Founder
Roshi Paul Genki Kahn
Roshi Paul Genki Kahn is founder and Spiritual Director of ZEN GARLAND: A Community Order for Zen Practice, Education & Service, in Airmont, NY USA.
Genki began dedicated yoga and meditation practice in the 1960s. In 1970 he entered residential Zen training with Aitken Roshi in Hawaii. He transferred to the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1972 to become a monk and priest under Taizan Maezumi Roshi, served as his personal attendant, and was the Director of Training there. In 1980 he came to New York with Roshi Bernie to establish what has become the Greyston Mandala. He received Final Vows as a Priest from Roshi Dennis Genpo Merzel. He is a Dharma Successor of Roshi Bernie Glassman and received Inka from him.He is a member of the White Plum Asanga.
Roshi Genki founded HMCLZC in 2004 with Sensei Ann Ankai Wagner and Sensei Bill Jikai Greenberg to bring a full range of contemporary Zen training to the greater metropolitan area. He is focusing his efforts on developing Socially Engaged Buddhism in the West, and providing thorough training paths for Zen practice both in lay and ordination paths.
Genki has served as President and Vice-Spiritual Director of the Zen Peacemakers in Montague, MA. He was also Executive Director of the Zen Peacemakers Sangha.
Over the past 25 years, Genki has designed and administered public and private mental health programs for disadvantaged people in New York and New Jersey. He pioneered quality treatment for persons with co-occurring conditions of mental illness and drug and alcohol addictions. During the crack wars in the South Bronx in the early ’90s, he created the MICA Program at Fordham Tremont Community Mental Health Center, that today still treats over 100 people daily.
Dharma Successors
Roshi Ann Ankai Wagner, Founder and Director of Christian Zen and Christian Zen Minister, works in the tradition of Thomas Merton, integrating the teachings of Jesus with the transformational methods of Zen. Roshi Ankai is a Christian contemplative, an activist who has directed and founded service centers for the poor, and a Dharma Successor of Roshi Paul Genki Kahn in the Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi lineage of Zen. She is a member of the White Plum Asanga.
She began her contemplative practices with Thomas Keating in Contemplative Outreach. She completed training as a Spiritual Director with the Diocese of NY. She was Co-Director for six years, and is currently a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Lay Associates.
Roshi Ankai has a deep commitment to Earth, nature and its inhabitants. She supports Thomas Berry’s ecological vision of the interdependence of all creation, and is a member and former Board Member of Waterspirit, an environmental center in Elberon, NJ.
Her work in social service has included serving as Director of Eva’s Kitchen’s Food Program, providing hot meals to the homeless 7 days a week. She Co-Founded Oasis: A Haven for Women and Children in Paterson, NJ, a nonprofit engaged in feeding, clothing and educating hundreds daily. She remains on their Board, and helped guide them through the transition from the dilapidated church basement they began in to a $5 million facility.
She is married to Ron Wagner, has grown children and seven grandchildren.
Roshi Bill Jikai Greenberg, is a Zen Master Teacher, Buddhist Priest and Dharma Sucsessor of Roshi Genki.
Roshi Jikai is a physician, psychotherapist, medical researcher and educator. He has served on national committees of the American Psychiatric Association, been Medical Director of a large New Jersey hospital, directed psychiatric education in a large internship program at Bergen Regional Medical Center, and took time to live in a trailer and work in relief efforts as a psychiatrist in the aftermath Katrina. Currently he is engaged in supervising international trials of psychiatric medications. At Zen Garland he teaches Zen, teaches courses in our Buddhist Studies Program, led a psychotherapy and Buddhism study group for 5 years, and designed our two year Pastoral Counseling Program, a significant component of our Chaplaincy and Priest-Ordination Programs, an effort to make stronger foundations for Zen Chaplains and Priests.
Teachers, Dharma Holders, Priests and Chaplains
Joan Noge Ackerman, Dharma Holder, Elder
Susan Eiori Bruce, Chaplain
David Moksui Bruner, Dharma Holder
Rev. Monika Seiryo Brunner, Sensei, Priest
Jocelyn Myoen Kahn, Dharma Holder
Rev. Phil Sengetsu Kolman, Dharma Holder, Priest, Chaplain
Wally Toryu Koopalethes, Dharma Holder, Elder
Robert Shuka Merrill, Novice Priest, Chaplain
Rev. Greg Tensho Noble, Sensei, Priest, Sensei Aikido 5th Dan
Rev. Grandfather Duncan Sings-Alone, Sensei, Priest
Rev. Eran Kyoka Vardi, Sensei, Sensei Aikido 5th Dan, Priest