Gerta Ital

Gerta Maria Luise Karoline Ital (1904 – 1988) was a German-born actress who entered a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery late in life. She recorded her experiences in two books, "The Master, the Monks and I": "A Western Woman's Experience of Zen", and "On the Way to Satori": "A Woman's Experience of Enlightenment". Both books were published in German in the mid-1960's, but were not translated into English until much later. She was born in Hanover.

References

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=AxLdECPOjs8C&pg=RA1-PA178&lpg=RA1-PA178&dq=%22Gerta+Ital%22+%2Bdied&source=web&ots=m7-K78TgPW&sig=maozkt4FeNtixBwkl2mkigGlFBk&hl=en Gerta Ital's profile in "Journeys East: 20th Century Western Encounters with Eastern Religious Traditions"]