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Aoyama Roshi, eighty-six years old, entered temple
life at age five. Now the abbess of Aichi Senmon Nisodo,
or Women’s Monastic College, she learned the tradition-
al nun’s way, and then later also explored the traditional
monk’s way, as well as the scholar’s way. A few years
ago, she was awarded the title of Shike-kai Kaicho, or
Master of Zen Masters, making her the highest-ranking
nun in the history of Soto Zen. For Zen women, this is a
very big deal—to have a nun teaching monks is virtually
unheard of, and Aoyama Roshi trains Zen masters, not
novices. As a Zen master’s master (or a nun’s nun) she
has broken through Zen’s glass gate.
Along the way, Aoyama Roshi has had many detrac-
tors, both male and female. Nuns were not allowed to
have their own disciples until around 1947, and sexism
dominates Japanese Soto Zen, historically and today.
Training opportunities for nuns remain scarce, and the
belief that only men can be enlightened persists. Fortu-
nately, Roshi has also had many supporters. Her dedica-
tion to bringing the dharma to all beings, regardless of
gender, guides her and inspires others.
How best to describe such a person? Her lectures fall
from her lips like poems, challenging us and enchant-
ing us with their beauty. She sits zazen like a mountain,
despite severe pain in her knees. Even when crossing
paths in the bathroom in the middle of the night, she is
gracious, properly dressed, and full of decorum. Once,
as we passed through darkened halls on the way to the
Buddha Hall just before bedtime, we saw an old woman
with her head covered in a towel, arranging flowers asopposite | Aoyama Roshi (right) with Dai-En Bennage,
who translated Zen Seeds