The Official Website
of Paula Arai

As a researcher with a focus on embodied experience, Paula Arai has received a range of support, including from Fulbright, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Mellon Foundation, and the Reischauer Institute of Harvard University. Arai has curated exhibits of Iwasaki Tsuneo’s Heart Sutra paintings at a number of venues, including the Louisiana State University Museum of Art, the Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas, and the Morikami Museum in Florida. A devoted teacher, Arai has taught at Vanderbilt University, Carleton College, and Louisiana State University, and is currently The Eshinni and Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. Under the tutelage of Aoyama Shundō Rōshi, she did Zen training at the Aichi Senmon Nisōdō nunnery in Nagoya, Japan. An active public speaker, she also leads workshops on healing rituals.

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Having met during the US Occupation of Japan, Arai’s parents were committed to healing after World War II. Her Japanese mother and Euro-American father raised her in Michigan. She enjoys hiking, playing the violin, and seeing her son do magic tricks. She loves dogs and playing games, especially Pictionary.