About

Eido Frances Carney is the founder and guiding teacher of Olympia Zen Center in Olympia, Washington. She received Dharma Transmission, in lineage with Ryokan, from Niho Tetsumei Roshi of Entsuji Temple in Kurashiki, Japan, after training at Shoboji Temple in Iwate Prefecture. At Shobiji, she was the first and only woman to train at the temple founded in 1325. She is also the founder of Temple Ground Press, originally dedicated to publishing the writing of Soto Zen woman priests but is now open to all genders. Her painting teacher is Shoen Tokunaga Sensei from Okayama who also teachers in Kyoto. She holds a master's degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. She taught in higher education in Japan and the U.S., leads workshops in meditation, calligraphy, painting, and poetry. She has three adult offspring and two grandchildren. In publishing fiction she writes under the name Mary Frances Carney.