Vanessa R. Sasson - Professor of Religious Studies and Author, Yasodhara and the Buddha

Vanessa R. Sasson

Vanessa R. Sasson doesn't let academic life or cultural ideologies define her. How could she when most of her life she's been caught between worlds? Born and raised in Montreal in an Egyptian Jewish household, Vanessa's upbringing often left her feeling like an outsider. During the week she went to an Ashkenazi (European) Jewish school, but on the weekends, she lived her Egyptian heritage, wrapped up in its nostalgia and rosewater scented desserts. 

Vanessa's desire to speak her truth and embrace the imperfect human experience has bled into her academic life and inspired a work of creative fiction, her new novel, Yasodhara and the Buddha. Always pushing past boundaries, Vanessa's novel is an alternate telling of the Buddha's classical story. In writing Yasodhara and the Buddha (her latest novel), she's climbed over the fence and has brought to life a part of the story that many scholars and Western practitioners have overlooked. Vanessa's imaginative retelling focuses on the sad and romantic tale of Yasodhara, the Buddha's wife who lost everything when her husband, the Buddha, began his existential quest to understand suffering. While the Buddha's story is about gaining, Yasodhara's story is about loss. Vanessa chose to tell Yasodhara's story because she wants people to engage with Buddhism fully, to feel and empathize with the human side of Buddhism.

Ask Vanessa what she hopes to achieve with her work and the answer is surprising. After living her life constantly straddling both sides of the fence, she has come to terms with her conflicting identities. Through her teaching and creative writing, she wants people to engage with Buddhism's messy side and embrace the flawed and imperfect experience of being human.

I’m excited for you to connect with Vanessa, check out her work, and follow along as she continues to share her writing and reflections to inspire others to embrace their identities and the human experience.

I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.

I am a professor of Religious Studies at Marianopolis College (Montreal, Canada). I write, I teach, I read. And in my spare time, I practice Karate. After I finished writing Yasodhara and the Buddha, I began working on its sequel, the story of the first Buddhist women.

How did you get started?

I have been a scholar for more than twenty years, so I have grown very comfortable in my academic skin. However, a few years ago, I wanted to try something different. I wanted to write a story (instead of writing about a story, as scholars tend to do). 

The story of the Buddha's wife, Yasodhara, is so compelling, so heartbreakingly tragic and inspiring all at once, that I just had to tell it. But I was determined not to stand outside of it. Instead, I wanted to climb in. So one morning, I brought my laptop to my favorite café (how I miss doing that!), opened it up, and began to write her story in her voice. It was awkward at first – I had never written dialogue before or tried to get inside a character's head – but the more I wrote, the more I smiled when Yasodhara came alive.

What Inspired the work you’re doing?

I think Yasodhara did. Her story is such a powerful part of the Buddhist tradition, but like so many other stories about women, it has been sidestepped. We forget that she was even there, married and by the Buddha's side for lifetimes (so the story goes). And then, after lifetimes of devoted attention, the future Buddha leaves her (while she is fast asleep, after giving birth to their son). She wakes up the next morning to find that he has gone. Her story is a story that begged to be told. We always focus on his story, but I wanted to focus on hers.

What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?

This is a question that only a privileged few can even contemplate in a serious way. For most, the question of passion (or purpose) is irrelevant. Instead, most people are focused on just getting by. And this, not because they have limited imaginations, not because they don't know how to "seize the day," but because of circumstance; the odds of winning at the birth lottery are so slim.

So my answer to this question is complicated. The fact that I can ponder it at all says more about my privilege than anything else, and I would be a fool not to recognize that. But the truth is that I do feel passionate about my work. My passion is steeped in the stories I have been able to spend my life reading, studying, and writing. For me, storytelling is as ancient as it is modern. We find stories on cave walls, told by our ancestors with images we can only begin to try to understand, some of them going back more than 40,000 years! We are a storytelling species, and it is my joy and passion to step into that lineage and try to craft some stories of my own.

What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?

If pandemic has taught me anything, it is that other people bring me joy, light me up, make me feel alive. Teaching students in a real, live classroom brings me joy. Seeing their faces light up or watching as lines of consternation appear on their brows and arguing with them about ideas. I also enjoy hanging out with friends in the sun, talking about nothing in particular. Loving my family and giving them hugs – these are all precious encounters that I appreciate now more than I ever have.

How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?

I am not sure if I am as mindful as I would like to pretend, but when I manage a bit of mindfulness, it is because of one ingredient in particular: quiet. 

When life moves too quickly, gets crowded, noisy, and much too full, it is impossible to think clearly. But if I give myself a bit of quiet every day (and the quiet does not need to be folded into a specific kind of ritual – just a bit of quiet, such as when I sip my morning coffee), I find that I can see my mind more clearly. And I can figure out how to go from there.

What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?

Honestly, I think she would be amazed. I was turbulent and chaotic in my youth. Angry and confused and unsure of everything. I had no vision of myself in the future, could not begin to imagine where I might end up. I did not spend that much time dreaming about the future at all. 

So I think that the younger me would be amazed by what she would see. The chaos and anger of my youth has faded. I feel quiet joy more often than frustration. To be sure, there is anxiety and fear and worry, and all kinds of other things too. Life is not perfect. It is not a free-flowing stream of bubbling joy, but it is a lot easier for me now than it was then. We have an oddly ageist society. We privilege youth and idealize our younger years. But youth is not something I would want to return to. I think my life gets better with age. Everything is easier with a bit of experience under our belts.

Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?

Not really. In the past, I would have been able to give you a better answer. But today, I am not sure that there is anything to affirm anymore. There is only stuff to let go of instead.

What is your biggest dream?

I don't think I have many dreams either. And I say this not in a dark, depressing kind of way. It's just that life is easier when you try to accept the life that is before you instead of trying desperately hard to make life bend to your command.

To learn more and connect with Vanessa check out her website www.vanessarsasson.com on Instagram @vanessa_r._sasson Twitter @vrsasson and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VanessaRSasson

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