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FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON 37

my mother had ever left England prior to her move to some form of Buddhist ordination and all of whom had
Bangkok. She was in her early 20s and it must have spent formative time in Britain, but what I found was
been an incredible culture shock. Neither of my parents such a deep level of diversity in experience and attitude.
had any idea what to expect, but both fell in love with One of the aims of the book was to give a voice to this
Thailand (and Southeast Asia in general) and both tell diversity, to examine it and to explore it, and to try to
fascinating stories of expat life at a turbulent political give a more rounded picture of those people who are
time. They both also loved Buddhist temples and deeply committed to making Buddhist practice work on
Buddhist art and iconography, and I was brought up British shores. Having said that, despite the diversity,
surrounded by these at home. I also spent many hours one common theme amongst women was a deep level of
in Buddhist temples as a child, and this undoubtedly commitment to Buddhism and to Buddhist practice as it
had a significant formative effect. In particular, and was articulated by the group they were connected to.
although I don’t ever remember making links between
Buddhism and meditation (this didn’t happen until
adulthood), my most formative memories involve
observing and participating in ritual practices in temples
such as prostration to the Buddha rupa, and offerings
to monastics, and these remain a profound influence on
my religious life today. My memories are very visceral
- the strong smell of the incense in darkened temple
shrine rooms, and the feeling of the cool marble floors
on my bare feet. My memories of Buddha images are
also very powerful, particularly seeing the Buddha in
Bhumisparsha mudra, touching the earth to witness
his enlightenment. We continued to move around a
great deal throughout my childhood, living in Singapore,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, as well as time back in the UK.

I am hugely grateful to my parents for giving me the
Jizo at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, Northumberland, UK
opportunity to live in cultures other than my own,
although the net effect has been that I don’t feel
fully ‘British’, nor do I feel that I belong anywhere in
particular, and the cultural affiliations I hold always
feel rather loose and fluid. I am a typical ‘Third Culture
Kid’ in that respect, and this has directly shaped my
interest in investigating experiences of belonging and
community in my scholarly work.

You wrote the book Women in British Buddhism
where you featured 25 British Buddhist women.
What was the common theme that arose from your
interviews with them?

I think one of the common themes in my book is the
diversity between women. I started my research
thinking that perhaps there would be many similarities
between a group of women, all of whom had taken Harewood House stupa, Leeds