Influential Figures

Known in Japan as Daruma — a Buddhist monk, traditionally said to have come from South India or Persia, who arrived in China sometime in the late fifth or early sixth century and is revered as the first patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Historical details about his life are scarce and heavily overlaid with legend, but the stories that accumulated around him became foundational to Zen's identity: his blunt encounter with Emperor Wu, in which he declared the emperor's pious works had earned "no merit whatsoever"; his nine years of sitting in meditation facing a cave wall at Shaolin monastery; and his transmission of the dharma to Huike, who demonstrated his sincerity by cutting off his own arm in the snow. Whether these events actually occurred matters less than what they represent—a direct, uncompromising approach to awakening that bypasses scripture, ritual, and conceptual understanding in favor of immediate insight into one's own nature. Bodhidharma embodies Zen's foundational claim: that the Buddha's realization was transmitted outside words and letters, from mind to mind, and that this transmission continues in an unbroken lineage to the present day.

Siddhartha Gautama (c. 562-483 BCE) [Sanskrit: awakened one (बुद्ध)], known in Japan as Shakyamuni Buddha — a prince born in Lumbini (in present-day Nepal) who renounced his privileged life at age 29 to seek the end of human suffering.  Gautama later realized the nature of suffering, its causes, and the path to liberation and spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching the dharma, establishing the sangha, and guiding his students to awakening.  In Mahayana Buddhism, Gautama is considered the most recent in a countless series of buddhas throughout time.

(840–901), known in Japan as Sōzan Honjaku — a Tang dynasty Chan master and the principal heir of Dongshan Liangjie, the founder of the Caodong school. The school's name itself combines the first characters of Dongshan ("Dong") and Caoshan ("Cao"), reflecting his importance as co-founder of the lineage. He is credited with systematizing and clarifying Dongshan's Five Ranks teaching, the dialectical framework describing the interpenetration of the absolute and relative that became a hallmark of Caodong training. His recorded sayings show a teacher skilled at using the Five Ranks to probe and refine students' understanding. Though the lineage through Caoshan himself eventually died out—the line that survived to produce Dōgen passed through Dongshan's other heir Yunju Daoying—his contributions to articulating Caodong's distinctive teachings secured his place as an essential figure in Sōtō Zen's ancestry.

(1200-1253) — one of the most important figures in Japanese Buddhism and the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.  Born into a noble family in Kyoto, Dōgen lost both parents by age seven—an experience that reportedly awakened in him a profound sense of impermanence. He initially trained in Tendai Buddhism at Mount Hiei but grew dissatisfied with the emphasis on doctrinal study. In 1223, he traveled to China, where he trained under the Chan master Rujing at Tiantong monastery. There he experienced awakening and received dharma transmission in the Caodong (Sōtō) lineage. Returning to Japan in 1227, he eventually established Eiheiji temple in a remote mountainous area, which remains one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen today.

The Buddha's aunt and foster mother, who raised him from infancy after his mother Māyā died just seven days after giving birth. She later married King Suddhodana, the Buddha's father, and devoted herself to raising the young prince Siddhartha with the same love she gave her own children. After the Buddha attained enlightenment and returned to teach his family, Mahāpajāpatī developed a deep aspiration to renounce worldly life and follow the path he taught. When she first requested ordination, the Buddha declined three times, but she refused to accept this refusal—she and 500 Sakyan women shaved their heads, put on simple robes, and walked barefoot over 150 miles to Vesālī where the Buddha was staying, arriving with swollen feet and covered in dust. Moved by their determination, Ānanda interceded on their behalf, asking the Buddha whether women were capable of attaining enlightenment; when the Buddha confirmed they were, the order of nuns (bhikkhunī sangha) was established, with Mahāpajāpatī as its first member. She proved to be an exemplary practitioner, quickly attaining full enlightenment (arahantship) and becoming a skilled teacher who guided countless women on the path to liberation. The Buddha declared her foremost among the nuns in seniority and experience, and she is remembered in verses preserved in the Therīgāthā where she proclaims her gratitude: "Buddha, hero, homage to you, best of all beings, who released me and many others from pain." She passed into final nirvana (parinibbāna) at the age of 120, preceded by a display of supernatural powers and surrounded by 500 enlightened nuns who had followed her example, establishing for all time that women are fully capable of the highest spiritual attainments.

