The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives is a Soto Zen religious order in which Serene Reflection Meditation and the Buddhist Precepts are practiced. The Order was founded in 1978 by Reverend Master P.T.N.H Jiyu-Kennett (1924-1996). Born Peggy Kennett in England in 1924, she studied music in London and Durham before travelling to the East in 1961 to be ordained by the Venerable Seck Kim Seng as a member of the Chinese Buddhist church in Malaysia. She then continued her training as a disciple of the Very Reverend Keido Chisan Koho Zenji, the Abbot of Dai Hon Zan Sojiji monastery in Yokohama, Japan.
Certified by him as a Master in 1963, Reverend Master Jiyu-Kennett eventually returned to the West in 1969 and founded Shasta Abbey in California (www.shastaabbey.org) and Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey in Northumberland (www.throssel.org.uk). Both are retreat centres as well as training monasteries of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.
The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (www.obcon.org) is comprised of both male and female monks training together in the Buddhist priesthood as well as lay practitioners who have taken on for a time the commitment of a lay minister. One of the most important teachings of Buddhism is the complete spiritual equality of men and women and this is reflected in the forms and practice of the Order that Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett founded.
