Doen Sensei

Doen Sensei received transmission of the Zen lineage from his teacher Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi, director of Kanzeon International and founder of Big Mind, in December 2003.  He also trained under John Daido Loori Roshi, Abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order, and under Taizan Maezumi Roshi, who brought this Zen lineage to the West.

Besides being a teacher and lineage holder in the White Plum Sangha, which derives from Maezumi Roshi and the Rinzai and Soto Zen schools, Doen Sensei also trained under Wilhem Nyland and other teachers in the Fourth Way.  At the request of Mr. Nyland, Doen began to teach his own Fourth Way Group in 1979.

Doen Sensei has been a practicing psychologist, performance coach, and jazz musician.  He has also been an avid martial artist, chess student, explorer of technological innovation, and writer.  His first book, Wonderland:  The Zen of Alice, was published by Parallax Press in the Fall of 2009 and has received wide critical and popular acclaim.  Doen Sensei was the head of  administration and Executive Vice President at Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York, and was Vice Abbot of Big Mind Western Zen Center (formerly Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake City, Utah) before undertaking his present role as teacher and director of Lost Coin Development.