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Leadership
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.
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. Go here to read some of Dokai's dharma teachings. |
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Carol Anderson
was first introduced to Zen in 1972 by Kobun Chino and practiced with him for a short time in Ken 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 Minnesota Zen Meditation Center'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. 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. |