(487–593), known in Japan as Eka — the second patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism in China and the direct successor to Bodhidharma. According to legend, he sought teaching from Bodhidharma at Shaolin monastery but was ignored; to prove his sincerity, he stood all night in the snow and finally cut off his own arm, at which point the master accepted him. When Huike asked Bodhidharma to pacify his troubled mind, the master told him to bring forth his mind; when Huike could not find it anywhere, Bodhidharma declared it pacified—an exchange that became paradigmatic for Zen's method of direct pointing. He received the robe and bowl signifying dharma transmission and spent years wandering and teaching in obscurity, sometimes facing persecution. Huike transmitted the lineage to Sengcan, ensuring the continuation of the Chan tradition that would eventually spread across East Asia.

(638–713), known in Japan as Enō — the sixth patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism and arguably the most influential figure in the tradition after Bodhidharma. Born into poverty in southern China, he was illiterate and working as a firewood seller when he experienced awakening upon hearing a recitation of the Diamond Sutra. He traveled to study under the fifth patriarch Hongren, who recognized his profound understanding but, because Huineng was an uneducated layman, assigned him to menial work in the rice-pounding shed. When Hongren held a poetry contest to determine his successor, the head monk Shenxiu wrote a verse comparing the mind to a mirror that must be constantly polished to remain free of dust. Huineng responded with his famous counter-verse: since fundamentally there is no mirror, where could dust alight? Hongren secretly transmitted the robe and bowl to Huineng, who fled south to avoid jealous rivals and spent years in obscurity before emerging to teach. The Platform Sutra, attributed to him, became the only Chinese Buddhist text honored as a sutra and articulates the core Zen teaching of sudden awakening—that enlightenment is not a gradual achievement but an immediate recognition of one's original nature. Nearly all surviving Zen lineages trace their ancestry through Huineng, and the contrast between his "sudden" southern school and Shenxiu's "gradual" northern school became a defining framework for how Zen understood itself, even if the historical reality was more nuanced than the legend suggests.

(1268–1325) — often called the "second founder" of Sōtō Zen in Japan. While Dōgen established the school's philosophical foundations, Keizan made it a widespread popular movement. He trained at Eiheiji and received dharma transmission from Tettsu Gikai, a third-generation heir of Dōgen. Keizan founded Yōkōji temple and later Sōjiji, which became the second head temple of Sōtō alongside Eiheiji and remains so today. He made Sōtō Zen accessible to laypeople by incorporating elements of esoteric Buddhism, memorial rites for ancestors, and practices that resonated with ordinary Japanese religious sensibilities. His major written work, the Denkōroku (Transmission of Light), recounts the awakening stories of each ancestor in the lineage from Shakyamuni Buddha through Dōgen's teacher Rujing. Through his institutional skill and pastoral approach, the Sōtō school grew from a small monastic movement into the largest Zen denomination in Japan.

(1880–1965) — a Sōtō Zen master known for revitalizing the practice of shikantaza (just sitting) in modern Japan. Orphaned young and raised in difficult circumstances, he lived a rough early life before ordaining as a monk and eventually becoming one of the most influential Zen teachers of the twentieth century. He was called "Homeless Kōdō" because he refused to settle at any single temple, instead traveling throughout Japan to lead zazen retreats and teach wherever he was invited. His teaching emphasized zazen for its own sake—sitting without seeking gain or enlightenment—and criticized what he saw as the institutional complacency of established Sōtō temples. Among his disciples was Kōshō Uchiyama, who continued his approach and influenced Western practitioners. Sawaki's uncompromising focus on seated meditation as the heart of Zen practice helped reinvigorate Sōtō's core identity in an era when many temples had become primarily concerned with funeral rites and ceremonial functions.

(c. 8th–9th century) was the daughter of the celebrated Layman Pang and is considered by many to have surpassed even her renowned father in Zen realization. She traveled with her father on pilgrimages throughout China, and together they earned a simple living making and selling bamboo utensils—embodying the Chan teaching that enlightenment is found in everyday activities like "hauling water and carrying firewood." In a famous exchange, when her father declared that practice was "difficult, difficult, difficult—like trying to scatter ten measures of sesame seed all over a tree," and her mother countered that it was "easy, easy, easy—just like touching your feet to the ground when you get out of bed," Lingzhao transcended both views, saying, "Neither difficult nor easy—on the hundred grass tips, the ancestors' meaning." Her most celebrated act came at the moment of her father's death: when the aged Layman Pang announced he was ready to die at noon, Lingzhao ran outside and called to him that there was an eclipse—and while he went to look, she quickly took his seat on the sleeping mat and died in his place. When her father returned and found her gone, he smiled and said, "My daughter has beaten me once more," then delayed his own passing seven days to arrange her funeral. Her image became so revered that she is honored as one of the thirty-three forms of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, in Chinese Buddhist iconography.

