Faith Adielé Reading
Faith Adielé reads excerpts from her memoir entitled Meeting Faith: the Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun. Adielé, a woman of both Scandinavian and Nigerian descent, discusses her time spent growing up on her grandparent’s farm in Washington state. She identifies her unique position as a child, pointing out that she was the “only black girl in town;” and that her family was comprised of Unitarian liberals in a sea of conservative Christians. Adielé describes her excitement at attending Harvard University, with the assumption that she would finally “fit in”—but found that she felt forced to chooses between blacks and whites. She details her decision to drop out of Harvard and move to Thailand, and eventually become ordained as a Buddhist nun.
Adielé describes the layout of her book, pointing out that she incorporated her personal journal entries that were written during the time of her ordination as a demonstration of “how any practice requires a daily commitment and struggle.” During a question and answer session, Adielé describes the process that led up to her ordainment, pointing out that she had initially only been conducting research about the Buddhist nuns. She goes on to describe her “vow of silence” experience as well as her studies with the head nun of the temple. Adielé also points out that she is no longer ordained as a nun, and details the “temporary ordinations” that are performed in Thailand.
Adielé ends by discussing her filming of the documentary about her experience entitled “My Journey Home.” She points out that the documentary was extremely beneficial personally in that it helped her to contextual her experience.
In: "Live from Prairie Lights" Audio Archive | Nonfiction
Authors: Faith Adielé
Date Recorded: April 27, 2004
Works Read: Meeting Faith: the Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun by Faith Adielé
Program: Live From Prairie Lights
Format: reading
Contributors: Introduction by host Julie Englander.
Topics: interracial identity, Buddhism, Thailand, memoirs