WELCOME to VISITING TEACHER, MONJA ISSHIN from BRAZIL!

[Jundo]

Dear Leaf Community,

I am pleased to welcome as a guest to our Sangha MONJA ISSHIN HAVENS from the Jisui Zendô in Brazil.

Isshin Havens began her training in the Soto Zen tradition at the Busshinji Temple in São Paulo, Brazil, receiving monastic ordination from Coen Souza, Sensei. She realized four years of training at the Women’s Monastery in Nagoya, Japan (Aichi Senmon Nisôdô), where she performed Dharma Combat under the guidance of Aoyama Shundô Roshi, abbess of this monastery.

After one year advanced training in the US (Zen Center of Los Angeles and Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper, New York, under the guidance of Egyoku Nakao Roshi and Daido Loori Roshi respectively), she returned to Brazil where she spent one year as assistant to Coen Sensei (Zendo Brasil, Sao Paulo) before moving to Porto Alegre to lead practice groups in that city in the south of Brazil.
She received Dharma Transmission from the Master Baika (Buddhist Hymm Singing) Teacher, Shûki Onoda Roshi (Abbot of Ryûzô-ji in the city of Tsuruoka, Yamagata-ken, Japan) and performed Zuise ceremonies at the head temples Eihei-ji and Sojiji.

She is Resident Teacher at Jisui Zendô (Sanga Águas da Compaixão – Sangha Waters of Compassion) and affiliated sanghas. She is a collaborating member of the Colegiado Buddhista Brasileiro, Collaborating Lecturer for UnipazSul and Speaker for the Universidade Falada.. Leads Zen retreats, as well as Rakusu Sewing Retreats, and teaches Baika. She published one book “A Vida Compassiva: Compaixão”, as part of a proposed series of six, as well as several magazine articles.

More here ...

https://translate.google.com/transla...t%2F&sandbox=1

Rev. Isshin says that she is a little shy in English and in online forums, and may be a bit quiet around here. However, I invited her to have a look around, see how we do things at Treeleaf, and to sample the atmosphere of our community. Maybe in a few weeks, if we are nice, she will agree to offer a Talk or two for us (she says that she avoids that "mysterious" style of Zen talk and is more down to earth somewhat like Joko Beck. That sounds like our style around here!). Apparently, she also is starting to use Google+ for her Teaching in Brazil. I hope she will not be too shy, and will feel free to join in any of our conversations, and offer some of her vast experience to students while she is visiting here.

We are all honored to have her visiting this place. Welcome!

Gassho, Jundo (and Taigu)

PS - Kyonin wrote to tell me that in both Spanish and Portuguese "Monja" is the feminine form of monk. So that's "Lady Monk/Nun", her title. She is "Rev. Isshin" or "Monja Isshin".