Dōgen Zenji,also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄),Eihei Dōgen (永平道元),Kōso JōyōDaishi (高祖承陽大師),or BusshōDentōKokushi (仏性伝東国師),was a Japanese Buddhist priest,writer,poet,philosopher,and founder of the Sōtōschool of Zen in Japan.
SōtōZen or the Sōtōschool 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.
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Rōshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959 together with his wife,Anne Hopkins Aitken. Aitken received Dharma transmission from Koun Yamada in 1985 but decided to live as a layperson. He was a socialist advocating social justice for homosexuals,women and Native Hawaiians throughout his life,and was one of the original founders of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
The Rinzai school is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism,along with Sōtōand 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.
Seungsahn Haengwon,born Duk-In Lee,was a Korean Seon master of the Jogye Order and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen. He was the seventy-eighth Patriarch in his lineage. As one of the early Korean Zen masters to settle in the United States,he opened many temples and practice groups across the globe. He was known for his charismatic style and direct presentation of Zen,which was well tailored for the Western audience.
Kanzeon Zen Center was a Zen Buddhist center located in Salt Lake City,Utah. It was an affiliate of the White Plum Asanga,an association of Zen centers stemming from the tradition of Taizan Maezumi. The founder and Abbot of Kanzeon Zen Center was Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi,who resigned in 2011 amidst controversy. Kanzeon Zen Center was the home temple and the hub of Kanzeon Sangha International,founded by Genpo Roshi in 1984,with affiliate teachers,centers and groups in the US and seven European countries. The center was housed at 1274 E. South Temple,a historic building listed as a contributing property in the South Temple Historic District. It closed in the wake of the sex scandals involving Merzel. News reports stated that the center was deeply financially in debt to Merzel.
HakuyūTaizan Maezumi was a Japanese SōtōZen Buddhist priest who substantially contributed to development of Zen in the USA.
Dennis Merzel is an American Zen and spirituality teacher,also known as Genpo Roshi.
Bernie Glassman was an American Zen Buddhist roshi and founder of the Zen Peacemakers,an organization established in 1980. In 1996,he co-founded the Zen Peacemaker Order with his late wife Sandra Jishu Holmes. Glassman was a Dharma successor of the late Taizan Maezumi-roshi,and gave inka and Dharma transmission to several people.
Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji,or International Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji,is a Rinzai monastery and retreat center located in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Maintained by the Zen Studies Society,Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji is led by Shinge-Shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi. It is part of the Zen Studies Society,founded in 1956 to support the work of D.T. Suzuki.
Kosho Uchiyama was a Sōtōpriest,origami master,and abbot of Antai-ji near Kyoto,Japan.
Hakuun Yasutani was a Sōtōpriest 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.
White Plum Asanga,sometimes termed White Plum Sangha,is a Zen school in the Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi lineage,created by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi. It consists of Maezumi's Dharma heirs and subsequent successors and students. A diverse organization spread across the United States and with a small presence in Europe,the White Plum Asanga
[I]ncludes teachers who represent the spectrum of styles to be found to American Zen—socially engaged Buddhism,family practice,Zen and the arts,secularized Zen,and progressive traditionalism."
Issan Dorsey,born Tommy Dorsey Jr.,was a SōtōZen monk and teacher,Dharma heir of Zentatsu Richard Baker and onetime abbot of Hartford Street Zen Center (HSZC) located in the Castro district of San Francisco,California. Earlier in his life,he had worked as a prostitute and a drag queen,and had struggled at times with drug addiction. He died of complications from AIDS in 1990.
Michael Jon Wilkins is an American lawyer and judge. He is a retired Justice of the Utah Supreme Court and current chairman of the Utah Independent Ethics Commission.
Below is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.
Enni Ben'en,also known as Shōichi Kokushi,was a Japanese Buddhist monk. He started his Buddhist training as a Tendai monk. While he was studying with Eisai,a vision of Sugawara no Michizane appeared to him in a dream and told him to go to China and study meditation. Following this vision,he met the Rinzai teacher Wuzhun Shifan in China,and studied Mahayana with him. When he returned to Japan,he founded Tōfuku-ji monastery in Kyoto,and practiced Zen as well as other types of Buddhism. His disciples included Mujū.
Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty as the Chan School or the Buddha-mind school," and later developed into various sub-schools and branches. From China,Chán spread south to Vietnam and became Vietnamese Thiền,northeast to Korea to become Seon Buddhism,and east to Japan,becoming Japanese Zen.
