About Brad Warner

Brad Warner is an American Sōtō Zen monk, author, blogger, documentarian and punk rock bass guitarist. He began practicing Zen Buddhism under his first teacher, Tim McCarthy. Warner later studied with Gyomay Kubose. While in Japan, he met and trained with Gudo Wafu Nishijima, a student of Rempo Niwa Zenji, who ordained him as a priest and named him as his dharma heir in 2000. Also in 2007, Gudo Wafu Nishijima named Warner the leader of Dogen Sangha International which Nishijima had founded. Warner dissolved the organization in April 2012. In 2012, Warner moved to California and started Dogen Sangha Los Angeles.
Taizan Maezumi

The most prominent Sōtō Zen Buddhists around the world

Sōtō or the Sōtō school is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism. It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān Liánjiè. It emphasizes Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. With about 14,000 temples, Sōtō .
An illustration of Hōnen preaching

Zen Buddhist monks – The unchanging essential nature

According to tradition, Chan was introduced around 500 CE by Bodhidharma, an Indian monk teaching dhyāna. is deeply rooted in the teachings and doctrines of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism teaches śūnyatā, "emptiness", which is also emphasized by Zen. But another important doctrine is the buddha-nature, the idea that all human beings have the possibility to awaken. All living creatures are supposed to have the Buddha-nature, but don't realize this as long as they are not .
Parliament of the World's Religions

Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers from America

Although it is difficult to trace the precise moment when America first became aware of as a distinct form of Buddhism, the visit of Soyen Shaku, a Japanese Zen monk, to Chicago during the World Parliament of Religions in 1893 is often pointed to as an event that enhanced the profile of Zen in the Western world. It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners other .