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{{short description|American Zen Buddhist roshi}}
{{Infobox religious biography
|image= Shingeroshi.jpg
|caption =
|birth name =
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|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1943}}
|birth_place = [[Brooklyn, New York]]
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|nationality =
|religion = [[Zen Buddhism]]
|school = [[Rinzai]]
|lineage =
|title =
|location = [[Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji]]<br />[[Zen Center of Syracuse]]
|education = [[Vassar College]]
|occupation = [[Rōshi|Roshi]]
|teacher =
|reincarnation of =
|predecessor = [[Eido Tai Shimano]]
|successor =
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}}
{{Zen Buddhism}}
{{Western Buddhism}}
'''Shinge-shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat''' (born 1943) is the former abbot of the [[Zen Studies Society]], based at the International [[Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji]] monastery, outside Livingston Manor, NY, and at the [[New York Zendo Shobo-Ji]] on the Upper east Side of Manhattan. She is also the abbot of the [[Zen Center of Syracuse]] Hoen-ji. Chayat is an advocate for the use of [[meditation]] in medical settings, with Hoen-ji running the program ''Well/Being Contemplative Practices for Healing'' for [[healthcare professionals]].<ref name="keller">{{cite book |author=Rosemary Skinner Keller |author2=Rosemary Radford Ruether |author3=Marie Cantlon |title=The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America |year=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |pages=642–643 |isbn=0-253-34685-1 }}</ref>

==Biography==
Sherry Chayat was born in [[Brooklyn, New York]] in 1943 and grew up in [[New Mexico]] and [[New Jersey]].

She read her first book on [[Zen Buddhism]] while in the eighth grade, and decided she would one day study it abroad. During the 1960s, while attending college at [[Vassar College]], she began an informal study of [[Buddhism]] by reading works by [[D.T. Suzuki]], [[Alan Watts]], and many others. She studied art at the New York Studio School for Drawing and Painting.

In 1967 she joined the [[Zen Studies Society]] in [[New York City]], training under [[Eido Tai Shimano]], [[Haku'un Yasutani]] and [[Soen Nakagawa]]—and was married to Lou Nordstrom by Shimano and Yasutani. She received the [[Dharma name]] Roko (meaning ''sparkling dew''). The couple moved to Syracuse and Sherry Chayat left [[Zen Studies Society]] in the middle seventies. She joined a small sitting group that had been founded in 1972 by some Syracuse University graduate students and later became the group's leader.

In 1984 Roko invited [[Maurine Stuart]] [[Rōshi|Roshi]] to lead the first sesshin and in 1985 Maurine ordained her as a Zen priest. After Maurine's death in 1990 Roko resumed her studies at [[Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji]]. She was reordained by [[Eido Shimano]] Roshi in 1991.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[James Ishmael Ford]] |title=Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen |year=2006 |publisher=[[Wisdom Publications]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/zenmasterwhoguid00jame/page/119 119] |url=https://archive.org/details/zenmasterwhoguid00jame/page/119 |isbn=0-86171-509-8 }}</ref> In 1992 she was given teaching permission and then received [[Dharma transmission]] in 1998 from Shimano.<ref name="keller"/><ref>{{cite book |author=[[James Ishmael Ford]] |title=Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen |year=2006 |publisher=[[Wisdom Publications]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/zenmasterwhoguid00jame/page/117 117–119] |url=https://archive.org/details/zenmasterwhoguid00jame/page/117 |isbn=0-86171-509-8 }}</ref> She was the first American woman to receive transmission in the [[Rinzai]] school of Buddhism.<ref name="highbeam.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79270399.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105205738/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79270399.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-11-05 |title=Article: First Female Rabbi in Belarus travels the Hinterlands: On the Road with Nelly Shulman |publisher=Highbeam.com |date=2001-03-23 |access-date=2010-11-19}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com">[https://books.google.com/books?id=WPILfbtT5tQC&dq=%22sherry+chayat+was+born%22&pg=PA642 Encyclopedia of women and religion in North America, Volume 2] By Rosemary Skinner Keller, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Marie Cantlon (pg. 642)</ref><ref name="HarperSanFrancisco, 2006 320 pages; $24.95 hardcover">{{cite web|publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |year=2006 |url=http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2006/spring/women_of_the_way_review.html |title=The Lost Lineage |website=Thebuddhadharma.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501141536/http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2006/spring/women_of_the_way_review.html |archive-date=2006-05-01 |access-date=2010-11-19}}</ref>

On October 12, 2008, after a 10-year process of advanced training culminating in a ceremony called shitsugo (literally “room-name”), she received the title of roshi and the name Shinge (“Heart/Mind Flowering") from Eido Roshi. It was the first time that this ceremony was held in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zencenterofsyracuse.org/sites/default/files/dharmaConnection2008.pdf |title= Dharma Connections 2008 p.9 |publisher=Zen Center of Syracuse |access-date=2010-10-05 }}</ref>

Sherry Chayat was installed as the second Abbot of Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji on New Year's Day 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zencenterofsyracuse.org/events/installing-new-abbot |title= Installation|publisher=Zen Center of Syracuse |access-date=2010-12-10 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zenstudies.org/index.html |title=The Zen Studies Society |work=zenstudies.org |access-date=3 January 2011}}</ref>

Chayat remained the Abbott of [[Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji]] until she retired in October 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Teachers - Zen Studies |url=https://zenstudies.org/teachings/our-teachers/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=zenstudies.org}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite book| last =Stuart| first =Maurine|editor=Chayat, Sherry | title =Subtle Sound: the Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart| publisher =Shambhala Publications, dist. Random House| year =1996| isbn = 1-57062-094-6| oclc =34545428}}
*{{Cite book| last =Chayat| first =Sherry| title =Life Lessons: The Art of Jerome Witkin| publisher =Syracuse University Press| year =1994| isbn = 0-8156-2617-7| oclc =29259252}}
*{{Cite book| last =Nakagawa| first =Soen| author-link =Soen Nakagawa|editor1=[[Kazuaki Tanahashi]] |editor2=Chayat, Sherry | title =Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa| publisher =Shambhala Publications| year =1996| isbn = 1-57062-162-4| oclc =33335342}}
*Chayat, Roko Sherry ed. (2008). ''Eloquent Silence: Nyogen Senzaki's Gateless Gate and Other Previously Unpublished Teachings and Letters''. Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN|0-86171-559-4}}

==See also==
*[[Buddhism in the United States]]
*[[List of Rinzai Buddhists]]
*[[Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.zencenterofsyracuse.org/ Zen Center of Syracuse]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chayat, Sherry}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Rinzai Buddhists]]
[[Category:Vassar College alumni]]
[[Category:American Zen Buddhists]]
[[Category:Buddhist abbesses]]
[[Category:Zen Buddhist nuns]]
[[Category:20th-century Buddhist nuns]]
[[Category:21st-century Buddhist nuns]]
[[Category:20th-century abbots]]
[[Category:21st-century abbots]]
[[Category:21st-century American nuns]]
[[Category:Buddhism and Judaism]]

Sherry Chayat - Revision history

imported>Cornmazes at 14:52, 4 June 2025