The Buddhist canon is filled with pithy teachings from and stories about Buddha. Many of the sutras, where Buddha gives profound answers to questions posed by his students have become very well known, even outside Buddhist circles. Lesser known to modern practitioners, are the stories that lead to the guidelines that support monastic practitioners on the path to awakening. In particular, there are many stories about his students misbehaving and how the Buddha was able to turn these situations into opportunities for progressing on the path . These stories became a list of guidelines and precepts, referred to as the Vinaya. In today’s episode, we will focus on some of the stories about nuns that are largely unknown to modern day meditators. Dr. Annie Heckman, an expert in the field, and Erric Solomon explore how these stories have enabled Buddhist practitioners' realization and continue to inform us in today’s the modern world.

Dr. Annie Heckman

Associate Translator, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

Born in Chicago, Annie Heckman is an Associate Translator for 84000 whose research focuses on stories about nuns in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, with an emphasis on fourteenth-century Tibetan editorial and digesting practices. She holds MA and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto’s Department for the Study of Religion and Book History and Print Culture collaborative program, as well as a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MFA from New York University in Studio Arts. She studied Tibetan language and literature at the University of Chicago Graham School prior to pursuing graduate work in Buddhist studies. She has taught at DePaul University, contributed to Bird of Paradise Press in Virginia, and worked as a reviewer of Dunhuang manuscripts at McMaster University, where she was an Ontario Visiting Graduate Student from 2017 to 2019. She was among the first three recipients of the annual Tsadra Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for Tibetan Buddhist Studies, with a thesis on Butön Rinchen Drub’s digest of vinaya narratives involving nuns.