The national teachers’ group, Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA), approved a document honoring the women ancestors in the Zen tradition at its biannual meeting October 8, 2010. Audience participants — male and female — described witnessing this event with goosebumps and a sense of momentous history. After years of discussion and scholarly research, female ancestors, dating back 2500 years from India, China, and Japan, may now be included in the curriculum, ritual, and training offered to Western Zen students. Many thanks to the sanghas and their teachers who forwarded this SZBA project through development of the initial documents: Salt Spring Zen Circle (Peter Levitt, teacher), Everyday Zen Sangha (Norman Fischer, teacher) and Empty Nest Zendo (Grace Schireson, teacher). The confirmation of the document was unanimous, with all teachers present approving the document at Great Vow Monastery (Chozen and Hogen Bays, teachers), to be further confirmed via email by Soto Zen teachers who were not present.
