Reverend Ursula Richard

Germany

Reverend Ursula Richard

Germany

Reverend Ursula Richard was born in 1955 in Wuppertal, the beautiful Bergisches Land, a low, mountain-range region with woods, meadows, rivers, and lakes in Germany. She was raised in a Catholic working-class family and grew up with a deep love for hiking.

From an early age, she confronted illness, suffering and death, and began to question the meaning of life. “Who or what was God, the divine? What is behind or beyond everything?” She writes, “These questions still move me today and I have tried to approach them in different ways in my life: through meditation, silence, spiritual practice especially on the Zen path, through writing, translating books of Thich Nhat Hanh, publishing books that are close to my heart in edition Steinrich, lectures, through hiking in nature, my friendships and relationships, and my efforts to express connectedness and love in life.”

Reverend Ursula Richard served as the program manager at Thesus Verlag which prints books on Zen, Buddhism, and meditation. She was the editor-in-chief of Buddhismus Aktuell for 7 years, and the publisher of Stenrich since 2009. Reverend Ursula Richard has translated most of the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh’s books into German, a project which she began doing in 1986. Her books include: Three Pillars of Happiness; Silence in the City; Gratitude Makes Happiness. Her radio contributions include: “Madame Buddha: When Women Awaken”

Reverend Ursula Richard notes, “It is difficult for many women to accept themselves and see themselves through the eyes of love and understanding or to experience themselves as powerful and strong. Why is that? What prevents us from being caring, compassionate, and appreciative of ourselves?”

In the autumn of 2020, Ursula Richard received ordination as a Buddhist priest in a Japanese Buddhist Tokudo Ceremony held in Felsentor, Switzerland.