Hampshire College

Catherine Anraku Hondorp is a Dharma Holder and Senior Priest with The Village Zendo in New York City. Her teacher is Roshi Enkyo O’Hara, a dharma successor of Roshi Bernie Glassman. As the priest in residence at The Zen Center in Northampton, Anraku works with the sangha to provide a sacred space for Zen practice. She is the adjunct Buddhist Chaplain at Smith College and Buddhist Advisor to the community of Hampshire College.

Anraku began her Zen studies in August of 1987 when she arrived at Zen Mountain Monastery with her partner and their three cats for an “Introduction to Zen” workshop, a weekend adventure would shift the course of her life. There she met her future teacher Enkyo O'Hara, and began sitting with the small group that she would later lead in her New York City apartment. This group would become The Village Zendo. Anraku received Jukai (the Buddhist Precepts) with Roshi John Daido Loori in 1990. Six years later, she asked Roshi Enkyo O'Hara to guide her practice as her teacher. In 2000, Anraku received Tokudo, was ordained as a Soto Zen Buddhist Priest, and co-founded The Zen Center on Main Street in Northampton. Anraku led The Village Zendo sangha as the Shuso or senior monk during the summer intensive practice period of 2002. On July 29, 2006, she was affirmed by Roshi O’Hara as ‘Hoshi’ or Dharma Holder in the White Plum Lineage of Maezumi Roshi.

Anraku is happy to be at Hampshire College offering meditation and Zen Buddhist practice to the community. Her emphasis on the body stems from over 15 years as a professional modern dancer and teacher. Catherine Anraku Hondorp is also a Network Chiropractor with a private practice, The Life Center for Network Chiropractic, which focuses on practical tools for transforming pain and disconnection into awakening to the gift of being human.

She lives in the woods of Westhampton with her her dog Scout.