Merle Kodo Boyd dating history

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Merle Kodo Boyd is the first ever African-American woman to have received Dharma transmission in Zen Buddhism, as a Dharma heir of Wendy Egyoku Nakao in the White Plum Asanga. Receiving transmission in March 2006, she leads the Lincroft Zen Sangha in New Jersey (a center which she founded) that is currently part of the Zen Peacemaker Circle established by Tetsugen Bernard Glassman and his wife Sandra Jishu Holmes. Boyd was born and raised in Texas during the era of segregation. Her family, like most other African-American families of this period, suffered the pain and hardship of racial discrimination. Before coming to Zen, Boyd was a licensed psychotherapist. She first developed an interest in Zen Buddhism after viewing a 12th-century Chinese painting titled Solitary Angler in a book, depicting an angler fishing upon a wide-open sea. Boyd has written, "The painting called to me in my own voice. I immediately sought out more books and found instructions for sitting zazen. Using a bed pillow and blankets, I began the practice alone in a corner of my bedroom."