Enkyo Pat O'Hara

Enkyō Pat O'Hara, a Zen roshi with transmission in both the Soto and Rinzai lines, is the abbot of the of Village Zendo in New York City (formerly located in her apartment). She serves as co-spiritual director of the Zen Peacemaker Order along with Tetsugen Bernard Glassman. She is also a former professor of interactive media at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She holds a doctorate in Media ecology. A socially engaged Buddhist, she is a member of the White Plum Asanga and manages the Buddhist AIDS Network.

Much of Enkyo’s activism is in the world of HIV/AIDS, from teaching meditation to HIV-positive practitioners to working on prevention strategies among those at risk, and serving as Chairperson of the Board of the National AIDS Interfaith Network. As a lesbian, she articulates a Zen Buddhist approach to issues of difference around sexuality, race, class, and health. O'Hara was ordained a Soto priest by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi in 1995 and received shiho from Bernard Glassman in 1996. In June 2004 Glassman gave O'Hara inka.