PORT ANGELES — Roshi Eido Frances Carney will lead a meditation retreat and deliver a free public talk, slide show and reading in an event sponsored by the Port Angeles Zen Community today.
The free talk will be at 7 p.m. at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
Before that, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., she will lead a Zen meditation retreat at Shanti Yoga and Massage, 118 N. Laurel St.
A fee of $20 plus donations includes a light lunch.
No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Early registration is advised as space is limited.
To register for the retreat, phone 360-452-9552 or email portangeleszen@gmail.com.
She will speak about the life and teachings of 18th-century Zen hermit poet Ryokan san, read from his poetry and show pictures of sites in Japan where Ryokan lived and trained.
While teaching English in Japan in the early 1990s, Eido Roshi’s interest in Ryokan led her to visit Entsuji in Kurashiki, the temple where Ryokan trained as a monk for many years.
At Entsuji, she met Katsuryu Tetsumei Niho Roshi, the abbot of Entsuji, and became his only transmitted student and Dharma heir.
In 2008, Niho Roshi installed Eido Roshi as abbess of Fukujuji, a new temple in Nakasho near Kurashiki and Okayama.
A Zen practitioner for more than 40 years, Eido Roshi completed her priest training at Shoboji in Iwate Prefecture. She was the first woman and first foreigner to train at this temple founded in the 13th century.
Upon returning to Olympia in 1995, Eido Roshi founded Olympia Zen Center, where she continues to teach.
Eido Roshi taught poetry, writing and world religions for 10 years as adjunct faculty in Humanities at Olympia’s South Puget Sound Community College until 2006.
