Hakuryu Sojun Mel Weitsman (July 20, 1929 – January 7, 2021), born Mel Weitsman, was an American Buddhist who was the founder, abbot and guiding teacher of
Berkeley Zen Center located in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
. Weitsman was a
Soto Zen Soto may refer to:
Geography
*Soto (Aller), parish in Asturias, Spain
* Soto (Las Regueras), parish in Asturias, Spain
*Soto, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
* Soto, Russia, a rural locality (a ''selo'') in Megino-Kangalassky District of the Sakha ...
roshi practicing in the lineage of
Shunryu Suzuki, having received
Dharma transmission
In Chan Buddhism, Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken Lineage (Buddhism), lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (''kechimyaku'') theoretica ...
in 1984 from Suzuki's son Hoitsu. He was also a co-abbot of the
San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. Th ...
, where he served from 1988 to 1997. Weitsman was also editor of the book ''Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai'', based on talks given by Suzuki on the
Sandokai
The Sandōkai () is a poem by the eighth Chinese Zen ancestor Shitou Xiqian (Sekito Kisen, 700–790) and a fundamental text of the Sōtō school of Zen, chanted daily in temples throughout the world.
Title
The poem's title, "參同契", is pron ...
.
Biography
Mel Weitsman was born in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
in 1929, to Edward Weitsman and Leah Rosenberg Weitsman.
[Ford, 128-129] Interested in religion from an early age, he started practicing at the
San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. Th ...
under
Shunryu Suzuki in 1964. He co-founded the
Berkeley Zen Center with his teacher in 1967. Suzuki ordained Weitsman as a priest in 1969, and arranged for him to be Shuso (Head Monk) in 1970 under Tatsugami Roshi at
Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
The Tassajara Zen Mountain Center is the oldest Buddhism in Japan, Japanese Buddhist Sōtō Zen monastery in the United States. It is on the border of the Ventana Wilderness and within the Los Padres National Forest, southeast of Carmel-by-the-S ...
. His other teachers included
Dainin Katagiri
Jikai , was a Sōtō Zen priest and teacher, and the founding abbot of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he served from 1972 until his death from cancer in 1990. He is also the founder of Hokyoji Zen Practice Comm ...
Roshi,
Kobun Chino Roshi, Ryogen Yoshimura and
Kazuaki Tanahashi
is an accomplished Japanese calligrapher, Zen teacher, author and translator of Buddhist texts from Japanese and Chinese to English, most notably works by Dogen (he began his translation of '' Shobogenzo'' in his twenties). He first met Shunry ...
, with whom he has often worked on translations of Zen texts. In 1984, Weitsman received
Dharma transmission
In Chan Buddhism, Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken Lineage (Buddhism), lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (''kechimyaku'') theoretica ...
from Suzuki Roshi's son and Dharma Heir, Hoitsu Suzuki Roshi, Abbot of Rinso-In Temple in
Yaizu
is a city located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 139,578 in 57,593 households, and a population density of 2000 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Yaizu is a noted port for commer ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Installed as Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center in 1985, he later was invited to lead San Francisco Zen Center as co-abbot with Tenshin
Reb Anderson
Tenshin Zenki Reb Anderson (born 1943) is an American Buddhist who is a Zen teacher in the Sōtō Zen tradition of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Senior Dharma teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center and at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County, ...
from 1988 to 1997, following the eviction of Zen Center's previous abbot,
Richard Baker, because of sexual scandal and allegations of financial wrongdoing.
[Downing, Michael. ''Shoes Outside the Door''. Counterpoint, 2002. passim][Gach, 230] He co-founded the
American Zen Teachers Association
The American Zen Teachers Association (AZTA) was founded in the late 1980s as the Second Generation Zen Teachers Group. It is a peer-group organization of ordained and lay Zen Buddhist teachers, all of whom have received either teaching authoriza ...
(AZTA) with senior American Dharma teachers
Tetsugen Bernard Glassman
Bernie Glassman (January 18, 1939 – November 4, 2018) was an American Zen Buddhist roshi and founder of the Zen Peacemakers (previously the Zen Community of New York), an organization established in 1980. In 1996, he co-founded the Zen Peacem ...
,
Dennis Genpo Merzel
Dennis Merzel (born June 3, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American Zen and spirituality teacher, also known as Genpo Merzel.
