Our founding teacher, Rose Mary Myoan Dougherty, Sensei
Rose Mary Myoan Dougherty Sensei founded One Heart Sangha/Silver Spring Zendo in 2006, becoming our first Guiding Teacher. She also served on the Board of Directors of the White Plum Asanga.
A vowed member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Sensei Dougherty began practicing Zen in the 1980s as a student of Charlotte Joko Beck. Subsequently, she joined Clare Sangha in Baltimore with Roshi Janet Jinne Richardson, in the White Plum Asanga. Sensei Dougherty received dharma transmission in 2006 from Roshi Richardson, after which she founded One Heart Sangha.
Sensei Dougherty ministered for over thirty years in the area of contemplative spirituality, offering retreats, workshops and spiritual direction in multi-faith/ecumenical settings. A longtime hospice volunteer, she completed the End of Life Counseling Program at the Metta Institute in California and then co-founded Companioning the Dying in 2008. She also worked extensively at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Bethesda MD, directing their graduate program in Spiritual Guidance. After her retirement, she continued to serve as Shalem’s Retired Senior Fellow for Spiritual Guidance.
She transmitted the dharma to two direct successors, Sensei Bill Jian Dietrich, and Sensei Bob JinGen Ertman. Her lineage continues through three more teachers, Sensei Martine Taikai Palmiter who founded Joyful Mind Zen Community in 2023, Sensei Rebecca MuSeiDo Hawes of One Heart Sangha, and Sensei Jan JinKai Gary.
Sensei Dougherty wrote two books, Discernment (2009), and Group Spiritual Direction (1995).
