Atlanta Soto Zen Center
Encyclopedia
The Atlanta Soto Zen Center (ASZC) is an independent Soto Zen practice center founded in 1977 by Zenkai Taiun Michael Elliston-sensei
, a student of the late Soyu Matsuoka
.
parted ways, and few of his Dharma heirs are seen as legitimate teachers. Taiun Michael Elliston is an exception to this common perception. As one of Matsuoka's senior students, Elliston is generally respected in his field and has himself made attempts at reconnecting with the Soto school. Author James Ishmael Ford
writes, "It is possible that within a few years, this one branch, at least, of the Matsuoka line will rejoin the normative Soto tradition." In August 2007, Shohaku Okumura
and Seirin Barbara Kohn
have given Dharma transmission
to Taiun Michael Elliston to help legitimize Elliston's previous transmission in the sometimes disputed lineage of Soyu Matsuoka
.
Sensei
' is a Japanese word that basically means "person born before another." In general usage, it means "master" or "teacher," and the word is used as a title to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers, CPA and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority...
, a student of the late Soyu Matsuoka
Soyu Matsuoka
Dr. Soyu Matsuoka , along with Sokei-an and Nyogen Senzaki, was one of the first Zen teachers to make the United States his home, and possibly the first official representative of the Sōtō tradition to do so. He established the Chicago Buddhist Temple in 1949 , and in the 1960s grew a following of...
.
Lineage
In the 1970s Matsuoka and Soto Shu in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
parted ways, and few of his Dharma heirs are seen as legitimate teachers. Taiun Michael Elliston is an exception to this common perception. As one of Matsuoka's senior students, Elliston is generally respected in his field and has himself made attempts at reconnecting with the Soto school. Author James Ishmael Ford
James Ishmael Ford
James Ishmael Ford is an American Zen Buddhist priest and Unitarian Universalist minister. He was born in Oakland, California on July 17, 1948...
writes, "It is possible that within a few years, this one branch, at least, of the Matsuoka line will rejoin the normative Soto tradition." In August 2007, Shohaku Okumura
Shohaku Okumura
Shohaku Okumura is a Japanese Soto Zen priest and the founder and guiding teacher of the Sanshin Zen Community located in Bloomington, Indiana, where he and his family currently live...
and Seirin Barbara Kohn
Seirin Barbara Kohn
Seirin Barbara Kohn is a Soto Zen sensei and head priest of The Austin Zen Center in Austin, Texas, practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. She was ordained as a Soto priest by Reb Anderson and received Dharma transmission from Zenkei Blanche Hartman—Kohn being Hartman's first Dharma heir....
have given Dharma transmission
Dharma transmission
Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...
to Taiun Michael Elliston to help legitimize Elliston's previous transmission in the sometimes disputed lineage of Soyu Matsuoka
Soyu Matsuoka
Dr. Soyu Matsuoka , along with Sokei-an and Nyogen Senzaki, was one of the first Zen teachers to make the United States his home, and possibly the first official representative of the Sōtō tradition to do so. He established the Chicago Buddhist Temple in 1949 , and in the 1960s grew a following of...
.