Philip Kapleau (Founder of the Rochester Zen Center, N.Y.)

Roshi Philip Kapleau (1912–2004) is the author of numerous books about Zen including the classic The Three Pillars of Zen.

Philip Kapleau started his spiritual search after his experiences as a court reporter at the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War. He also worked for the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo.

In 1953 he returned to Japan and went through thirteen years of Zen training under two of Japan’s most famous zen masters: Harada Daiun-Roshi (1870-1961) and his Dharma-heir Yasutani-Roshi. Having been ordained by Yasutani-Roshi and authorized to teach, Kapleau returned to USA in 1966 and created the Rochester Zen Center.

In 1982 Kapleau-Roshi was invited to Sweden to speak about Zen and at that time the Stockholm Zen Center was founded as an affiliate of the Rochester Zen Center. After two decades as Abbot of the Rochester Zen Center, he passed on the leadership to Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Philip Kapleau died May 6, 2004, sitting among friends and students in the garden of the Rochester Zen Center. He was 92 years old.

 

Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede (Abbot of the Rochester Zen Center and former teacher of the Zen Buddhist Society of Sweden)

Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede (*1948) grew up in Michigan and completed a degree in psychology in Ann Arbor before coming to the Rochester Zen Center in 1970. He was ordained in 1976 and finished his formal Koan-Training under Roshi Philip Kapleau before beginning to teach in 1983.

In 1986 he was appointed Dharma-heir and Abbot of the Rochester Zen Center by Roshi Philip Kapleau. Since his appointment Roshi Kjolhede has been teaching students in North and Central America and Europe, and has appointed Dharma-heirs in Chicago, Sweden, Mexico and New-Zealand.

Roshi Kjolhede was the teacher of the Stockholm Zen Center for many years until he was succeeded by Sensei Sante Poromaa in 1999.

 

Sante Poromaa (Co-Leader of the Zen Buddhist Society of Sweden and Teacher of the Cloud Water Zen Group)

Sante Poromaa was born in 1958 in Kiruna. In the early 1980s, he met Philip Kapleau-Roshi and became his student. Later when Roshi Kapleau went into semi-retirement he also became a student of Kapleau-Roshi’s successor Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.

After years of training with these teachers and his ordination as a zen priest, he finished koan training in 1993 and was authorized to teach by Roshi Kjolhede. Before his full-time engagement in zen, Sante Sensei studied art and worked as an artist. He also worked for many years as a male nurse.

 

Kanja Odland (Co-Leader of the Zen Buddhist Society of Sweden and Teacher of the Cloud Water Zen Group)

Kanja Odland was born in Stockholm in 1963. In 1984 she met Philip Kapleau-Roshi and also became a student of Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Since the beginning of 1990 she has been co-leader of the Zen Buddhist Society of Sweden.

Kanja Sensei finished her koan training in 1999 and was authorized to teach by Roshi Kjolhede in 2001. In August 2006 she received Dharma transmission from Roshi Kjolhede. Since 1995 Kanja has worked full-time in zen and before that she worked as an artist and as a carer with elderly and disabled people.