Yvonne Rand

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Yvonne Rand
Information
Place of birth: San Francisco, California, United States
Nationality: American
Religion: Soto
Theravada
Vajrayana
Title(s): Meditation teacher
Soto priest
Workplace: Goat-in-the-Road
Predecessor(s): Dainin Katagiri
Website
Website: http://www.goatintheroad.org/

Portal:Buddhism

Yvonne Rand is a "lay householder" Soto Zen priest and guiding teacher of Goat-in-the-Road located in Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, California. A meditation center which practices predominantly Soto Zen but also incorporates elements of Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhism, the "name Goat-in-the-Road recalls Yvonne's early rescue of young goats from a local Spring barbecue auction, and the goats tendencies to escape out onto Highway 1 in Muir Beach."[1] For many years Rand led meditation retreats at Redwood Creek Dharma Center, which was located on Mount Tamalpais in Northern California.[1] Deeply interested in ecology and environmentalism, according to Rand, "[f]or a number of years a small group of us went out for a weekend once a month, year-round, criss-crossing the coast range from San Francisco to the Oregon border, studying plants and geology and all manner of things having to do with where we live."[1] The Redwood Creek Dharma Center was filled with gardens of various plants and flowers, and was also home to much wildlife.

Rand, a Dharma heir of the late Dainin Katagiri,[2] began practicing with Shunryu Suzuki at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1966 and became "a central figure in Zen Center's rise to prominence. She brings a pro-choice, anti-abortion Buddhist perspective to reproductive issues by defending a woman's right to choose while teaching that abortion's moral gravity makes it at best an option of last resort."[3] The late Philip Whalen has commented on her time at the San Francisco Zen Center by writing, "She was one of the big bosses."[4] Yvonne had been "Zen Center secretary in the '60s, President in the '70s, and Chair of the Board in the '80s."[2] Rand continues to return to San Francisco Zen Center facilities occasionally to hold retreats or give talks.[2]

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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Banks Findly, 385-389
  2. ^ a b Wenger, 71
  3. ^ Smith, 158-159
  4. ^ Meltzer, 330

[edit] References