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Leadership

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Founder
 
Dainin Katagiri Roshi (1928-1990) was born in Osaka, Japan. He trained at Eiheiji, one of the two head temples of Sōtōshu, for three years under the guidance of Eko Hashimoto Roshi and attended Komazawa University. In 1963 he came to the United States to the Zenshuji Sōtō Zen Mission in Los Angeles, later moving to Sokoji Zen Mission and San Francisco Zen Center, where he assisted the late Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. In 1972, he became the first abbot of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, where he oversaw the development of the center as well as Hokyōji.
 
 
 

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Resident teacher and executive director

Dōkai Georgesen began his study of Zen Buddhism at MZMC under the direction of Dainin Katagiri Roshi in 1974. He spent two years on pilgrimage studying Buddhism in India and Japan, and upon his return in 1982 he lived at Hokyōji until his ordination in 1984. In 1989 he received Dharma Transmission from Katagiri Roshi, and since then he has made several trips to Japan for study under the late Ikko Narasaki Roshi, Tsugen Narasaki Roshi and the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He has also had the opportunity to study at Plum Village in France under the direction of Thich Nhat Hanh. He has been residing at Hokyōji since June, 2003

Board of Directors

Tom Bittinger (Treasurer) grew up in the Chicago area. He received his bachelor’s degree in education from Northern Illinois University and a Master’s and Ph.D. in agronomy and plant genetics from Purdue University. He worked as a research agronomist for Dekalb Genetics Corporation before starting his own horticultural business, growing native plants for gardening and landscaping. For a time he was financial manager at MZMC, and also served on the board of directors. More recently, he has been involved with the Dainin Foundation and Ryumonji. Living in Owatonna, MN since 1981, he is married (Julie) and has two children (Eric and Caryn).

Ken Keiyu Ford (Vice President) began Zen study with Dainin Katagiri Roshi in the 1970s and has practiced regularly since then in the Twin Cities, at Green Gulch Farm in California, and other centers, including participation in the 2006 fall practice period at Tassajara. A former president of MZMC’s board of directors, he has been a member of the Clouds in Water community since 2000, serving on its board and completing a two-year term as ino (practice coordinator) in 2005. Ken retired from St. Paul’s Department of Planning and Economic Security in 1999, after 28 years of service.

Hōkō Jan Karnegis (Secretary) is a student of Shohaku Okumura, abbot of Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, IN.  She began her practice in 1994 at MZMC when he served as its head teacher, and did shukke tokudō with him in 2005. She has made a number of practice trips to Japan, serving as shuso (head practitioner) for a shinsanshiki (abbot’s installation) there in 2005. A past member of both MZMC’s and Cedar Rapids Zen Center’s boards, she works as a senior communications specialist for a regional government agency and in December 2007 completed a self-designed masters degree at the University of Minnesota with a thesis on organizing and leading the American Zen sangha.

Jeff Ekō Kelley (President) has practiced at Clouds in Water Zen Center since 1994. He has served on its board of directors and as an instructor for introductory classes and meditation instruction. For a number of years, he worked with children in the Children’s Practice program there, and his own two children are veterans of this program. In addition, he co-leads a meditation group at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Rush City. Jeff has worked as an architect since 1981; he believes that creative expression arises from the practical concerns of daily life. His Zen practice is enriched by a life-long passion for literature, poetry and myth.

Ekyō Susan Nelson started practicing and studying Buddhism in 1978 with Katagiri Roshi and the MZMC community. She has helped to plan and carry out women’s retreats and family weekends at Hokyōji over many years and has been practicing there since the mid 80s. Susan served on the Hokyōji Stewardship Committee and the Board of Directors at MZMC and was ordained in 2003 by Zentetsu Tim Burkett. She is now pursuing chaplaincy education and training.  In addition, she has ten years' experience in volunteer management for community programs serving families with young children, and inmates in Minnesota correctional facilities. She is married and has five children and four grandchildren.

Zuiko Redding is the former land manager at Hokyoji, and is now the resident teacher at Cedar Rapids (IA) Zen Center.  She grew up in Texas where she encountered Zen as a university student. After studing in Milwaukee with Tozen Akiyama and in Minneapolis with Dainin Katagiri, in 1992 she was ordained in Japan by Tsugen Narasaki. She remained to practice under his direction at Zuioji Monastery and its mountain training center, Shogoji, receiving certification as a teacher in the Soto tradition from Rev. Narasaki in 1996 and returning to the US in 1997.  Zuiko is a member of the American Zen Teachers' Association and of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.