Zen Teachings in Challenging Times

Patricia Dai-En Bennage, abbess emerita, Mt. Equity Zendo, Jihoji, formerly in Muncy, Pennsylvania, trained in Japan at the Aichi Semmon Nisodo in Nagoya for eleven years, with angos later at Hosshinji, Hokyoji, and Koshoji. She is the translator of Zen Seeds written by the Abbess Shundo Aoyama of the Aichi Semmon Nisodo. Dai-En graduated from Sophia University, Tokyo, in 1972. She trained with the Rinzai master Omori Sogen Roshi for three years. On the Shikoku eighty-eight-temple pilgrimage, she met her teacher, Noda Daito Roshi, and after ordination in 1979, she was sent to the Aichi Semmon Nisodo. She graduated from Shike training in Kyoto in 1989, and returned to Pennsylvania to pioneer Mt. Equity Zendo. She also led zazen at Bucknell University and at six federal prisons. Dai-En was recognized by the International Women's Day Outstanding Women in Buddhism Awards given in Bangkok in 2008 for Outstanding Contribution to Buddhism.