Melissa Myōzen Blacker, Rōshi, is a Guiding Teacher of Boundless Way Zen Temple, a Sōtō Zen priest, and Dharma heir to James Myōun Ford, Roshi, in two lineages: an ordained Sōtō transmission through Jiyu Kennett, Rōshi, and a lay kōan-teaching lineage through John Tarrant, Rōshi. She is the co-editor of The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen’s Most Important Koan. Her writing also appears in various Buddhist essay collections and magazines.
Melissa was born in 1954, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents were secular Jews. From them she was schooled early to have a deep appreciation of art, theater, music (especially jazz) and leftist politics. In order to understand a spontaneous spiritual experience she had when she was nine years old, Melissa began a life-long exploration of religion and psychology.
She attended Wesleyan University, earning her BA magna cum laude in Anthropology and Music in 1976. She went on to earn an MA in Counseling Psychology from Vermont College of Norwich University in 1991. From 1993 to 2011 she worked at the Center for Mindfulness, founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, where she was the associate director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and a director of professional training and education programs. She is now teaching Zen, leading retreats, and helping to run Boundless Way Zen Temple.
In 1977 she met David Rynick and they married in 1982. Their daughter, Rachel Blacker Rynick, was born in 1986. Rachel and her husband Kevin Bonham have two children, Isaiah Leo Bonham-Rynick and Samara Louise Bonham-Rynick.
In 1981 she and David began studying Zen with the independent teacher Richard Clarke. After twenty years with Dr. Clarke, Melissa became the student of James Myōun Ford, Rōshi. She was ordained a Sōtō Zen priest (unsui) in 2004 and completed shuso training in 2005. She received Dharma transmission from James Ford in April of 2006. In 2006 she was elected a teacher of the Boundless Way sangha. In 2010 Melissa received Inka Shōmei, which is the full acknowledgment of Zen mastery, from James Rōshi. She has also studied with John Tarrant, Rōshi, James’ teacher.
Melissa is a member of the American Zen Teachers Association.
