Sōtō Zen or the Sōtō school is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism. It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān Liánjiè. It emphasizes Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.
Philip Kapleau was an American teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Harada–Yasutani tradition, which is rooted in Japanese Sōtō and incorporates Rinzai-school koan study. In 1966 he established Rochester Zen Center, which grew to become one of the most influential Zen communities in the West. His lineage includes teachers active in the USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Germany, the UK and New Zealand.
Richard Dudley Baker is an American Soto Zen master, the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum (Johanneshof) in Germany's Black Forest. As the American Dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, Baker assumed abbotship of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) shortly before Suzuki's death in 1971. He remained abbot there until 1984, the year he resigned his position after it was disclosed in the previous year that he and the wife of one of SFZC's benefactors had been having an affair. Despite the controversy connected with his resignation, Baker was instrumental in helping the San Francisco Zen Center to become one of the most successful Zen institutions in the United States.
In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (kechimyaku) theoretically traced back to the Buddha himself." The dharma lineage reflects the importance of family-structures in ancient China, and forms a symbolic and ritual recreation of this system for the monastical "family".
Sanbo Kyodan is a lay Zen school derived from both the Soto (Caodong) and the Rinzai (Linji) traditions. It was renamed Sanbo-Zen International in 2014. The term Sanbo Kyodan has often been used to refer to the Harada-Yasutani zen lineage. However, a number of Yasutani's students have started their own teaching lines that are independent from Sanbo Kyodan. Strictly speaking, Sanbo Kyodan refers only to the organization that is now known as Sanbo-Zen International.
Hakuyū Taizan Maezumi was a Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist priest who substantially contributed to development of Zen in the USA.
Japanese Zen refers to the Japanese forms of Zen Buddhism, an originally Chinese Mahāyāna school of Buddhism that strongly emphasizes dhyāna, the meditative training of awareness and equanimity. This practice, according to Zen proponents, gives insight into one's true nature, or the emptiness of inherent existence, which opens the way to a liberated way of living.
Daiun Sogaku Harada was a Sōtō Zen monk who trained under both Sōtō and Rinzai teachers. He became known for his teaching combining methods from both schools. The Harada–Yasutani zen lineage founded by his disciple Hakuun Yasutani has become one of the major Zen traditions in the West. He is known as the "Great Cloud".
Toni Packer was a teacher of “meditative inquiry”, and the founder of Springwater Center. Packer was a former student in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen Buddhism, and was previously in line to be the successor of Phillip Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center.
Sevan Ross is a Zen Buddhist priest and teacher with training backgrounds in both the Sōtō and Rinzai traditions in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the former abbot and spiritual director of the Chicago Zen Center in Evanston, IL.
The Rochester Zen Center (RZC) is a Sōtō and Rinzai Zen Buddhist sangha in the Kapleau lineage, located in Rochester, New York and established in 1966 by Philip Kapleau. It is one of the oldest Zen centers in the United States.
Hakuun Yasutani was a Sōtō priest and the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan, a lay Japanese Zen group. Through his students Philip Kapleau and Taizan Maezumi, Yasutani has been one of the principal forces in founding western (lay) Zen-practice.
Shihō (嗣法) refers to a series of ceremonies in Sōtō Zen Buddhism wherein a unsui receives Dharma transmission, becoming part of the dharma lineage of his or her teacher.
Below is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.
Michael Danan Henry is an American Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani school of Zen Buddhism, a sect derived from both the Rinzai and Sōtō traditions of Japanese Zen, practicing in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Robert Baker Aitken. The founding teacher of the Zen Center of Denver, Henry received Dharma transmission from Philip Kapleau Roshi in 1989 and, after many years of subsequent training with Robert Aitken Roshi, was recognized as a Diamond Sangha teacher and master by Aitken. Danan Henry Roshi created and implemented the Monastery Without Walls training program; the Lotus in the Flame Lay Order; and the Every Minute Zen mindfulness training program as abbot and spiritual director of the Zen Center of Denver.
Sante Poromaa Roshi is a Swedish Zen Buddhist teacher (Roshi) in the tradition of Philip Kapleau and Bodhin Kjolhede. He was born in 1958 in Kiruna, Sweden. Together with his co-teacher Kanja Odland Roshi, he leads Zenbuddhistiska Samfundet, one of the major traditions of Zen Buddhism in Sweden with centers in several European countries.
Kanja Odland is a Swedish Zen Buddhist teacher (Roshi) and priest in the tradition of Philip Kapleau and Bodhin Kjolhede. Together with her co-teacher Sante Poromaa Roshi, she leads Zenbuddhistiska Samfundet, one of the major traditions of Zen Buddhism in Sweden with centers in several European countries.
Zen institutions have an elaborate system of ranks and hierarchy, which determine one's position in the institution. Within this system, novices train to become a Zen priest, or a trainer of new novices.
Zen was introduced in the United States at the end of the 19th century by Japanese teachers who went to America to serve groups of Japanese immigrants and become acquainted with the American culture. After World War II, interest from non-Asian Americans grew rapidly. This resulted in the commencement of an indigenous American Zen tradition which also influences the larger western (Zen) world.
The zen monastery Enso-ji Il Cerchio is a Buddhist community and a cultural association recognised by the Italian Government. It is affiliated with Soto Zen Buddhism and was founded by the Italian Zen Master Carlo Zendo Tetsugen Serra (1953-), He was disciple of the Japanese Zen Master Ban Tetsugyu Soin, between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Later, he would be recognised as Zen Master in his lineage by his direct heir, the current abbot of Tosho-ji (東照寺), Tetsujyo Deguchi.
