Gyokuko Carlson
{{Infobox religious biography
| name = Gyokuko Carlson
| image = Gyokuko Carlson.JPG
| caption =
| birth_name = Andrea Gass
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| nationality =
| religion = Zen Buddhism
| school = Sōtō
| lineage =
| title = Roshi
| location = Dharma Rain Zen Center
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| predecessor = Jiyu Kennett
| successor = Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
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| spouse = Kyogen Carlson (1982–2014, his death)
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| website = [http://www.Dharma-Rain.Org www.Dharma-Rain.Org]
}}
{{Zen Buddhism}}
{{Western Buddhism}}
Gyokuko Carlson (born Andrea Gass) is a Soto Zen roshi. She was co-founder and abbess of Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland, Oregon, United States, until her retirement in 2019.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-24 |title=History of Dharma Rain |url=https://dharma-rain.org/about/history-of-dharma-rain/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Dharma Rain Zen Center {{!}} Portland OR |language=en-US}}
Biography
She was formerly the co-abbot along with her husband, the late Kyogen Carlson. Carlson and her husband practiced at Shasta Abbey when Jiyu Kennett was the abbess (and from whom she received Dharma transmission), leaving to found their own center in 1986{{cite web|url=http://www.dharma-rain.org/?p=about_teachers|title=Dharma Rain|publisher=www.dharma-rain.org|access-date=2009-02-10}} when celibacy became a requirement at Shasta Abbey.{{cite book | last = Ford | first = James |author2=Barry Magid | title = Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen | publisher = Wisdom Publications | year = 2006 | location = Boston | pages = 143 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-kut6gcyTNEC&dq=%22Kyogen+Carlson%22&pg=RA1-PA771 | isbn =978-0-86171-509-1 }} She has been a practitioner of Zen Buddhism for more than thirty years, and is a member of the American Zen Teachers Association.
Gyokuko and Kyogen Carlson have come to be known as the major non-Order of Buddhist Contemplatives line in succession to Jiyu Kennett; their Zen center has become the largest Zen congregation in Oregon.{{cite web|url=http://www.dharma-rain.org/?p=about_factsheets|title=Fact sheets|publisher=www.dharma-rain.org|access-date=2009-02-10}} Carlson's main teaching emphasis is the implementation of spiritual practice into daily life.{{cite book |last =Boucher| first =Sandy| author-link =Sandy Boucher| title =Opening the Lotus: A Woman's Guide to Buddhism| publisher =Beacon Press| year =1998| location = Boston | pages = 164 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QbPSI5t315QC&dq=%22Gyokuko+Carlson%22&pg=PA164 | isbn = 978-0-8070-7309-4}} Her family religious education program was developed from Unitarian Universalist practices, transformed by Buddhist principles.{{cite web| url=http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,4700,0,0,1,0|title=An interview with Rev. James Ishmael Ford (Zeno Myoun, Roshi)|work=Buddhist Channel |access-date=2009-02-10}} It is the largest Buddhist child education program in Oregon, and one of the largest and oldest in the United States.
Her dharma successor is Kakumyo Lowe-Charde who was ordained in 2002 and became Abbot of Dharma Rain Zen Center upon Gyokuko’s retirement. Her lineage also includes Domyo Burk.{{Cite web |date=2013-08-08 |title=Our Teachers and Lineage |url=https://dharma-rain.org/about/our-teachers/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Dharma Rain Zen Center {{!}} Portland OR |language=en-US}}
See also
References
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Category:American Zen Buddhists
Category:Clergy from Portland, Oregon
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American Buddhist nuns
Category:21st-century American nuns
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