Anita Feng, SDPS
Abbess
Tiger Mountain Zen Center

Feng Pŏpsa is the Abbess of Tiger Mountain Zen Center. The center is a supportive, nondenominational practice facility for those who would like to learn about Zen training, try it out, and practice with others. Sessions are led by Anita Feng, a well-respected, experienced Zen teacher and long-time practitioner in the lineage of Zen Master Sungsan and Zen Master Jibong. Feng Pŏpsa served as the past Abbot and Head Dharma Teacher of Dharma Sound Zen Center in Seattle. She has studied in the lineage of Zen Master Sungsan for the past twenty-five years. Anita works as a potter and writer, and lives in Issaquah with her husband and children.

Anita received an MFA in Creative Writing from Brown University. She won several awards including the Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize, an Illinois Council award and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Most recently, she received the Andrés Berger-Kiss Award for non-fiction.

Her first poetry collection, Internal Strategies, is a book that tells the story of her husband, Xiao Ge Feng, growing up through the turmoil of communist China. The book follows the course of his life from severe childhood illness to forced labor in Manchuria, through factory work, education, immigration to the United States and marriage.

Feng Pŏpsa lives in Issaquah, Washington with her husband and three children where she maintains a studio as a professional potter specializing in ocarinas, musical instruments made from clay.

Ocarinas are an ancient folk instrument that originated in Central and South America where it was used by native tribes. Each tribe had its own "tuning" and could be identified at a distance from the music played. The tone of an ocarina is haunting, rich, unique. The word "ocarina" means "little goose egg" in Italian. Later, in America, it became known as the "sweet potato." According to the webpage information, Anita has been designing and creating ocarinas since 1974.