Peter Schneider is a Soto Zen priest, founder of Beginner's Mind Zen Center, located in Northridge, California.

Biography

Peter and Jane Schneider were early students of Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen roshi who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. Born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Suzuki was occasionally mistaken for the Zen scholar D.T...

-roshi in the sixties. Both served as Suzuki-roshi's jisha

Jisha

For the article about temple-shrines with his jisha Simon Heale]], along with the titles inji and sannō, are Japanese terms used in reference to the personal attendant of a monastery's abbot or teacher in Zen Buddhism. In the Rinzai school, the term is usually either inji or sannō...

 (personal attendant) in the early years of the Tassajara Zen Mounain Center. Peter and Jane also assisted in transcription of his dharma talks for later publishing. Following Suzuki-roshi’s death, they accepted scholarships from the San Francisco Zen Center

San Francisco Zen Center

San Francisco Zen Center , is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu...

 to study Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 in Japan. They lived and studied in Japan

Japan

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...

 from 1973 to 1995. They founded the Beginner’s Mind Zen Center (originally the Northridge Zen Center) in 2004.

Peter Schneider first studied with Shunryu Suzuki-roshi in 1962 and returned to continue in 1967. He served as the second director of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, as well as president of the San Francisco Zen Center. Peter received priest ordination from Suzuki-roshi in 1970. In 2002 he received 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...

 from Sojun Mel Weitsman

Mel Weitsman

Sojun Mel Weitsman , born Mel Weitsman, is the founder, abbot and guiding teacher of Berkeley Zen Center located in Berkeley, California. Weitsman is a Soto Zen roshi practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, having received Dharma transmission in 1984 from Suzuki's son Hoitsu...

-roshi of the Berkeley Zen Center

Berkeley Zen Center

Berkeley Zen Center , temple name , is a Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice center located in Berkeley, California led by Sojun Mel Weitsman. An informal affiliate to the San Francisco Zen Center , BZC was originally founded in 1967 by Weitsman and Shunryu Suzuki as a satellite group for the SFZC...

. Peter is a member of the American Zen Teacher’s Association.

Jane Schneider studied with Shunryu Suzuki-roshi from 1967 until his death in 1971. She served as secretary for the San Francisco Zen Center. In 1973 Jane received priest ordination from Zentatsu Richard Baker

Zentatsu Richard Baker

Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest...

-roshi. Currently she is studying with Myoan Grace Schireson, a dharma heir in the Suzuki-roshi tradition, in preparation for dharma transmission.