Best living zen teachers in USA or online

[shikantazen]

All,

Who are the best zen teachers in USA (or teaching online)? Of course our own Jundo & Taigu (if he's teaching online) but let's leave them out for the discussion purposes

I can think of these (kind of ranked in my understanding)

Shohaku Okumura
Akiba Roshi (not teaching actively i think)
Shoken Winecoff (Ryumonji monastery)
Jakusho Kwong
Norman Fischer
Reb Anderson
Tan Leighton
Joan Halifax

Gassho,
Sam
ST

[Rich]

How does one determine which teacher is best for you?

What about all the other schools like Kwan um zen school?

Sat/lah


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[Jundo]

That is a great list (although I don't know Akiba Roshi so well, except via some of his students).

I always love the wonderful wounded vet, motorcycle riding, gun toting (only on the shooting range) anti-war peacenik Daiho Hilbert ... who is way underappreciated, and can be a bit of a curmudgeon sometimes. He is not so well these days. Here is one of his visits here ...

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?12139-REDUX-NOT-TWO-Sunday-%28March-30th%29-Zazenkai-with-DAIHO-HILBERT-Roshi-is-HERE%21%21

Also, while not technically in the USA, and although his style can be a bit hard sometimes for some tastes, I like Muho. He has also been a guest here:

https://youtu.be/6qO_PZu6Ty0

I will make special mention of David Loy, who really brings the teachings down to earth, and makes them socially relevant, especially on environmental issues.

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?15261-ATTENTION-Special-Zazenkai-SUNDAY-April-30th-with-DAVID-LOY

We will have a few more guest teachers next year, in connection with the new book I will announce today for our No Words Book Club.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Bion]

That is a great list (although I don't know Akiba Roshi so well, except via some of his students).

I always love the wonderful wounded vet, motorcycle riding, gun toting (only on the shooting range) anti-war peacenik Daiho Hilbert ... who is way underappreciated, and can be a bit of a curmudgeon sometimes. He is not so well these days. Here is one of his visits here ...

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?12139-REDUX-NOT-TWO-Sunday-%28March-30th%29-Zazenkai-with-DAIHO-HILBERT-Roshi-is-HERE%21%21

Also, while not technically in the USA, and although his style can be a bit hard sometimes for some tastes, I like Muho. He has also been a guest here:

https://youtu.be/6qO_PZu6Ty0

We will have a few more guest teachers next year, in connection with the new book I will announce today for our No Words Book Club.

Gassho, J

stlah

Muho is awesome and quite funny at times. He gets in all sorts of trouble online cause he has zero filter [emoji23]

[emoji1374] Sat today lah

[Guest]

Ekhart Tolle said he has known many great Zen Masters and all of them cats. I agree.

Gassho,
Bill (Daiman)
Sat Today/ LAH

[Ryumon]

There is no "best."

Gassho,

Ryūmon (Kirk)

sat

[Shinshi]

Well, there are a bunch of great teachers named here. But I will say that, for me, the best teacher is the one that comes along and provides the direction I am ready for as I journey on my path. And for many, I think that changes over time.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[Kyonin]

Hmm

Perhaps I am a very ignorant person, but I don't think one can rate teachers as if there was a contest.

I guess a good teacher is the one that guides you to get free from dukkha.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Kokuu]

Hi all

One who often flies under the radar is Sokuzan Brown at Sokukoji in MI. He is a dharma successor of Kobun Chino Roshi and also practiced with Chögyam Trungpa (for those doing the math, Sokuzan is 80). Sokukoji has a physical monastic community but also a lot of chances to practice with them online, including pretty much daily dharma study groups: https://www.sokukoji.org/study-groups

I agree that finding the 'best' teacher is a personal thing and while we can doubtless think of our favourites, and there may be some agreement on some of those, it really is about finding someone who you trust and can relate to. If someone asks, I think the best we can do is list teachers that we think are reliable transmitters of the dharma and good ethical role models.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Andrea]

Best living zen teachers in USA or online

Hi all

One who often flies under the radar is Sokuzan Brown at Sokukoji in MI. He is a dharma successor of Kobun Chino Roshi and also practiced with Chögyam Trungpa (for those doing the math, Sokuzan is 80). Sokukoji has a physical monastic community but also a lot of chances to practice with them online, including pretty much daily dharma study groups: https://www.sokukoji.org/study-groups

I agree that finding the 'best' teacher is a personal thing and while we can doubtless think of our favourites, and there may be some agreement on some of those, it really is about finding someone who you trust and can relate to. If someone asks, I think the best we can do is list teachers that we think are reliable transmitters of the dharma and good ethical role models.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

Thanks for the link to Sokuzan’s website! The Dharma study groups look like a nice opportunity .

[shikantazen]

I agree that finding the 'best' teacher is a personal thing and while we can doubtless think of our favourites, and there may be some agreement on some of those, it really is about finding someone who you trust and can relate to. If someone asks, I think the best we can do is list teachers that we think are reliable transmitters of the dharma and good ethical role models.

Thanks Kokuu, I can't express it any better.

Thanks Jundo and everyone else for providing the teachers. Will check them out. I appreciate everyone else giving advice as well and agree that best teacher can be the one that resonates with our karmic affinity best.

Gassho,
Sam
ST

[Heiso]

Muho is awesome and quite funny at times. He gets in all sorts of trouble online cause he has zero filter [emoji23]

[emoji1374] Sat today lah

I enjoy Muho's sense of humour too

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah