Angel Kyodo Williams
| Angel Kyodo Williams | |
|---|---|
angel Kyodo williams, Photo Bethanie Hines, 2008
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| Born |
December 20, 1969 New York City, U.S. |
| Residence | California |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Angel Williams, Rev. angel Kyodo williams |
| Citizenship | US |
| Occupation | spiritual teacher, author, entrepreneur |
| Home town | New York City |
| Website | angelkyodowilliams |
angel Kyodo Williams (born December 2, 1969) is an American writer, ordained Zen priest and the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace, published by Viking Press in 2000. Called "the most vocal and most intriguing African-American Buddhist in America" by Library Journal, Williams is the Spiritual Director of the meditation-based newDharma Community and founder of the Center for Transformative Change in Berkeley, California and is also credited with developing fearlessMeditation, fearlessYoga and Warrior Spirit Training. As of October 2013, she is the world's 2nd female Zen teacher of African descent. Her given Buddhist name, Kyodo, means "Way of Teaching."
Williams was raised by her firefighter father in Queens and Brooklyn and then by her mother in Tribeca, Manhattan after her parents separated. She attended junior high school in Chinatown, New York, high school in Chelsea and attended Nazareth College in Rochester, NY.
After reading D. T. Suzuki's Zen and Japanese Culture, Shunryu Suzuki's, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and receiving her first formal meditation instruction at San Francisco Zen Center while visiting California, Williams sought a community and teacher. Originally a formal student of Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara at the Village Zendo in New York City, she was ordained as a priest by Francisco "Paco" Lugoviña, from whom she also received denkai and hoshi empowerments, authorizing her to transmit the precepts to others and making her a dharma holder in the Zen tradition, respectively. As of October 2013, she is the world's second black female Zen teacher.
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