PZI
TEACHERS
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John Tarrant, Roshi, is Director and
Senior Faculty for Pacific Zen Institute and Senior Teacher for Desert
Lotus Zen Sangha in Phoenix, AZ. He has a PhD in psychology and is the
author of Bring Me The Rhinoceros & Other Zen Koans to Bring You
Joy, and The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul & the Spiritual
Life. He also teaches at Integrative Medicine within Duke University
Medical School. John’s life work is centered on the transformation
of consciousness and he is one of the foremost koan teachers in the United
States.
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David Weinstein, Roshi, is PZI's lead teacher
at the Oakland Zendo and the lead teacher at Valley Moon Sangha in Menlo
Park. David was introduced to meditation in 1976 by Lamas Yeshe and Zopa
in Nepal. He has studied Zen in Korea with Kusan Sunim, in Hawaii with
Robert Aitken Roshi, in Japan with Yamada Koun Roshi and in California
with John Tarrant Roshi. David lives in Oakland where he is a psychotherapist;
his Zen teaching includes working with koans. He is interested in ways
of cultivating a true Zen practice in the midst of a life where there
is sometimes more energy for watching Monday Night Football than going
to the Zendo and almost always more interest in chocolate than just about
anything else.
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Rachel Howlett, Sensei is a Koan Teacher
for Pacific Zen Institute and Desert Lotus Zen Sangha in Phoenix, AZ.
She has degrees in botany and law and practices environmental, preservation
and land use law in Santa Rosa, California. One of Rachel's particular
strengths is in using dialogue as a way of encouraging people to find
their own authentic life, and she has designed and taught a series of
teachings in this conversation format called Developing a Personal
Practice. Rachel is interested in transforming points of view and
creating a culture sympathetic to the environment. She offers private/group
counsel and meditation practices designed to support those dedicated to
doing advocacy work of all kinds.
Click to see images from the ceremony welcoming Rachel as a teacher.
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Brian Howlett, Sensei is an artist who
first began exploring the links between Zen and visual art as artist in
residence at Coyote School of Fine Arts in the 1970s and has a Masters
in Fine Art. His work explores the connections between the spiritual moment
and the earthiness and unpredictability in modern American life.
In his artwork Brian makes links between characters in his personal experience, the grand figures of Buddhist history, and Zen koans. He works in acrylics, watercolor, and ink, with a mixture of abstraction, cartoon figures and a lyric appreciation of landscape. His works are in many private collections.
Brian has a special interest in integrating Zen and art, and for many years he led regular introductory meditation classes at PZI in Santa Rosa. He currently leads an ongoing series of programs integrating Zen and art in Santa Rosa, and he is developing additional programs that bring Zen into daily life through the arts. Brian is based in Santa Rosa, CA
In his artwork Brian makes links between characters in his personal experience, the grand figures of Buddhist history, and Zen koans. He works in acrylics, watercolor, and ink, with a mixture of abstraction, cartoon figures and a lyric appreciation of landscape. His works are in many private collections.
Brian has a special interest in integrating Zen and art, and for many years he led regular introductory meditation classes at PZI in Santa Rosa. He currently leads an ongoing series of programs integrating Zen and art in Santa Rosa, and he is developing additional programs that bring Zen into daily life through the arts. Brian is based in Santa Rosa, CA
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James Myoun Ford, Roshi has been a student of Zen
for nearly forty years. He received Dharma transmission from Jiyu Kennett
Roshi and Inka shomei from John Tarrant Roshi. James is also an ordained
Unitarian Universalist minister and is deeply interested in the meeting
of western liberal religion and Zen Buddhism. James is senior minister
of the First
Unitarian Society in Newton (MA), is head teacher of the Boundless
Way Zen network, author of Zen Master Who? A Guide to the
People and Stories of Zen, and is an adjunct teacher with PZI. James
is based in Boston, MA
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Mayumi Oda is an internationally acclaimed painter,
printmaker and peace activist. Her work has been exhibited internationally,
and is in the permanent collections of the New York Museum of Modern Art,
the Library of Congress and the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. Her most
recent book is a memoir, I Opened the Gate, Laughing. Mayumi is
a longtime practitioner of Zen Buddhism and an adjunct teacher with PZI.
She currently lives, farms and swims in Kealakekua, Hawaii.
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RICHARD JAMES DOMINGUE
June 7, 1947 - July 3, 2005
Rich Domingue, musician, songwriter, and leader of the popular SF/Bay Area Zydeco Band Gator Beat died of a heart attack on July 3, 2005. As Music Director of PZI, Richie composed new versions of PZI's traditional chants, giving them a western musical rhythm and feel. Richie had practiced Zen for 30 years.
For more about Richie and his passing, please click Richie's turquoise hat.
June 7, 1947 - July 3, 2005
Rich Domingue, musician, songwriter, and leader of the popular SF/Bay Area Zydeco Band Gator Beat died of a heart attack on July 3, 2005. As Music Director of PZI, Richie composed new versions of PZI's traditional chants, giving them a western musical rhythm and feel. Richie had practiced Zen for 30 years.
For more about Richie and his passing, please click Richie's turquoise hat.