(1683–1769) — a Sōtō Zen scholar-monk who played a crucial role in recovering and restoring Dōgen's original teachings after centuries of drift and incorporating traditions from outside of the Sōtō school. Menzan was a prolific writer, producing extensive commentaries on Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō and other works that had been neglected or misunderstood. He argued that Sōtō had strayed from its founder's vision by incorporating elements from Rinzai practice, esoteric Buddhism, and other traditions, and he advocated a return to Dōgen's emphasis on shikantaza and the unity of practice and enlightenment. His scholarship helped establish authoritative texts and interpretations that shaped how later generations understood Dōgen. Along with his contemporary Tenkei Denson, with whom he sometimes disagreed, Menzan was part of a broader reform movement that revitalized Sōtō Zen during the Tokugawa period. His work laid the groundwork for the modern understanding of Dōgen as a towering philosophical and spiritual figure.

(1223–1298), also known by her childhood name Chiyono, holds a distinguished place in Zen history as the first female Zen master in Japan and one of the first in the world. Born into an aristocratic samurai family—her father was Adachi Yasumori, a warrior closely connected to the Hōjō regency of the Kamakura shogunate—she was highly educated in both Japanese and Chinese, unusual for women of her era. Following the customs of her class, she married young into the powerful Kanezawa Hōjō family and had a daughter, but after her husband's death and her daughter was grown, she devoted herself fully to Zen practice under the Chinese Rinzai master Wuxue Zuyuan (known in Japan as Mugaku Sogen), founder of Engaku-ji. Her enlightenment story has become one of Zen's most beloved tales: while carrying a bucket of water on a moonlit night, the bottom suddenly broke through, and in that instant she awakened, composing the famous poem, "In this way and that I tried to save the old pail / Until at last the bottom fell out / No more water in the pail / No more moon in the water." Her teacher confirmed her enlightenment and conferred upon her the character "mu" (nothingness) from his own name, designating her as his dharma successor—a remarkable honor that met initial resistance from some monks but which she overcame through the depth of her realization. She went on to found Keiai-ji in Kyoto in 1278, establishing the first formal training monastery for Zen women in Japan and serving as head of the Five Mountain Rinzai Zen Convent Association, creating institutional structures that supported women's Zen practice for centuries. Her calligraphy was prized second only to that of Taira-no-Masako among women of her era, and a remarkably lifelike portrait statue carved near the end of her life—now enshrined at Hōjō-in convent in Kyoto—stands as a National Treasure of Japan, testament to her enduring importance in Japanese Buddhist history.

(1646–1711) was a remarkable Japanese Buddhist nun, poet, calligrapher, and Zen teacher of the Ōbaku school during the Edo period. Born in Kyoto to an aristocratic family—her father was a descendant of the legendary warrior Takeda Shingen and her mother served at the imperial court—Ryōnen was renowned from childhood for both her beauty and her intellect. After serving at court and enduring an arranged marriage that produced several children, she became a nun in 1672 and studied at Hōkyō-ji temple in Kyoto under Princess Zen'ni. When she traveled to Edo seeking deeper Zen training, she was twice rejected by masters who claimed her beauty would distract the male monks. In an extraordinary act of devotion, Ryōnen pressed a hot iron to her face, disfiguring herself to demonstrate that her commitment to the dharma transcended her physical appearance. This act of determination earned her acceptance as a disciple of Hakuō Dōtai, under whom she attained enlightenment and received certification as a Zen master in 1682. She went on to found Taiun-ji temple in 1701, where she dedicated herself to educating impoverished children and became celebrated not only for her spiritual attainments but also for her distinctive calligraphy, which blended Chinese Ōbaku styles with her own artistic sensibility.

(d. 606), known in Japan as Sōsan — the third patriarch of Chan Buddhism in China. According to tradition, he met Huike while suffering from a severe illness and asked to be absolved of his sins; when Huike told him to bring forth his sins and Sengcan could not find them, he experienced awakening. He spent years in hiding on Mount Huangbo during a period of Buddhist persecution, leaving little historical trace. His lasting significance rests on the Xinxin Ming (Faith in Mind), a poem traditionally attributed to him that became one of Zen's most beloved texts, opening with the famous lines: "The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences." The poem articulates a nondual vision in which the discriminating mind's distinctions obscure an underlying unity, counseling neither grasping nor rejecting but simply resting in things as they are.

