Josho Pat Phelan

Josho Pat Phelan
Title	Priest
Personal
Religion	Sōtō
Other names	Taitaku Josho
Senior posting
Based in	Chapel Hill Zen Center
Website	http://www.chzc.org

Josho Pat Phelan, Buddhist name Taitaku Josho, is a Sōtō Zen priest and current abbot of Chapel Hill Zen Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina—she has served as abbot there since 2000. Before coming to Chapel Hill, she practiced for twenty years at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and the San Francisco Zen Center (where she became practice leader and director). Phelan began leading the Chapel Hill Zen Center in 1991, when there were just eight members including herself. As of 2001, the center had forty-five members and provides meditation instruction for approximately one-hundred and fifty people every year. Ordained as a priest by Zentatsu Richard Baker in 1977, she began Zen practice in 1969 and has also trained under Sojun Mel Weitsman, Robert Baker Aitken and Tenshin Reb Anderson Additionally, Phelan is a member of the American Zen Teachers Association, and in 1995 she received shiho from Sojun Weitsman at Tassajara.

See also

• Buddhism in the United States
• Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

References

• Boucher, Sandy (1998). Opening the Lotus: A Woman's Guide to Buddhism. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-7309-1.
• Pearce, Carolyn (2001-04-10). "A Community of Choices". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
• Skinner Keller, Rosemary; Rosemary Radford Ruether; Marie Cantlon (2006). The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34685-1.
• Wenger, Michael (2001). Wind Bell: Teachings from the San Francisco Zen Center (1968-2001). North Atlantic Books. ISBN 1-55643-381-6.