Enkyo Pat O'Hara

Enkyō Pat O'Hara is a Soto Zen priest and teacher in the White Plum order of Sōtō Zen Buddhism, founded by Roshi Taizan Maezumi.

Biography Growing up as a young white girl in Tijuana, Mexico while attending Catholic School in the United States, O’Hara was familiar with racism and prejudice. With one foot in each world, racial slurs and comments that were made to her left her feeling ostracized and insecure. However, it wasn’t until her high school years when she discovered and entered the Beat Generation and took to reading various literature including poems by Gary Snyder, who gave way to new ways of thought. It was also in her high school years when she read R.H. Blyth’s translations of Haiku, Buddhist sutras, and writings of D.T. Suzuki that the door to Zen Buddhism opened, her attraction being Zen’s artistic expression.

O'Hara studied with John Daido Loori but differences with her teacher led her to begin studying with Taizan Maezumi, who himself was Loori's teacher. In June 2004 Glassman gave O'Hara inka. She served as co-spiritual director of the Zen Peacemaker Order along with Tetsugen Bernard Glassman. She is also a former professor of interactive media at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She holds a doctorate in Media ecology. A socially engaged Buddhist, she is a member of the White Plum Asanga and was involved with the Buddhist AIDS Network.

Activism Much of Enkyo's activism has been in the world of HIV/AIDS, from teaching meditation to HIV-positive practitioners to working on prevention strategies among those at risk, and serving as Chairperson of the Board of the National AIDS Interfaith Network. Enkyo, who is a lesbian, has articulated a Zen Buddhist approach to issues dealing with sexuality, race, class, and health.