{{Distinguish|Cokie Roberts}} {{Infobox religious biography | name = Rev. Kyōki Roberts | image = KyokiRoberts2.jpg | caption = | birth name = | alias = | dharma name = | birth_date = December 17, 1951 | birth_place = Sewickley, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = December 19, 2023 (age 72) | death_place = Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. | nationality = | religion = Buddhism | school = Sōtō | title = | location = | education = | occupation = | teacher = | reincarnation of = | predecessor = Nonin Chowaney | successor = | students = | spouse = | partner = | children = | website = | birthname = Christine Munroe Roberts }}
'''Rev. Kyōki Roberts''' (OPW) (December 17, 1951 – December 19, 2023),<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Kyoki Roberts Obituary |url=https://zenfields.org/kyoki-roberts-obituary/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=Zen Fields |archive-date=2025-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125183748/https://zenfields.org/kyoki-roberts-obituary/ |url-status=live }}</ref> born '''Christine Munroe Roberts''', was an American Sōtō Zen priest from Pennsylvania. She was founder and head priest of the Zen Center of Pittsburgh.
== Early life and education == Christine Roberts<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Jane |date=November 7, 2002 |title=Meals of Meditation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-meals-of-meditat/174729980/ |access-date=June 17, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-zen-buddhist-mea/174730206/ E6] |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=June 18, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250618000800/https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-meals-of-meditat/174729980/ |url-status=live }}</ref> was from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joseph Loughrey Roberts Jr. and Helen Shaw Roberts. She was raised on her family's farm; her father also owned a jewelry store.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hipwell |first=Alisha |date=April 26, 2007 |title=Downtown jewelry store owner was treasurer of Sewickley fox hunting club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-downtown-jewelry/174733574/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=114 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She graduated from Sewickley Academy in 1969, and earned a degree in agriculture from Colorado State University in 1973.<ref name=":4" /> She studied Buddhism in Minnesota, California, and Japan in the 1990s, after her marriage ended.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Pitz |first=Marylynne |date=December 4, 2000 |title=Buddhist priest at center of controversy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-buddhist-priest/174728960/ |access-date=June 17, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=21 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=June 18, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250618000801/https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-buddhist-priest/174728960/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Career == Roberts ran an organic farm near Yutan, Nebraska, with her husband in the 1980s, and worked as a professional mediator, helping other farmers negotiate with creditors.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Severens |first=Gene |date=2024-04-03 |title=The early Center years: remembering the 'Center's first client,' Chris Roberts (Kyoki) |url=https://www.cfra.org/blog/early-center-years-remembering-centers-first-client-chris-roberts-kyoki |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=Center for Rural Affairs |language=en |archive-date=2024-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241114183123/https://www.cfra.org/blog/early-center-years-remembering-centers-first-client-chris-roberts-kyoki |url-status=live }}</ref> "We were literally telling people to check their guns at the door," she later recalled of that work.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Rodgers |first=Ann |date=March 28, 2011 |title=Finding Zen amid a church scandal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-finding-zen-amid/174732045/ |access-date=June 17, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-zen-scandals-co/174732284/ 2] |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=June 18, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250618000804/https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-finding-zen-amid/174732045/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She was ordained as a Zen priest in 1993, and chose the name '''Kyōki Einin Roberts''' at that time.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Jane |date=September 27, 2000 |title=Locally-bred Zen priest preaches 'just sitting' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-locally-bred-zen/174731163/ |access-date=June 17, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=93 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=June 18, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250618000800/https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-locally-bred-zen/174731163/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Jane |date=October 4, 2000 |title=Zen path leads to meditation center on farm |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-zen-path-leads-t/174731813/ |access-date=June 17, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=107 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name=":6" />
In September 2000,<ref name=":3" /> she opened the Zen Center of Pittsburgh on a six-acre farm in Bell Acres.<ref name=":1" /> Her teacher Nonin Chowaney attended the center's dedication.<ref name=":3" /> The facility hosted overnight guests and services on weekdays, which raised local concerns about land use and traffic.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 30, 2000 |title=Buddhist priest takes town to court |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/public-opinion-buddhist-priest-takes-tow/174730785/ |access-date=June 17, 2025 |work=Public Opinion |pages=21 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She published a cookbook, ''Stone Soup'', in 2002.<ref name=":0" /> She taught meditation to prisoners in Cambria County.<ref name=":3" />
Roberts blended her practice with art during the 2003 exhibition ''Gestures: An Exhibition of Small Site-Specific Works'' at The Mattress Factory Museum in Pittsburgh. Her installation exhibit, ''No where to go; nothing to do: Just Sitting'', invited visitors to experience aspects of Zazen (seated meditation).<ref>{{Cite web |title=No where to go; Nothing to do: Just Sitting |url=https://mattress.org/exhibition/no-where-to-go-nothing-to-do-just-sitting/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |website=Mattress Factory |language=en-US |archive-date=March 15, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250315134641/https://mattress.org/exhibition/no-where-to-go-nothing-to-do-just-sitting/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Chowaney represented the Order of the Prairie Wind when he returned to the Zen Center to assist Roberts in performing an ordination in 2005.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ganster |first=Kathleen |date=September 29, 2005 |title=Following a chosen path |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-following-a-chos/174733281/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=79 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 2008, Roberts helped welcome a handmade ''erhu'' to Pittsburgh.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vranish |first=Jane |date=July 27, 2008 |title=Pulling strings; Youth Symphony helps bring hndmade Chinese erhu safely to Pittsburgh |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-pulling-strings/174732917/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=35, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-chinese-erhu-co/174732850/ 37] |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 2011, she founded An Olive Branch, a project to address the aftermath of sexual misconduct scandals in religious communities.<ref name=":2" />
== Personal life == Roberts married Charles Eliason and had a son, Joe. She and Eliason divorced in 1989. In 2016, she moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to care for the aged Chowaney and to be closer to her grown son and his family.<ref name=":4" /> Her existing health issues were exacerbated by COVID-19 in 2021, and she used a supplemental oxygen in her last years.<ref name=":5" /> Chowaney died in 2022, and she died in 2023, at the age of 72, in Omaha.<ref name=":6">{{cite web |title=Memorial Service for Kyoki Einin Roberts |url=https://nebraskazencenter.org/memorial-service-for-kyoki-einin-roberts/ |website=Nebraska Zen Center |access-date=14 March 2024 |archive-date=14 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314203730/https://nebraskazencenter.org/memorial-service-for-kyoki-einin-roberts/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==See also== *Buddhism in the United States *Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == *[http://deepspringzen.org/ Zen Center of Pittsburgh]
{{Buddhism topics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Kyoki}} Category:1951 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Soto Zen Buddhists Category:Zen Buddhist priests Category:American Zen Buddhists Category:Female Buddhist spiritual teachers Category:People from Sewickley, Pennsylvania Category:Colorado State University alumni Category:Sewickley Academy alumni