| Yvonne Rand | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Sōtō Theravada Vajrayana |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Goat-in-the-Road |
| Title | Meditation teacher Soto priest |
| Predecessor | Dainin Katagiri |
| Religious career | |
| Website | http://www.goatintheroad.org/ |
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]
|
|||||||||||