White Plum Lineage
Taizan Maezumi Roshi & Genpo Merzel Roshi in April 1994
The White Plum Lineage was established by Taizan Maezumi Roshi (1931-1995), one of the great pioneers of modern Zen who, alongside a handful of other Japanese masters, turned the wheel of dharma in our age and opened up a unique tradition of Buddhist practice to a worldwide movement. As a successor in three different lineages of both the Soto and the Rinzai schools, he could draw from an exceptionally rich background and express the teaching of the Buddha in a very broad and colorful way. As abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles he guided thousands of students and produced twelve successors, who spread his teaching all around the world: Bernard Tetsugen Glassman, Dennis Genpo Merzel, Charlotte Joko Beck, Jan Chozen Bays, John Daido Loori, Gerry Shishin Wick, John Tesshin Sanderson, Alfred Jitsudo Ancheta, Charles Tenshin Fletcher, Susan Myoyu Andersen, Nicolee Jikyo Miller, and William Nyogen Yeo. These twelve have further transmitted the Dharma to new generations of successors currently over 60 in total. For a overview see White Plum Asangha Website.
As a major contribution to the transmission of Buddhist teachings to the West, Maezumi Roshi was instrumental in bringing to realization the formation of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA) of American Soto Zen teachers. Maezumi Roshi also promoted exchange programmes among priests and lay practitioners between the United States and Japan. He has published commentaries on major Buddhist works. A collection of his talks appeared in book form under the title Appreciate Your Life (Shambhala), The Echoless Valley (Dharma Communications) and Teaching of the Great Mountain (Tuttle).
Maezumi Roshi passed away unexpectedly on May 15, 1995, while visiting Japan. Intimate funeral services were held in Tokyo and Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife Martha Ekuyo Maezumi and their three children, Kirsten Mitsuyo, Yuri Jundo and Shira Yoshimi.
Kanzeon Sangha was established by Genpo Merzel Roshi (1944, Brooklyn, USA), the second Dharma successor of Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Genpo Roshi is the abbot of Kanzeon Zen Center Utah in Salt Lake City, USA, and honorable elder of the White Plum. Since 1982 he has visited Europe several times a year to conduct Zen retreats and workshops and his students form a very international community. Kanzeon Sangha has been particularly active in The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and France. Steeped in traditional Japanese practice, Genpo Roshi is well known for his experiments with new training methods. His latest approach in which he combines the way of Zen with Western psychological insights is called "Big Mind" and has been very successful. Over the last few years he has conducted workshops and conferences on Big Mind all over the USA and Europe. The "Maha Sangha Gathering", an international retreat with the emphasis on Big Mind, is held yearly on the island of Ameland just off the northern coast of The Netherlands
To date, Genpo Roshi has given Shiho Transmission to Catherine Genno Pagès (1992), the late John Shodo Flatt (1994), Anton Tenkei Coppens (1996), Malgosia Jiho Braunek (2003), Daniel Doen Silberberg (2003), Nico Sojun Tydeman (2004), Nancy Genshin Gabrysch (2006) Diane Musho Hamilton (2006), Michael Mugaku Zimmerman (2006) Rich Taido Christofferson (2007) Michel Genko Dubois (2007) and Tamara Myoho Gabrysch (2008). He has also granted Denkai (lineage holder) and Hoshi (dharma holder) to a number of his students, some of whom function as teacher-in-training. Genpo Roshi has given Inka, the final seal of approval, to Genno Pages Roshi and Tenkei Coppens Roshi as well as several of Maezumi Roshi's direct successors. For more specific information please visit the Kanzeon website .
Genpo Roshi is the author of five books: , The Eye Never Sleeps, Beyond Sanity and Madness, 24/7 Dharma, The Path of The Human Being, Big Mind/Big Heart: Finding your way and created several DVDs. He is married to Stephanie Young Merzel, co-administrator of Kanzeon Zen Center International, and has two children, Tai and Nicole Merzel.
Since Tenkei Roshi and Myoho Sensei spent six months in 2000 at Kirigaya-ji, Tokyo, with Junyu Kuroda Roshi, they developed a special and intimate relationship with him. Mutual visits occur almost every year and Kuroda Roshi (Hojo-san) has been very supportive of their life's vocation. He also introduced Roshi and Sensei to a wide circle of friends and teachers in Japan. Hojo-san definitely functions as one other link to the life of his brother Maezumi Roshi, and is an unmistakable factor in the lineage.
The Lineage Chart in the Hatto
March 2009
|
|
