Caitriona Reed

Caitriona Reed
Born
Christopher Reed

1949 (age 75–76)
Los Angeles, California
Occupation(s)Public speaker, seminar leader, hypnotherapist, performance coach, meditation and zen teacher
PartnerMichele Benzamin-Miki
WebsiteFiveChanges.com

Caitriona Reed (born 1949) is an American sensei of Thiền Zen Buddhism who also has a background in Vipassanā meditation. She co-founded Ordinary Dharma in Los Angeles, California; the rural Manzanita Village Retreat Center, located in San Diego County; and Five Changes, to mentor aspiring leaders, cultural creatives, and spiritual visionaries. Reed, a member of the American Zen Teachers Association, led retreats and workshops in Vipassana, Deep Ecology, and Buddhism 1981–2008. She received authority to teach Zen from Thich Nhat Hanh in 1992.[1]

She is a 'woman of transsexual experience' who transitioned in 1996. She stated about her transitioning, "As a teacher encouraging others to live more honest and authentic lives, it was increasingly difficult for me to deny a basic fact—that I was a woman."[2]

Currently, informed by her work as a Buddhist teacher, Reed focuses on public speaking; mentoring individual clients; and together with her partner Michele Benzamin-Miki conducting professional certification training in neuro-linguistic programming and hypnotherapy with an emphasis holistic approaches to life-coaching and personal and professional mentorship.[3][4][5]

Personal life

Reed is a trans woman, publicly identifying as transgender in April 1998. Although this was the first time she publicly came out, Reed stated close friends had known for around twenty years.[6]

Prior to her transition Reed married her long-time partner (since 1981) artist, Aikido and Iaido Sensei Michele Benzamin-Miki.[6] They continue living and working together.

Published Essays

  • Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology (Alan Hunt Badiner, Editor)
  • What Makes A Man: 22 Writers Imagine The Future (2004) (Rebecca Walker, Editor)
  • The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women (2012) (Florence Caplow and Susan Moon, Editors)

See also

References

  1. ^ Reed, Caitriona; DeMaioNewton, Emily (26 July 2019). "A Transgender Buddhist Trailblazer 20+ Years Later". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  2. ^ Yar, Harriette (2006-12-19). "Just Another Dharma bum: Buddhist teacher Caitríona Reed". The Advocate. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  3. ^ Badiner, Allan Hunt (1990). Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology. Parallax Press. pp. 261. ISBN 0-938077-30-9.
  4. ^ Gottlieb, Roger S. (2003). Liberating Faith: Religious Voices for Justice, Peace, and Ecological Wisdom. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 533. ISBN 0-7425-2534-1.
  5. ^ "American Zen Teachers". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  6. ^ a b Decisions, Committed; Buddhism, Thien (10 June 2020). "Coming Out Whole". Inquiring Mind. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
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