings in Philadelphia, and I have gone on to teach aspiring chaplains in the Master of Divinity program at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.  Along the way, I’ve recognized the many Buddhist upayas[iii], or skillful means, that support how our own and others’ suffering can be worked with and alleviated.  As mindfulness meditation has become increasingly popular within our larger social sphere[iv], I have observed how mindfulness, a practice originally described in Buddhist texts[v], has become a support for many caregivers who may not identify solely (or at all) as being Buddhist.

This changing role of Buddhist views and practices within the field of chaplaincy is a question that we hope to answer in a current study, Mapping Buddhist Chaplains in North America[vi], that is being fielded through Brandeis with a consortium of researchers from academic institutions in the United States. As Buddhism as a religion and practice becomes integrated within Western sensibilities, it will be relevant how chaplaincy and spiritual caregiving draws upon Buddhist wisdom, as well as how Buddhist practices are shaped by practicing chaplains.

[i] Pew Research in 2019 finding 1% of the US population are Buddhists 5 facts about Buddhists around the world.  Pew Research Fact Tank, April 2019.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/05/5-facts-about-buddhists-around-the-world/#:~:text=4Buddhists%20make%20up%20roughly,to%20Pew%20Research%20Center%20estimates. Referenced 1/6/2021.

[ii] Bodhichitta: The Excellence of Awakened Heart, Pema Chodron.  Lion’s Road, October, 2015.  https://www.lionsroar.com/bodhichitta-the-excellence-of-awakened-heart/.  Accessed 1/6/2021.

[iii] An Explanation of Upaya in Buddhism Skillful or Expedient Means.  https://www.learnreligions.com/upaya-skillful-or-expedient-means-450018.  Accessed 1/6/2021.

[iv] Use of Yoga, Meditation, and Chiropractors Among U.S. Adults Aged 18 and Over.  NCHS Data Brief 325, Nov 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db325-h.pdf.  Accessed 1/6/2021.

[v] The Buddha’s Original Teachings on Mindfulness: The Satipatthana Sutta, from the Pali Canon, outlines some of the Buddha’s first instructions in establishing mindful awareness.  Tricycle, March, 2018.  https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/satipatthana-sutta-mindfulness/.  Accessed 1/6/2021.

[vi] Mapping Buddhist Chaplains in North America. tinyurl.com/buddhistsurvey. Accessed 1/6/2021.

From the Blog

The Power of Prayer

We’re familiar with the words of prayer - the supplications and rituals that are used to soothe and comfort. But, where within those words lies the power of prayer? Today is Martin Luther King Day, and a time of remembering how we gather as a ...

Read More →

Upcoming workshops and classes

So, What’s It Like To Be Asian In The Shambhala Community?

Shambhala_Online/ElaineFla.JPG

Date: Sunday, February 6, 2022 (3 PM EST or 15:00 -16:00)
Patron Price: $20.00

I’ve been in the Shambhala community since the early 1970s, but recently, in the midst of current conversations around race, ethnicity, and belonging, took some time to consider my Asian American identity, and how it “shows up” in different contexts. What are the cultural and political differences, and how do I “belong” to diverse social/community groups? Using a personal lens as a starting point, I would like to invite you to join me in considering how our experiences of culture – learned from birth as well as from current contexts – intersects with behaviors and stances that variously evolve into group belonging or political activity. Of particular interest is how Shambhala practices and teachings of meditation and warriorship might support this contemplation.

calendar-details – Shambhala Online

***********************************

Being Tara

Interested in visualization practice?  Tara practice encourages us to tune into her quality of compassion that protects from obstacles to health and supports long life.  This talk will explore how Tara practice works with our thoughts, emotions and sense perceptions to create a field of kindness, clarity, and power.  I hope to see you there!

January 9, 2022 at 11 am EST – White Tara Practice (Online) with Dr. Elaine Yuen | Shambhala Meditation Center of Philadelphia

********************************

The Buddhist Journey: An Overview of Teachings and Practices

Part I:  First Turning Teachings – September 16 – October 21, 2021

Part II: The Mahayana Path – November 4 – December 16, 2021

Online from 7-9 pm Eastern Standard Time

Register and info here: The Buddhist Journey: An Overview of Teachings and Practices Part I (Online) with Dr. Elaine Yuen & Thomas Berthoff | Shambhala Meditation Center of Philadelphia

This two-part course will explore the transformational aspects of teachings and practices of the Buddhist Path within the context of Buddhist history, texts and traditions.  Beginning with insights into how humans generate confusion and habitual patterns, we will explore how those insights become the foundation for compassion and skillful means to work with others in contemporary contexts.

Part One: First Turning Teachings will outline historical as well as psychological aspects of early Buddhism found in the Abhidharma.  Buddhist articulations on the nature of mind, along with important practices, will be included in Part One.

Part Two: The Mahayana Path will explore how compassion is engendered, and the path of the Bodhisattva (Awake Being).   An overview of Vajrayana perspectives and practices, such as Dzogchen and Mahamudra, will be included.

Although Parts One and Two are best taken as a sequence, Part One is not a pre-requisite for Part Two, and they may be taken separately.

***************************************************

Finding Balance in Challenging Times

I’m on a panel with my colleagues in India and Thailand – check it out at  https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/deer-park-institute-announces-webinar-finding-balance-in-challenging-times

Saturday, 27 February, 19:00–21:00 (New Delhi)
Saturday, 27 February, 08:30–10:30 (Montréal, New York)
Saturday, 27 February, 05:30–07:30 (Los Angeles, Vancouver)

The event is open to everyone and is free of charge. To register, email: info@nulldeerpark.in

*******************************************************

Friday Night Talk: Cultural Humility: Opening the Heart and Listening to Basic Goodness with Elaine Yuen | Shambhala Meditation Center of Boston

January 29 at 7 pm Eastern time, 8 Atlantic, 4 Mountain, 5 Pacific time

Especially these days, genuine communication and connection with all people and their manifestation of basic goodness is key.  Cultural humility is a practice that encourages respectful partnerships through the exploration of similarities and differences between the histories, priorities, goals, and capacities of these groups, and is a lifelong process of self-reflection and self-critique that supports cultural difference. This presentation will explore how we might open our hearts to others, as well as listen and allow for conversation, longings and desires.

*******************************************************

Mindful Communication in Modern Times / October 4 and 18 

In October, I’m zooming in with young folks at Dharma Drum Mountain in Los Angeles.  Contact me if you’re interested!

 

 

*******************************************************

Contemplative Caregiving / October 29 / 7:00-8:30 pm EST / Philadelphia Shambhala Center

In this program, we will discuss specific ways that our Buddhist understandings of suffering and basic goodness directly inform caring for self and others in contemporary times.
For more details and to register: https://philadelphia.shambhala.org/program-details/?id=463743

 

Join me on social media

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Join my mailing list!

Contact Elaine Yuen • elaineyuen@aol.com