(700–790), known in Japan as Sekitō Kisen — a Tang dynasty Chan master whose lineage eventually gave rise to the Caodong (Sōtō) school. He trained under Qingyuan Xingsi, a dharma heir of Huineng, and later became one of the two dominant Chan teachers of his era—students of the time said "in Jiangxi there is Mazu, in Hunan there is Shitou," and serious practitioners visited both. He is best known for composing the Sandokai (Harmony of Difference and Sameness), a poem exploring the relationship between the absolute and the relative that remains central to Sōtō Zen liturgy today. Shitou also wrote the Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage, expressing a vision of simple, grounded practice. His lineage passed through Dongshan Liangjie, who founded the Caodong school, and eventually through Dōgen to Japan, making Shitou an essential ancestor for all Sōtō practitioners.

(1926–2022) — a Vietnamese Zen master, poet, and peace activist who became one of the most influential Buddhist teachers in the modern world, known affectionately by his students simply as "Thầy" (teacher). Born on October 11, 1926, in the ancient imperial capital of Huế in central Vietnam, he entered Tu Hieu Temple as a novice monk at the age of sixteen Plum Village, where he was trained in the Linji (Rinzai) tradition with its emphasis on bringing full presence and concentration to every task of daily life. When war came to Vietnam, monks and nuns were confronted with whether to adhere to the contemplative life or to help those suffering under the bombings and turmoil of war—Thich Nhat Hanh chose to do both, and in doing so founded the Engaged Buddhism movement, Plum Village a term he coined in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. In the 1960s he founded Van Hanh Buddhist University, the School of Youth for Social Service (a grassroots relief organization of 10,000 volunteers), and the Order of Interbeing based on the traditional bodhisattva precepts; on May 1, 1966, at Tu Hieu Temple, he received the "lamp transmission" from Master Chân Thật, becoming a dharma teacher of the Liễu Quán line in the 42nd generation of the Lâm Tế (Linji) school. Plum Village That same year he traveled to the United States to call for peace, meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 and called him "an Apostle of peace and nonviolence"—but as a result of his peace mission, both North and South Vietnam denied him the right to return, beginning an exile of 39 years. Wisdom2Be He led the Buddhist delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969, and in 1982 established Plum Village in southwest France, which grew under his leadership into the West's largest Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monastics and thousands of visitors annually learning walking meditation, mindful eating, and the practice of stopping, smiling, and breathing—ancient practices he made accessible to modern people of all backgrounds. After suffering a severe stroke in November 2014, Plum Village he returned to Vietnam in 2018 to spend his final years at Tu Hieu Temple, where he had begun his monastic life, and passed away there on January 22, 2022, leaving behind over 100 published books, monasteries on four continents, and a global sangha dedicated to the insight that peace is not a destination but the path itself.

Rev. Dr. Soyu Zengaku Matsuoka Roshi (1912–1997) — born in Yamaguchi Prefecture near Hiroshima, Japan, into a family with a history of Zen priests dating back six centuries. He graduated from Komazawa University in Tokyo and trained at Sojiji Zen Monastery before receiving a special assignment to the United States in 1939, where he served as an assistant minister at the Los Angeles Zen Buddhist Temple and later as Superintendent of the San Francisco Zen Buddhist Temple. While in America, he furthered his academic studies by pursuing graduate work at Columbia University with Dr. D.T. Suzuki. He went on to establish the Chicago Zen Buddhist Temple, the first Zen temple in the Midwestern states, and later founded the Long Beach Zen Buddhist Temple in 1971. In addition to teaching meditation, Matsuoka extended his activities beyond the temple, lecturing extensively at high schools and colleges and serving as an instructor at Colorado State University and the Chicago Central YMCA. He was a strong supporter of non-violence and desegregation, writing letters in support of Rev. Martin Luther King's civil disobedience. He frequently quoted the saying "Moku-rai," meaning "silence is thunder," reflecting his belief that Zen dharma is transmitted through presence and action rather than words alone. His disciples lead temples around the USA and Canada under the Silent Thunder Order, continuing his mission to bring authentic Sōtō Zen practice to the West.