The White Plum Zen Sangha UK

News & Site Updates

26 Jan 2010	Groups page updated - now with clickable map
29 June 09	Details for the Sheffield Zen Group updated, and updates to Liverpool listing.

In order to discover that there was nothing missing in the first place, it somehow seems necessary for each one of us to embark on the search for the Self; but really, it's just a big detour. Your unborn Buddha Mind is discovered when you are One - just sitting, just breathing, just sweeping the floor. In that moment, there is no one sweeping, no one breathing, no one sitting. You are one with whatever you are doing because you are that to begin with. You are born free, and your very nature is free and unfixed. The unborn Buddha Mind is always manifesting as you.

— Dennis Genpo Merzel, The Path of the Human Being: Zen Teachings on the Bodhisattva Way. Shambala, 2003.

The White Plum Sangha UK supports teachers within the lineage of the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi (1931-1995), founder of the White Plum Asangha and Dharma holder in both the Soto and Rinzai Zen traditions.

For more information and a list of Dharma successors in the White Plum Lineage please visit www.whiteplum.org.

The following teachers or their successors or their representatives offer Zen training, retreats and courses in the UK, Europe and USA. For more information about each and listings of events at their own centres please visit their individual websites. For the latest news on retreats, courses and Zen sitting groups in the UK, please see Retreats & Courses Page or Sitting Groups Page.

Guiding Teachers

Charles Tenshin Fletcher Roshi

Born in Manchester, England, Charles Tenshin Fletcher is abbot of Yokoji Zen Mountain Centre in California. He moved to the USA in 1979 to train with Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He received Shiho transmission from Maezumi Roshi in 1994 and Inka (final transmission) from Genpo Roshi in 2006. Tenshin Roshi leads a popular week-long sesshin in the UK once a year.

Genpo Merzel Roshi

Zen Master Genpo Merzel Roshi (1944-), second Dharma successor to Taizan Maezumi Roshi, is the abbot of Kanzeon Zen Centre, Salt Lake City, Head of The White Plum Asanga, founder of Kanzeon International and creator of the very successful "Big Mind" process. Genpo Roshi has given Shiho and Inka transmission to several successors, several of whom - listed below - have strong links with the UK sangha.

UK Based Dharma Holders

Nancy Genshin Gabrysch Sensei

Nancy Genshin Gabrysch was born in Scotland in 1937. She pursued a career as a painter and teacher having gained postgraduate qualifications in Fine Art at Education, and became certified in art therapy in 1978. In 1983 she met Genpo Roshi and devoted herself to studying Zen, later moving to Salt Lake City to continue Zen training, which has included more than 12 years of residential practice. Having led a satellite group of Kanzeon Zen Center in Park City, Utah. Genshin received Shiho (full transmission) from Genpo Roshi in May 2006. After recovering from two strokes, she returned to the UK in September 2006. She currently lives near Preston in Lancashire (telephone 01995 640346).

David Shoji Scott

David Scott has been practising with Genpo Roshi since 1982. He is a Dharma Holder, certified Big Mind group facilitator and ordained monk and Zen priest. In his lay life he is a restaurateur and author of many books on food, travel, Japanese life and Zen Buddhist practice. He leads the StoneWater Zen Sangha (formerly the Liverpool Zen Group)- for more information on the StoneWater sangha, sesshins and weekend retreats, visit www.StoneWaterZen.org.

George Jisho Robertson

George is an active student in training with Zen Master Genpo Merzel, Roshi and has been since 1982. He lived and trained with Genpo Roshi for most of the years between 1989 and 2008, and in 1995/96 practiced with Roshi Bernie Glassman. He also studied with Maezumi Roshi in some sesshins between 1984 and 1993 in the UK, Poland, and California.

He now lives in Peckham (SE15) where he has a small zendo where people are welcome for meditation (see Sitting Groups page on this site).

George is the contact person for a developing community of Genpo Roshi's students in the London area. We hold one-day meetings for Big Mind™ and meditation with qualified facilitators (you can find these on www.bigmind.org). We also have workshops based on member's skills and professional qualifications.

You can write to George at georgejisho@gmail.com. You can learn more about George from his Flickr and Facebook pages.

Other Teachers Affiliated to the UK Sangha

Catherine Genno Pages Roshi

Catherine Genno Pages, a French teacher is based in Paris where she has founded the Dana Zen Centre.

Anton Tenkei Coppens Roshi

Anton Tenkei Coppens, a Dutch teacher is abbot and founder of Zen River, a Zen training temple situated in Uithuizen, Netherlands. Tenkei Roshi leads a week long Zen retreat in the UK, once a year. For more information see the Zen River website.

In Memoriam

John Shodo Flatt (27.08.1913 - 04.02.1994)

Genpo Roshi gave Shiho transmission to the late John Shodo Flatt, one of his early British students. John was Genpo Roshi's second dharma sucessor after Catherine Genno Pages and was one of the founders of the Zen Practice Centre Trust. He actively supported Genpo Roshi's early visits to the UK and played a key role in the creation of the UK Sangha.