Biography
Early life
Dennis Paul Merzel was born on June 3, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York and was raised and schoo ...
and
Keido Les Kaye in 1995. Weitsman has entrusted the Dharma to over twenty individuals, including
Zenkei Blanche Hartman (1988)
[Skinner Keller, 643] and
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Zoketsu Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer, and Sōtō, Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the lineage of Shunryū Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Mel Weitsman, Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma trans ...
(1988).
[San Francisco Zen Center: About Us: Lineage: Zoketsu Norman Fischer]
Lineage
# Josho Pat Phelan (?—present)
[Sweeping Zen, ''"Shunryu Suzuki lineage"''](_blank)
/ref>
# Mary Mocine (?—present)
# Myoan Grace Schireson (born 1946)
## Jane Myokaku Schneider (?—present)
## Myosho Baika Andrea Pratt (born 1960)
# Shinshu Roberts (?—present)
# Daijaku Judith Kinst (?—present)
# Soshin Teah Strozer (?—present)
# Chikudo Lew Richmond (?—present)
# Peter Yozen Schneider (?—present)
# Shosan Victoria Austin (?—present)
# Dairyu Michael Wenger (born 1947)
## Darlene Su Rei Cohen (☸ 1942—2011)
### Susan Ji-On Postal (?—present)
#### Myozan Dennis Keegan (?—present)
### Horyu Ryotan Cynthia Kear (?—present)
### Sarita Tamayo-Moraga (?—present)
## Mark Lancaster (?—present)
## Marsha Angus (?—present) lay entrustment
## Barent (Last name?) (?—present) lay entrustment
## Jamie Howell (born 1945) lay entrustment
# Hozan Alan Senauke (born 1947)
# Maylie Scott (☸ 1935—2001)
# Fran Tribe (☸)
# Gil Fronsdal (born 1954)
# Edward Espe Brown (born 1945)
# Ryushin Paul Haller (born 1947)
# Myogen Steve Stucky (?—present)
# Steve Weintraub (?—present)
# Zoketsu Norman Fischer (born 1946)
## Do-An Robert Thomas (?—present)
## Shokan Jordan Thorn (?—present)
## Ingen Breen (?—present)
## Bruce Fortin (?—present)
## Arlene Lueck (?—present)
## Daigan Lueck (☸ ?—2015)
## Shinko Rick Slone (?—present)
## Gloria Ann Lee (?—present)
## Myphon Hunt (?—present) retired
## Gyokujun Teishin Layla Smith (born 1946)
## Eihei Peter Levitt (?—present) lay entrustment
## Mick Sopko (?—present) lay entrustment
# Zenkei Blanche Hartman (?—present)
## Kosho McCall (born 1946)
## Seirin Barbara Kohn (?—present) retired
## Gengetsu Jana Drakka (born 1952)
## John Daniel King (☸ 1935—2001)
## Ryumon Hilda Guitierrez Baldoquin (?—present)
See also
*Sōtō Zen
Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān ...
* Shunryu Suzuki
*San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. Th ...
* Berkeley Zen Center
*Soto Zen Buddhist Association
The Soto Zen Buddhist Association was formed in 1996 by American and Japanese Zen teachers in response to a perceived need to draw the various autonomous lineages of the North American Sōtō stream of Zen together for mutual support as well as ...
*American Zen Teachers Association
The American Zen Teachers Association (AZTA) was founded in the late 1980s as the Second Generation Zen Teachers Group. It is a peer-group organization of ordained and lay Zen Buddhist teachers, all of whom have received either teaching authoriza ...
*Zen in the United States
Zen was introduced in the United States at the end of the 19th century by Japanese teachers who went to America to serve groups of Japanese immigrants and become acquainted with the American culture. After World War II, interest from non-Asian A ...
*Buddhism in the United States
The term American Buddhism can be used to describe all Buddhist groups within the United States, including Asian Americans, Asian-American Buddhists born into the faith, who comprise the largest percentage of Buddhists in the country.
American Budd ...
*Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
Below is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.
Events
Early history
* 1893: Soyen Shaku comes to the United States to lecture at the World Parliament of Religions held in C ...
References
Written references
Web-references
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Weitsman, Mel
San Francisco Zen Center
Soto Zen Buddhists
Zen Buddhist abbots
American Zen Buddhists
Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers
American Jews
1929 births
2021 deaths
People from Long Beach, California
Religious leaders from the San Francisco Bay Area