Sister elaine macinnes biography template download
Sister elaine macinnes biography template free
Main Menu Utility Menu Search. February 18, Sister Elaine learned the violin from her mother, a gifted musician, and pursued music studies at Mount Allison University and Juilliard, after which she played professionally with symphony orchestras in Calgary and Edmonton. She also fell in love with a handsome English airman, who was killed in action during World War Two.
Through it all, she felt a spiritual longing that led her, finally, to a Toronto convent in After taking her vows in , Sister Elaine accepted an assignment in Kyoto, Japan — and there found herself drawn to Zen Buddhism. At a monastery deep in the mountains, she began to study meditation with a renowned master, and by had become the first Canadian ever accredited as a Zen Roshi teacher.
Missionary work took Sister Elaine to the Philippines during the tumultuous years of revolt against the brutal regime of Ferdinand Marcos. There, she achieved a degree of notoriety for her efforts to teach meditation to political prisoners and victims of torture — often at great personal risk. Professor Andrew Coyle, the former governor of Brixton Prison, says Phoenix Trust now operates in nearly half of the country's prisons, and demand for its meditation classes is enormous.
Let's all allow that to motivate us to be faithful to our meditative practice. Posted by Ellie Finlay at Friday, July 28, Anonymous AM. First, she completed a degree in music at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, and then did further studies at Julliard, after which she went to Alberta and performed for a while in the string section of the Calgary Symphony.
She entered religious life somewhat later than usual and was 30 before she completed her postulancy. Of course I desired earnestly to know it experientially, and at the same time I was equally determined to discover how I was going to practice it. Then she happened upon the book One with Jesus by a Belgian Jesuit, Paul de Jaegher, in which he writes about the significance of that passage in his own life.
He also said that he experienced the Divine Indwelling not as intimacy but as identification. Total identification. Now how to practice that?
Sister elaine macinnes biography template
Although attracted by what she read, she was unclear what to do about it. De Jaegher did not provide directions on how to proceed, although the book was, as she put it, full of encouragement. After taking final vows in , she was assigned to Japan where she taught music to school children. She felt an immediate respect for the culture and immersed herself in it.
Sister elaine macinnes biography template printable
During her time in Japan, she studied several traditional arts including flower arrangement, calligraphy, and the tea ceremony. She first encountered Buddhist spiritual practice when a friend introduced her to the Tendai monk, Somon Horisawa. Her introduction to Zen came a little later. The rest of my time in Japan, I met so many people who admired Lassalle.
I was reading everything on spirituality then because that was my first mission abroad. And I liked what I read about Zen, but it was when I got all of this from Father Lassalle that I had a deep inner conviction that this is okay, that this is the legitimate stuff.
Sister elaine macinnes wikipedia
Lassalle arranged for her to attend a Zen temple in Kyoto for women, Enkoji. She looked at me. She had almost no English. And it was really tough going. I think I probably thought at that time that her conception of what I thought of God was wrong. I sensed that.
I never had interviews with her. She might not. She might ask me to say something. The dokusan was less than a minute. Which was fine. Sometimes dokusans are like that. But I must have got nourishment from somewhere because I kept going back.
To the end, I never got very far with her, but she kept me at this thing. Buddhism is failing terribly. But my children. The Rohatsu sesshin of was her second sesshin with Yamada, and, during the first few days, she was uncomfortable about some of the things said during his Dharma talks. She spoke to Father Lassalle, who was also participating in the retreat, about her concerns, and he told her to trust Yamada.
Suddenly, the very core of that shell burst open. MacInnes began teaching meditation in prisons in the Philippines in She later expanded her efforts in the United Kingdom, where she collaborated with the Phoenix Prison Trust, an organization promoting yoga and meditation in prisons.
Sister elaine macinnes biography template excel: Elaine MacInnes OC OLM (7 April – 29 November ) was a Canadian Catholic nun and Zen master. She was notable for integrating Zen meditation with her Catholic faith and promoting the use of meditation and yoga in prisons as a tool for rehabilitation and spiritual growth.
Her work gained support from actor Jeremy Irons , who served as a patron of the Trust. In , MacInnes founded Freeing the Human Spirit, a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to bringing meditation and yoga to incarcerated individuals. Under her leadership, the initiative reached 28 prisons across Canada by , after which she retired from active involvement.
MacInnes wrote several books addressing spirituality, meditation and her experience in Zen practice. Key publications include:. MacInnes was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in for her contribution to prison rehabilitation through yoga and meditation. This recognition highlighted her international impact, particularly her work in the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
MacInnes died on 29 November Contents move to sidebar hide.