Myokyo-ni
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| Myokyo-ni | |
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| Birth name: | Irmgard Schloegl |
| Born: | January 29, 1921 |
| Place of birth: | Leitersdorf, Styria, Austria |
| Died: | March 29, 2007 (aged 86) |
| Nationality: | Austrian |
| School(s): | Rinzai |
| Title(s): | Nun |
| Teacher(s): | Oda Sesso Soko Morinaga |
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Myokyo-ni (born Irmgard Schloegl on January 29, 1921) was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist nun and head of the Zen Centre in London. She died on the 29th March 2007
Raised in Leitersdorf, Styria, Austria, she obtained a Ph.D. degree in Natural Sciences from Graz University before joining the Zen Group at the Buddhist Society under Christmas Humphreys in 1950. In 1960 she went to Japan and trained at Daitoku-ji monastery for twelve years under Oda Sesso and, after his death, under his successor Sojun Kannun. In 1966, she returned to England for nine months, during which time she started a small zazen Group at the Buddhist Society which continued until she returned permanently in 1972. With the introduction of another Zazen class, and then a beginners' class, running alongside Humphreys' original Zen Class, the Zen Group grew in size until the Zen Centre was formally established in 1979. During this period she was living at Humphreys' residence (she was known to refer to him affectionately as 'Father'), which was later bequeathed to the Zen Centre, eventually being inaugurated as Shobo-an, the main administrative location and training temple of the Zen Centre.
On July 22, 1984, she was ordained by Soko Morinaga Roshi, who had been head monk at Daitoku-ji during her time there. The ordination took place at Chithurst Forest Monastery at the invitation of the Abbot Ajahn Sumedho, and the Soko Morinaga Roshi gave her the name Myokyo-ni. Myokyo, meaning 'mirror of the subtle', had been the name the Roshi had given her as a Zen student in Japan (ni meaning 'nun').
She was the author of a number of books on Zen and Buddhism, including a translation of The Zen Teaching of Rinzai (Linji).
From 2002 until her death, she was a permanent resident at Fairlight, one of the Zen Centre's two training temples, in Luton.
The main training temple, Shobo-an in St John's Wood, London is now run by Venerable Sochu.
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[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- The Record of Rinzai (1976) (under her pre-ordination name Irmgard Schloegl)
- The Zen Way (1977)
- Introducing Buddhism (1978)
- Gentling the Bull: The Ten Bull Pictures, a Spiritual Journey (1980)
- The Ceasing of Notions (1988) (with Soko Morinaga Roshi and M. Bromley)
- Living Buddhism (2000)
[edit] Translation and editing
- Wisdom of the Zen Masters (1976) (under her pre-ordination name Irmgard Schloegl)
- The Bull and his Herdsman (1989) by Daizokutsu R Otsu (from the German 'Der Ochs und Sein Hirte by Tsujumura and Buchner)
- The discourse on The Inexhaustible Lamp of the Zen School (1989)(also translated by Yoko Okuda)
[edit] External links
- "Official" portrait of Myokyo, drawn by Roberta Mansell
- Online copy of The Zen Teaching of Rinzai
- Reference to Venerable Myokyo-ni in article by David Chadwick
- Obituary by Vishvapani (aka Simon Blomfield) in the Guardian Newspaper, Monday April 23, 2007.
- Web site of The Buddhist Society
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