Karuna Dharma (Vietnamese: Thích Nữ Ân Từ; April 21, 1940—February 22, 2014) was an American Buddhist scholar and nun.
Karuna Dharma was born Joyce Adele Pettingill on April 21, 1940, in Beloit, Wisconsin, to a Baptist family.
[2] Karuna Dharma used the International Buddhist Meditation Center to assist Vietnamese refugees[5] and was greatly influential in their resettlement in the United States following the Vietnam War.
Dharma interpreted the Prātimokṣa's prohibition on sexual misconduct as not applying to people in a committed relationship.
[6] During Venerable Karuna Dharma's lifetime, she ordained nearly 50 bhikkhunis and hundreds of Buddhist clergy and laity.