Ancestral Lineage

In Zen, our practice is an ancestral practice. We trace our spiritual lineage all the way back to the historical buddha, Shakyamuni, through all the many buddhas and bodhisattvas who came after him and brought the dharma from India to China to Japan and eventually to the United States and other western countries.

OMS’s guiding teacher, Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, trained with John Daido Loori Roshi, founder and first abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and the Mountains and Rivers Order, whose teacher was Taizan Maezumi Roshi—a Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist priest who carried the dharma from Japan to the United States. After Daido Roshi’s death in 2009, Zuisei continued her studies with the current abbot of ZMM, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Roshi, and in 2018 received from him shiho or dharma transmission (empowerment to teach).

Listen to a talk by Zuisei and Hojin Sensei of Zen Mountain Monastery on the importance of recognizing and honoring our ancestors.

*Banner photo by Maximum Exposure PR