Sister Ruth/Kashin sama studied philosophy and theology at Bristol University and undertook subsequent research on practice in St John of the Cross and its connections with Satipatthana (Buddhist mindfulness) and Zen. Her Japanese Zen teacher, Terayama Tanchu Sensei, gave her the name Kashin. Her name in religion, Ruth, was given by Bishop Rowan Williams, signifying Compassion: she who goes out from her own home for the benefit of beings; beautiful; a sight to be seen. Belonging in both Zen Buddhist and Christian traditions, she was encouraged to teach by John Garrie Roshi and by Bishop Rowan Williams, who held her life vows as a hermit. Sister Ruth/Kashin sama lived as a hermit from 1993 in various locations in Wales until in 2008 she came to live at the Hermitage on the Mountain, Disserth y Mynydd, near Llandovery, under the auspices of the Archbishop Rowan Williams Hermitage Trust.