Rina

“Though Rina Sircar's mother was her first meditation instructor, she told Rina and her brothers and sisters to surrender themselves at the feet of the great saint Very Venerable Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Sayadaw and to take training from him in all spiritual matters.  Rina travelled to the Sayadaw's remote monasteries in the hamlets of Taungpulu and Tezu in order to practice meditation and to receive instruction from the great forest ascetic. Taungpulu Sayadaw's attendant monk, the Venerable Thazi Sayadaw, was also very accomplished in the fields of Sutta and Abhidhamma studies and taught Rina whenever he was in Rangoon…

In 1977 Dr. Sircar took seven students to Burma to visit Taungpulu Sayadaw and to invite him to visit The United States.  The Sayadaw was very happy to have the opportunity to introduce the Dhamma teachings to a western country, and even though he was 80 years old during his first visit in 1978, he happily accepted a second invitation.

Dr. Rina Sircar has made a unique contribution to the field of Buddhist studies over the course of her long career. As a representative of an authentic ancient lineage in the Theravada forest tradition and as a disciple of one of the greatest Buddhist masters of the twentieth century, she is one of the earliest and the first female teacher who brought the wisdom teachings and meditation practices of the oldest school of Buddhism to the United States. The Theravada tradition is primarily focused on the practice of meditation, psychoethical training and psychospiritual transformation. Rina's meditation classes and retreats in the satipatthana-vipassana tradition were the earliest of their kind in California in the 1970s and the Taungpulu Kaba-Aye Monastery which she cofounded still remains the only Theravada forest monastery in the U.S. with original Burmese designed pagoda and stupa structures.

Rina has been instrumental in arranging for Burmese monks to visit and stay at the TKAM center and elsewhere in the Bay Area. Many of Rina's close students have traveled with her to Burma and other parts of Asia on a number of occasions gaining first-hand experience of the living Buddhist traditions and teachings. Because of her emphasis on healing and Buddhist psychology Rina attracted numerous physicians, psychotherapists and healers among her students many of whom attended her retreats and classes for decades and contributed to the emerging holistic healing and psychology and integrative medicine in recent years.

TKAM has also served as an important religious center for the Bay Area Burmese community since its inception. Several important Buddhist festivals and auspicious days are observed and celebrated at TKAM every year providing an opportunity for many to observe and participate in genuine Buddhist culture.”

"Dr. Rina Sircar, former core faculty and Professor Emerita of the Asian and Comparative Studies program at CIIS, was with CIIS for many years. She earned a Doctoral degree in Indian Philosophy from Gujarat University, India, in 1974 and a second Ph.D. in South Asian Studies from the California Institute of Asian Studies in 1976.

In addition to more than 30 years of teaching experience and authoring several publications, Dr. Sircar is co-founder and resident meditation teacher of the Taungpulu Kaba-Aye monastery and its San Francisco center, where she conducts retreats on mindfulness, insight, healing, and death and dying in the Theravada forest tradition. Dr. Sircar currently holds the World Peace Buddhist Chair in the Philosophy and Religion department.

Conducted by Jim Ryan, co-director of Asian and Comparative Studies, and Sharon Roe, graduate student in Asian and Comparative Studies, this interview took place on March 2, 2003.

Jim Ryan: You came to CIIS in 1974 to study with Dr. Chaudhuri. What was the Philosophy and Religion program like at that time?

Rina Sircar: Dr. Chaudhuri taught philosophy and religion, and Zen Buddhism was also taught. There was no teacher for Theravada Buddhism. So from the very first month, I taught and studied.
On my last day of classes, I thought that Dr. Chaudhuri looked a little tired and suggested that he go out for a walk. He said, "Yes, Rina, but first let me give you your dissertation topic." I reminded him that he had given me the topic a long time ago and that, furthermore, I had completed the writing. He replied, "Oh, really? Good. Congratulations." And then he changed my topic, which had been on the epistemological and logical aspects of Buddhism. But he said, "Do something that will help you. Do the psycho-ethical aspects. That will help you."

JR: What sort of courses did you teach when you started?

RS: My first class was the essence of Theravada Buddhism, and I also taught Pali. Gradually they heard about my healing work and asked me to teach healing at the Institute. In the beginning I was a little confused about who would take the class because Buddhist healing is very different from yoga and the types of healing that they were teaching.

The first healing they found out about was my work with one of my students. I was reluctant to practice the healing I learned from my teachers and the healers they sent me to in the villages of Burma. I come from a family of medical doctors and my brother had warned me, "Don't do any of your rubbish there! Don't make a fool out of yourself." So the first thing I told my student was, "You can't tell anybody. You have to keep it really secret and very, very confidential, because if Dr. Chaudhuri or Bina Chaudhuri find out then it will get back to my brother and he will be very, very angry."

She agreed, so I worked with her over a period of several days. When she went back to the hospital they found nothing. They didn't do any surgery and only told her to come back in six months. After that got around, I worked all over the hospital. Some of the doctors wanted to know what I was doing during my healing sessions because people were feeling very good about it. I told them, "There is nothing to say about it. You have to do it. If you talk, that is not a healing." Some of them started taking classes here at school and later joined the monastery and are still members.

JR: Did Dr. Chaudhuri also teach Western philosophy?

RS: He taught East-West Comparative Philosophy, not totally Western. He really was a giant in his field. Dr. Chaudhuri was not an ordinary person, because in his presence, things became so different. During my first interview with him, I could not take one minute with him. His eyes were like two electric light bulbs.

JR: Yes, you can see that in some of the pictures of him. Well, you've now been here at CIIS since 1974. What can you say about what is special about the Institute?

RS: You know this school is very unique. That's why I came here. I was admitted to Stanford and other places, but when I visited this school I didn't want to go anywhere else. Our school really has heart."