Rose Mary Myoan Dougherty Sensei was the founder and first guiding teacher of One Heart Sangha/Silver Spring Zendo in Maryland. She also served for a time on the Board of Directors of the White Plum Asanga.
A vowed member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, she began her Zen studies with Charlotte Joko Beck in the 1990s and received dharma transmission in 2006 from Janet Jinne Richardson Roshi. A longtime hospice volunteer, she completed the End of Life Counseling Program at the Metta Institute in California and was the co-founder of Companioning the Dying.
She ministered for over thirty years in the area of contemplative spirituality, offering retreats, workshops and spiritual direction in multi-faith/ecumenical settings, especially through her work at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Bethesda, MD. She was Shalem’s Retired Senior Fellow for Spiritual Guidance and for many years directed Shalem’s graduate-level program in Spiritual Guidance.
She was the author of Discernment (2009), and Group Spiritual Direction (1995).