Our Teachers

Jon Joseph, Roshi

Jon Joseph, a Zen Roshi in the Pacific Zen Institute lineage, guides us. He is also the practice leader of the San Mateo Zen Community in California. Jon studied with Yamada Koun, Roshi, at Sanun Zendo in Kamakura, Japan. In the late 1980s, he took up koan practice with John Tarrant, Roshi.

​Read Jon's weekly blog at San Mateo Zen.

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Pacific Zen Institute

We work with a number of Pacific Zen Institute teachers on an individual basis and by participating in retreats led by them in California and other locations throughout the year. Those teachers include John Tarrant, Roshi, spiritual director of the Pacific Zen Institute; David Weinstein, Roshi; Rachel Boughton, Roshi; and Deb Saint, Sensei.

Over twenty-five years ago, John Tarrant, Roshi pioneered a path for personal transformation. A successor to Yamada Koun through Robert Aitken, Roshi, John is known for his innovative approach to koan practice. 

"I am interested in Zen as a way that transforms the mind. I studied and taught Zen in a classical manner for about 15 years before developing new ways of introducing koans that even people with no experience of meditation can find useful. I’m not so interested in Zen as a set of rules and procedures. My experiments have led me to trust people more than once I did, and to teach people to trust their own moves. They seem find freedom more natural than I had imagined."
 
Read and view John's personal web site at tarrantworks.

​See zenosaurus for his blog and primer on how to work with koans in a way that is actually meant to change your life.

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