Jan Chozen Bays (born 1945), is a Zen teacher, author, mindful eating educator, and

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

specializing in work with abused children.

Biography

Jan Chozen Bays was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 9, 1945. She grew up in East Greenbush, New York and spent two years in Korea. She received her undergraduate degree at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

and earned her medical degree at the University of California at San Diego, specializing in pediatrics. It was after Bays began practicing Zen in a group that included

Charlotte Joko Beck Charlotte Joko Beck (March 27, 1917 – June 15, 2011) was an American Zen teacher and the author of the books ''Everyday Zen: Love and Work'' and ''Nothing Special: Living Zen''. Biography Born in New Jersey, Beck studied music at the Oberlin ...

, Anne Seisen Saunders, and Jerry Shishin Wick in San Diego. She eventually moved to the Zen Center of Los Angeles to study with the Japanese Zen teacher Taizan Maezumi Roshi. She had an extramarital affair with him, which she admitted, which devastated his wife and children. She served as the physician at the Zen Center’s community medical clinic. She was a student of Maezumi from 1977 until his death in 1995. She received dharma transmission from him in 1983 becoming his 4th dharma heir and, after Joko Beck, the second woman. With her husband Laren Hogen Bays, since 1985 she has been a teacher at the Zen Community of Oregon, a Zen center or sangha in Portland, Oregon. Chozen and Hogen Bays are also co-founders and co-abbots of Great Vow Zen Monastery of

Clatskanie, Oregon Clatskanie is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It was named for the Tlatskanai Native American tribe, and the Clatskanie River which flows through the town and empties into the Columbia River about four miles to the north. The p ...

, which opened in 2002. From 1990 until the present she has trained with

Shodo Harada , or Harada Rōshi, is a Rinzai priest, author, calligrapher, and head abbot of Sōgen-ji — a three-hundred-year-old temple in Okayama, Japan. He has become known as a "teacher of teachers", with masters from various lineages coming to sit se ...

, a Rinzai Zen teacher. In 2011, Bays founded Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, Oregon.

Child abuse expert

Bays is a pediatrician and nationally recognized expert on child abuse. In the 1980s and 1990s, she conducted the medical examinations of thousands of infants and children who had been abused or killed and regularly appeared in court as an expert witness. In 1987, she helped to found Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Services (CARES) Northwest, now one of the oldest and largest child abuse assessment centers in the United States.

Bibliography

*Bays, Jan Chozen (2003). ''Jizo Bodhisattva: Guardian of Children, Travelers, and Other Voyagers''. Shambhala Publications. * * *Bays, Jan Chozen (2014). ''Mindfulness on the Go: Simple Meditation Practices You Can Do Anywhere''. Shambhala Publications. . *Bays, Jan Chozen (2016). ''The Vow-Powered Life: A Simple Method for Living with Purpose''. Shambhala Publications. . *Bays MD, Jan Chozen (2022). Mindful Medicine: 40 Simple Practices to Help Healthcare Professionals Heal Burnout and Reconnect to Purpose. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 9781645470526.

Gallery

Image:Jan Chozen Bays and Kaz Tanahashi.jpg, with

Kaz Tanahashi is an accomplished Japanese calligrapher, Zen teacher, author and translator of Buddhist texts from Japanese and Chinese to English, most notably works by Dogen (he began his translation of '' Shobogenzo'' in his twenties). He first met Shunryu ...

Image:Hogen Bays & Koen Sensei.jpg, husband Hogen Bays Image:Hogens Bays, Paul Genki Kahn, Jan Chozen Bays.jpg, Hogen,

Paul Genki Kahn Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

, and Chozen

References

External links