The Rinzai school, named after Linji Yixuan is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of Chan Buddhism was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan Eisai. Contemporary Japanese Rinzai is derived entirely from the Ōtōkan lineage transmitted through Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769), who is a major figure in the revival of the Rinzai tradition.
Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi was a Japanese Rinzai Zen teacher who lived in Los Angeles, United States since 1962. He was one of the most influential but also controversial Zen masters in America, "coercing hundreds of [students] into having sexual contact with him" since at least the early 1970s. He sought to tailor his teachings to westerners, opening dozens of centres, and founding serving as head abbot of the Mount Baldy Zen Center, near Mount Baldy in California, and of the Rinzai-Ji order of affiliated Zen centers.
Sōen Nakagawa was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition. An enigmatic figure, Nakagawa had a major impact on Zen as it was practiced in the 20th century, both in Japan and abroad.
Eido Tai Shimano was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest. He was the founding abbot of the New York Zendo Shobo-Ji in Manhattan and Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-Ji monastery in the Catskill mountains of New York; he was forced to resign from that position of 40 years after revelations of a series of sexual relationships with and alleged sexual harassment of female students.
New York Zendo Shobo-Ji, or Temple of True Dharma, is a Rinzai zen practice facility. It is located in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, in the United States. It is operated by the Zen Studies Society. Founded on September 15, 1968, by Zen master Soen Nakagawa Roshi and Eido Tai Shimano Roshi, the building was converted from a garage, formerly a carriage house. Eido Tai Shimano Roshi, now deceased, was the founding abbot. He was succeeded on January 1, 2011, by Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi, who retired in202 and was replaced as Abbot by Chigan-kutsu Kyo-On Dokuro Jaeckel Roshi. The temple is affiliated with Dai Bosatsu Zendo in upstate New York.
Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji, or International Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji, is a Rinzai Zen monastery and retreat center located in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji is part of the Zen Studies Society, founded in 1956 to support the work of D.T. Suzuki. It is affiliated with New York Zendo on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Zen Studies Society was led by Shinge-Shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi until her retirement in 2023. The Zen Studies Society community celebrated the installation of Abbot Chigan-kutsu Kyo-On Dukuro Jaeckel Roshi on November 24, 2023.
Ryōmō Kyōkai (両忘協会 "Ryōmō Society", was a lay Rinzai Zen Buddhist Dharma center located in Tokyo, Japan.
Shinge-shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat is the former abbot of the Zen Studies Society, based at the International Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji monastery, outside Livingston Manor, NY, and at the New York Zendo Shobo-Ji on the Upper east Side of Manhattan. She is also the abbot of the Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji. Chayat is an advocate for the use of meditation in medical settings, with Hoen-ji running the program Well/Being Contemplative Practices for Healing for healthcare professionals.
Kyudo Nakagawa, or Nakagawa Kyūdō, was a Japanese-born Rinzai rōshi who for many years led Soho Zen Buddhist Society, Inc. in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Shodo Harada, or Harada Rōshi, is a Rinzai priest, author, calligrapher, and head abbot of Sōgen-ji — a three-hundred-year-old temple in Okayama, Japan. He has become known as a "teacher of teachers", with masters from various lineages coming to sit sesshin with him in Japan or during his trips to the United States and Europe.
The Zen Studies Society was established in 1956 by Cornelius Crane to help assist the scholar Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki in his work and to help promulgate Zen Buddhism in Western countries. It operates both New York Zendo Shobo-Ji in New York City and Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-Ji in the Catskills area of New York State. Influenced by the teachings of Soen Nakagawa Roshi and Nyogen Senzaki, ZSS is one of the oldest organizations dedicated to the practice of Rinzai Zen in the United States.
The Cambridge Buddhist Association was informally founded in 1957 when D.T. Suzuki moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts and befriended John and Elsie Mitchell, who ran a vast library of books on Buddhism and held zazen for various practitioners. The institution was incorporated in 1959 and remains active. In 1979 Maurine Stuart, a Rinzai rōshi, became President of the organization, and several influential Buddhist teachers in the United States have been members.
Below is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.
Mumon Yamada was a Rinzai roshi, calligrapher, and former abbot of Shōfuku-ji in Kobe, Japan. Mumon was also the former head of the Myōshin-ji branch of the Rinzai school of Japan.
Ōmori Sōgen was a Japanese Rinzai Rōshi, a successor in the Tenryū-ji line of Rinzai Zen, and former president of Hanazono University, the Rinzai university in Kyoto, Japan. He became a priest in 1945.
Ruth Fuller Sasaki, born Ruth Fuller, was an American writer and Buddhist teacher. She was important figure in the development of Buddhism in the United States. As Ruth Fuller Everett, she met and studied with Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki in Japan in 1930. In 1938, she became a principal supporter of the Buddhist Society of America, in New York. She married Sokei-an, the Zen priest in residence there, in 1944, but he died within a year. In 1949, she went to Kyoto to find another roshi to live and teach in New York, to complete translations of key Zen texts, and to pursue her own Zen training, receiving sanzen from Gotō Zuigan.
The Zen Group of Western Australia (ZGWA) is an organization of lay zen practitioners located in Perth, Western Australia.
Taïkan Jyoji is the representative for Europe of the Rinzai school of Zen. He was officially installed in this function by Yamada Mumon Rôshi in 1976.
Shinzan Miyamae was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist rōshi (teacher). He restored Gyokuryuji, the hermitage of Edo-period Zen Master Bankei Yotaku Zenji in Gifu, Japan and taught there from 1990 to his death.
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.
