Houn Jiyu-Kennett, born Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett, was a British roshi most famous for having been the first female to be sanctioned by the Soto School of Japan to teach in the West.
16 Facts About Houn Jiyu-Kennett
2.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett was born as Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England on January 1,1924.
3.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett studied medieval music at Durham University and then received a scholarship to Trinity College of Music in London, England.
4.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett first became interested in Theravada Buddhism during this period of questioning and searching, joining the London Buddhist Vihara.
5.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett accepted the offer, and two years passed before she arrived at Sojiji to study Soto Zen Buddhism under him.
6.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett received Dharma transmission twice, from Koho Keido Chisan Zenji on May 28,1963, but from Suigan Yogo.
7.
In 1969 Houn Jiyu-Kennett founded the Zen Mission Society in San Francisco, and in 1970 Shasta Abbey in Mount Shasta, California, the first Zen monastery in the United States to be established by a woman.
8.
In 1978 Houn Jiyu-Kennett changed the name of the Zen Mission Society to the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.
9.
In 1975 Houn Jiyu-Kennett was stricken with illness yet again, and this time she became bedridden.
10.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett regarded these experiences as "a profound kensho experience," constituting a third kensho, and published an account of these visions, and an elaborate scheme of stages of awakening, in How to Grow a Lotus Blossom.
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Houn Jiyu-Kennett compared the series of visions to an elaborated contemporary version of the classical Zen images of the ten 'ox-herding' pictures.
12.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett interpreted the experience as that of a 'third kensho.
13.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett acknowledged the risks and potential for controversy in publishing her account, but felt that the benefits of releasing such information outweighed the risks.
14.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett had a commanding presence about her, both intellectually as well as physically.
15.
Houn Jiyu-Kennett frequently used Western sayings, songs, and stories as koans.
16.
The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, founded by Houn Jiyu-Kennett, now has chapters in the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, the West Indies, the United Kingdom and Germany.