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Sensei Roger Shikan Hawkins, Founder of the Fort Lauderdale Zen Group
Roger left the Zen Center in 1981, and enrolled in a graduate Psychology program, earning a Masters degree, and later a Doctoral degree in 1989, from Antioch University. Throughout the 80's and 90's he combined his Zen practice with psychotherapy practice, while living in Los Angeles. His psychology training has proven to be invaluable in his Buddhist teaching, as well as for developing his own spiritual insight, providing a larger framework to investigate the minds of American Buddhist students, and how they tend to get stuck in holding patterns quite different from those of the cultures where Buddhism originated. Roger began practicing with Taizan Maezumi Roshi in 1993, until his death in 1995. Maezumi Roshi was along with Suzuki Roshi, the most respected of Japanese Masters teaching in America from the 1960's onward. In the late 90's he also practiced with the Santa Monica Zen Center, and began teaching classes in a limited role. In 1999, Roger and his family moved to Florida, where he continued his practice helping The Southern Palm Zen Group in Boca, and he met Sensei Lou Mitsunen Nordstrom in 2000. Mitsunen gave Roger the new dharma name, Shikan. Roger finished koan study with Lou, and received Dharma Transmission, meaning certification as a Zen teacher in 2004, receiving the title Sensei (Teacher). Roger currently lives near Asheville, North Carolina, and visits South Florida every few months to meet with students and lead a Zazenkai (one day meditation retreat).
Carole first started meditating at the age of 20 in 1968. A few years later, she joined a Fourth Way group in Woodstock, NY led by Daniel Silberberg. In 1980 she entered residency training at Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY to study Zen with Roshi John Daido Loori. She was ordained by Daido Roshi in 1986. After moving to South Florida in 1990, Carole continued her Zen practice on her own. She sat for a couple of years with a Zen group led by Roshi Phillip Kapleau, when he lived in Hollywood, Florida. In 2006 she discovered and joined the Fort Lauderdale Zen Group. She currently facilitates the Fort Lauderdale Zen Group, while continuing her study and Zen training with Sensei Daniel Doen Silberberg, founder of the Lost Coin Zen Center in San Fransisco, California.
Doen received transmission of the Zen lineage from Dennis Genpo Merzel, Roshi, founder of Big Mind and Abbot of Kanzeon International. Earlier, Sensei had trained under John Daido Loori, Roshi Abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery, and Taizan Maezumi, Roshi, the founder of the White Plum Lineageof Zen. Daniel 's first book, Wonderland: The Zen of Alice, was published by Parallax Press in 2009 and picked up by Random House for publication in Germany. There is also a Korean edition in the works. A chapter of the book is featured in Shambala Publishing's 2010 edition of Best Buddhist Writing. Venerable Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi (1931-1995)
Maezumi Roshi was ordained as a Soto Zen monk at the age of eleven. He received degrees in Oriental Literature and Philosophy from Komazawa University and studied at Sojiji, one of the two main Soto monasteries in Japan. He received Dharma transmission from Hakujun Kuroda, Roshi, in1955. He also received approval as a teacher (Inka ) from both Koryu Osaka Roshi, and Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, thus becoming a Dharma successor in three lines of Zen. In 1956, Maezumi Roshi came to Los Angeles as a priest at Zenshuji Temple, the Soto Headquarters of the United States. He devoted his life to laying a firm foundation for the growth of Zen Buddhism in the West. In1967, he established the Zen Center of Los Angeles. Its honorary founder is Baian Hakujun Daiosho, who headed the Soto Sect Supreme Court and was one of the leading figures of Japanese Soto Zen. Maezumi Roshi established six temples in the United States and Europe that are formally registered with Soto Headquarters in Japan. In addition to ZCLA, these include Zen Mountain Center in California; Zen Community of New York (Tetsugen Glassman, Abbot); Kanzeon Zen Centers of Salt Lake City, Utah and Europe (Genpo Merzel, Abbot); and Zen Mountain Monastery in New York (Daido Loori, Abbot). Affiliated centers also include the Great Mountain Zen Center in Colorado (Shishin Wick, teacher), Zen Community of Oregon (Chozen Bays, teacher); Three Treasures Zen Community in San Diego (Jikyo Miller, teacher); Centro Zen de Mexico, Coyoacan (Tesshin Sanderson, teacher), and Centro Zen de la Cuidad deMexico. In addition, there are over fifty groups in the Americas and Europe that are affiliated with ZCLA. In 1976, Maezumi Roshi established the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values, a non-profit educational organization formed to promote scholarship on Buddhism in its historical, philosophical, and cultural ramifications. The Institute serves the scholarly community by providing a forum in which scholars can gather at conferences and colloquia. The Institute also publishes a book series with the University of Hawaii Press devoted to the translation of East Asian Buddhist classics and presentations of scholarly works from its conferences. Maezumi Roshi also founded the Dharma Institute in Mexico City. Maezumi Roshi founded the White Plum Asanga, named after his father Baian Hakujun Daiosho. He transmitted the Dharma to twelve successors: Bernard Tetsugen Glassman (NY), Dennis Genpo Merzel (UT & Europe), Charlotte Joko Beck (CA), Jan Chozen Bays (OR), John Daido Loori (NY), Gerry Shishin Wick (CO), John Tesshin Sanderson (Mexico), Alfred Jitsudo Ancheta (CA), Charles Tenshin Fletcher (CA), Susan Myoyu Andersen (IL), Nicolee Jikyo Miller (CA), and William Nyogen Yeo (CA). These twelve successors have further transmitted the Dharma to nine"second-generation" successors. In America, Maezumi Roshi ordained 68 Zen priests and gave the lay Buddhist precepts to over 500 people. As a major contribution to the transmission of Buddhist teachings to the West, Maezumi Roshi was instrumental in bringing to realization the formation of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA) of American Soto Zen teachers. Maezumi Roshi also promoted exchange programs among priests and lay practitioners between the United States and Japan. He had published commentaries on major Buddhist works, and his collected works will be published posthumously. |
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Sensei Roger
Shikan Hawkins began practicing Zen Buddhism at the San Francisco
Zen Center in 1971, at the age of 22. He spent 10 years as a
practicing residential student, spending 3 years at the Tassajara
monastery, and Green Gulch Farm, as well as the City Center in
San Francisco. He studied under Richard Baker Roshi, as well
as Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi, who is one of the most widely
known and respected Zen teachers in America.
Although not a teacher,
long time Zen practitioner Carole Walsh has been facilitating
the Fort Lauderdale Zen Group at Roger's request, since he moved
to North Carolina in 2008.
Daniel Doen Silberberg is a Zen teacher, performance coach, and author based in San Francisco. He is known for his warm, personal teaching style which emphasizes excellence in contemporary daily life. He is the founder of Lost Coin Zen, an international organization that trains students to empower themselves, and to embrace modern, everyday life as an opportunity for spiritual practice.
The Venerable
Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi was the founder and Abbot of the
Zen Center of Los Angeles, the founder of the White Plum lineage,
and a seminal influence on the growth of Zen Buddhism in the
United States.