Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron CCS ’99 Achieves Rank of Zen Priest in Zuise Ceremony
Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron CCS ’99 at Sojiji.
In ceremonies held in Japan in summer 2023, Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron CCS ’99, artist in residence and Buddhist chaplain, achieved the rank of Zen priest, symbolically officiating at the two Soto Zen head monasteries of Eiheiji and Sojiji. These ceremonies marked the culmination of a 25-year journey for Tatjana Myoko, which began during her time as a Bard student. “I came to Bard to study at the Center for Curatorial Studies,” she said. “At that time, after the sudden death of a close friend, I encountered the Buddhist path, which transformed and shaped my entire life, both in terms of creativity as well as my academic career.” She spoke about the experience in her talk at TEDxBard College.
Studying at Zen Mountain Monastery as a lay practitioner for 20 years, she founded the Bard Meditation Group in 2001, helped to create the interfaith Center for Spiritual Life, and became the College’s first Buddhist chaplain in 2015. In 2017, Tatjana Myoko took a leave of absence from Bard in order to begin the process of acquiring the necessary qualifications to become a certified Zen priest at a three-year residency at Toshoji, the International Training Monastery of the Soto Zen school in Okayama. “Without that residency I would never be a Zen priest now,” she said. “So I think this mutual support, of Bard giving me a vessel to fill, and me ready to fill it, has been an amazing journey together, and I am very grateful.”
This new status will allow Myoko Osho, her official title, to perform ceremonies like weddings and funerals, as well as the ability to open her own Zen temple, but the achievement has personal significance for her as well. “For me it is the formal recognition of a 25-year-long training path,” Tatjana Myoko said. “To be recognized as a lineage holder in a tradition extending from the Buddha, to my teacher in Japan, and now to me, confirms and upholds me to the highest standards of integrity. I am excited to pass on this way of liberation, especially as expressed through the Zen arts, to the next generation: my students.”
Post Date: 04-01-2024
Studying at Zen Mountain Monastery as a lay practitioner for 20 years, she founded the Bard Meditation Group in 2001, helped to create the interfaith Center for Spiritual Life, and became the College’s first Buddhist chaplain in 2015. In 2017, Tatjana Myoko took a leave of absence from Bard in order to begin the process of acquiring the necessary qualifications to become a certified Zen priest at a three-year residency at Toshoji, the International Training Monastery of the Soto Zen school in Okayama. “Without that residency I would never be a Zen priest now,” she said. “So I think this mutual support, of Bard giving me a vessel to fill, and me ready to fill it, has been an amazing journey together, and I am very grateful.”
This new status will allow Myoko Osho, her official title, to perform ceremonies like weddings and funerals, as well as the ability to open her own Zen temple, but the achievement has personal significance for her as well. “For me it is the formal recognition of a 25-year-long training path,” Tatjana Myoko said. “To be recognized as a lineage holder in a tradition extending from the Buddha, to my teacher in Japan, and now to me, confirms and upholds me to the highest standards of integrity. I am excited to pass on this way of liberation, especially as expressed through the Zen arts, to the next generation: my students.”
Post Date: 04-01-2024