Caitriona Reed

Caitriona Reed (born 1949) is a trans woman sensei of Thiền Zen Buddhism who also has a background in Vipassana. She co-founded Ordinary Dharma in Los Angeles, California—as well as its rural retreat center Manzanita Village Retreat Center, located in San Diego County. Reed, a member of the American Zen Teachers Association, has been teaching Buddhism since 1981. She received her authority to teach Zen from Thich Nhat Hanh in 1992. She is a 'woman of transsexual experience' who transitioned in 1996. She remarks on her experience of changing sex, "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." Together with her partner Michele...