Mugai Nyodai (Japanese: 無外如大, 1223–1298), was one of the first Zen abbesses and the first female Zen master in Japan. A disciple of Mugaku Sogen, she organized convents and spread the lessons of Rinzai Zen.[1][2][3] The only surviving written accounts of her life date to more recent centuries, and so many details of her biography are unclear.[4]
- ^ "Mugai Nyodai, Zishou Miaozong 資壽妙總; 1095–1170. First Woman to Head a Zen Order – Buddhism". Bellaonline.com. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ^ "Japanese Zen Master Honored by Her Followers". The New York Times. 22 November 1998. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ^ Deal, William E. (2007). Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195331264.
- ^ Fister, Patricia (5 July 2018). "Commemorating Life and Death: The Memorial Culture Surrounding the Rinzai Zen Nun Mugai Nyodai". Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan. Brill. ISBN 9789004368194.