Women Ancestors Document – origin

After Zen Buddhism made its way to the West, men and women began practicing together in the same monasteries, meditating side by side in the same zendo. The tradition of teacher-to-student transmission continued, as did the Buddhist services, rituals, and ceremonies. But over time, an uncomfortable realization began to emerge: within this context, only male ancestors and patriarchs were being named and honored. The stories, koans, and texts also focused almost exclusively on male practitioners, Zen masters, and monks. The question arose: where were the women ancestors?

In the final decades of the twentieth century, awareness of female ancestors in Zen gradually began to grow. Old texts were translated and studied, and research into female Dharma successors was initiated and carried out. Step by step, it became clear that throughout history, there had been not only male practitioners and Zen masters, but female ones as well. In some cases, their names, the circumstances of their lives, and the nature of their teachings were rediscovered.

( Photo: Geralt on Pixabay)

By the late 1990s, various sanghas in North America began compiling lists of female ancestors. These women’s names were regularly recited during Buddhist services within those sanghas. In 2006, the book Women of the Way by Sallie Tisdale was published, offering stories of female Zen ancestors from across the past 2,500 years. At the back of the book, a text was included—along with a list of names—designed for use in Buddhist services.

A few years later, in 2009, another important book helped raise awareness about female Zen ancestors: Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Masters by Grace Schireson. This book provided in-depth information and historical context on Chinese, Korean, and Japanese female practitioners throughout the centuries, and it too included a document featuring a female ancestor lineage.

The official recognition of female ancestors came in 2010, when the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA) in the United States formally adopted the Zen Women Ancestors Document. The process of creating this document had begun in 2007, during preparations for a jukai ceremony at the Salt Spring Zen Circle in British Columbia, Canada.

As part of this ceremony—during which a person receives the Buddhist precepts—it is customary to present a document listing the so-called ancestral bloodline, or lineage, that traces back to the Buddha. Rowan Percy, one of the people preparing to receive jukai, discussed with her teacher, Eihei Peter Levitt Sensei, her discomfort with the absence of female ancestors, as the lineage traditionally included only male names. This conversation marked the beginning of the effort to compile a document of female ancestors, from the time of the Buddha to the present day. Rowan became the first person to receive this document at her jukai ceremony.

The document was then further developed and refined into what is now known as the Zen Women Ancestors Document. The design of the circle, which incorporates the names of all the female ancestors, was created by Barbara Cooper.