Woodenfish Foundation

Founded in 2002 by nun and Buddhist Studies scholar, Venerable Dr. Yifa, the Woodenfish Foundation is an educational nonprofit that runs immersive Buddhist Studies education programs around the world. The Foundation’s flagship program, the “Woodenfish Monastic Life Program” invites college students to participate in a one-month Buddhist Studies intensive while living full-time in a Buddhist monastery in Asia, offering an unparalleled opportunity to pair academic study with experiential engagement with Buddhist culture as a living tradition of practice. Woodenfish has since expanded its international exchange programs to include the “Farming Zen Retreat,” a two-week program focused on promoting food sustainability education through mindful connection with food and food systems, inspired by the long Buddhist tradition of “farming Zen,” as well as the “Sangha Education Exchange Studies” program, which invites Buddhist monastics and laypeople with advanced Buddhist Studies degrees from Asia to visit Buddhist Studies programs at universities in the United States and Western Buddhist practice centers. The Foundation will support these programs as well as a Woodenfish Alumni Reunion and Reception at the 2025 Annual Conference of the American Academy of Religion.