Stuart was granted her teaching title during an informal ceremony in 1982 held by her teacher Soen Nakagawa.
Nakagawa, who had given Dharma transmission previously to five individuals (all male), granted Stuart the title in defiance of convention.
Stuart moved to Paris, France in 1949 to study piano under Nadia Boulanger, Robert and Gaby Casadesus, and Alfred Cortot.
In 1966, Stuart joined the Zen Studies Society in New York City, then led by Eido Tai Shimano.
Stuart is featured in Zen in America: Five Teachers and the Search for American Buddhism by Helen Tworkov.