Gerta Ital, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Gerta Ital

German writer

Date of Birth: 07-Jul-1904

Place of Birth: Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany

Date of Death: 21-Jul-1988

Profession: actor, writer

Nationality: Germany

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Gerta Maria Luise Karoline Ital (1904 – 1988) was a German-born actress who entered a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery late in life.
She was born in Hanover.
She was the first western woman allowed to stay in a zen monastery (in 1963).
She studied with Eugen Herrigel from 1953 to 1955.
She was also in contact with Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle.
Her master in Japan was Mumon Yamada. 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-1960s, but were not translated into English until much later.