Bright Way Zen Lineage History

Keido Chisan and Peggy Jiyu Kennett in Japan

In 1960, an Englishwoman named Peggy Kennett met a Japanese Zen teacher when he was visiting London. His name was Keido Chisan, and he suggested she come study with him in Japan. Miss Kennett did not appreciate at the time what a radical and unusual suggestion this was. Keido Chisan Koho Zenji (1879-1967) was abbot of one of the two head training monasteries of the Soto Zen Buddhism sect in Japan. No foreigner and especially no woman had trained at this monastery. Yet.

Two years later Peggy Kennett arrived at Sojiji, Keido Chisan’s monastery, and insisted on staying (picture to the right). Because of her gender and nationality she faced countless challenges in her training in addition to the ones anyone would face during intensive Zen practice. She persevered and eventually fulfilled her teacher’s dream that she should go to America to help establish Soto Zen.

The Nature of Lineage in Zen

The story of our Zen tradition is full of such pivotal actions and decisions on the part of individuals because ours is a “lineage” tradition. We keep careful track of the relationships between teacher and student over time. The essence of Zen is something that two human beings recognize together, face to face. Much can be learned and achieved by reading or listening to Dharma, sitting zazen, keeping the precepts and taking up the many other useful Buddhist practices, but the lifeblood of Zen – what keeps it vital and profound over the centuries as it moves from country to country and culture to culture – is the effort to awaken to our true nature. And how do we know someone has awakened to their true nature, how can we know when they are capable of passing this lifeblood of Zen on to the next generation? Only another awakened being can know. So awakened teacher meets awakened student face-to-face, generation after generation. In gratitude for the Zen teaching we have received we celebrate these encounters we call “transmission” (although no “thing” is transmitted), and we keep track of our lineage through time. (Much more can be said about transmission, so please don’t draw a simplistic conclusion from the short paragraph here!)

Lineage is also like family. One’s Zen lineage influences the flavor of one’s practice. Even among temples and Sanghas that call themselves “Soto Zen” there will be variations tied to lineage in many things, including when they bow, the ceremonies they do (or don’t do), what they chant, the teachings and practices they emphasize, the way lay versus monastic practice is portrayed, and the manner in which Dharma teaching is expressed and discussed. It can be fascinating to practice with different lineages, and you may find one Soto Zen lineage feels awkward to you while another feels like home.

Roshi Kennett at Shasta Abbey in 1973

Continuation of Our Lineage Story…

Peggy, later Roshi Jiyu, Kennett completed her training in Japan with public, formal ceremonies that previously women had had to do in private.^[1] It turns out Keido Chisan was a quiet but formidable champion of women’s equality within the Soto organization in Japan. After Keido Chisan’s death in 1967 Roshi Kennett came to the United States and began teaching. In 1970 she established a training monastery in Mt. Shasta California, Shasta Abbey, which is still thriving (Roshi Kennett is pictured to the right, in 1973). Her teaching was characterized by a strong emphasis on awakening, monastic practice, an intense student-teacher relationship, and precepts. Several of her books are available for download from Shasta Abbey, including Zen Is Eternal Life and the fascinating (although probably somewhat fictionalized) account of her training in Japan, The Wild White Goose.

Enter the next generation. Gary Carlson, a thoughtful young sociology student at UC Berkeley, was troubled by the conflict and violence he was witnessing there and around the world in the late 60’s. He found himself on a spiritual search and ended up at Shasta Abbey in 1972, where he was ordained (his ordination name is Kyogen). Kyogen trained as a monk at Shasta for five years before receiving full certification as a teacher (Dharma Transmission and inka). He remained at Shasta Abbey another five years to continue training, and to serve as a staff member and personal assistant to Roshi Kennett.

Andrea Kroenke arrived at Shasta and was ordained in 1975 (her ordination name is Gyokuko). She received Dharma Transmission from Roshi Kennett in 1977. In 1980 Gyokuko graduated from the seminary program, then remained at Shasta Abbey to deepen her practice and to help out as a staff member.

Kyogen and Gyokuko were married in 1982 and came to Oregon to teach at one of Shasta Abbey’s subtemples, or priories. Both felt drawn to working with lay practitioners. 

Dharma Rain Zen Center

In 1986 Kyogen and Gyokuko were the leaders and resident priests of the Oregon Zen Priory when disagreements with Shasta Abbey caused them to resign their membership in the organization headquartered there. This separation came after much consideration, discussion and heartache. The Sangha in Portland split and the Carlsons established Dharma Rain Zen Center as an independent Soto Zen temple with a primary emphasis on lay practice.  Despite the separation from Shasta, the Carlsons continued to treasure the Dharma they had received from Roshi Kennett and to regard her with gratitude. 

Gyokuko and Kyogen Carlson

Dharma Rain Zen Center was the primary focus of the Carlsons’ lives since its beginning (Carlsons pictured right, around 2005). They served as full-time resident priests dedicated to supporting Sangha. Dharma Rain continued to thrive and grow over the years and has over 200 members, several additional full-time resident priests, seven next-generation transmitted teachers (both priest and lay), and one of the largest and most vital children’s programs at any Zen center in the West.

Although the Sangha was devastated by the loss of Kyogen to a sudden heart attack in September of 2014, the community is fulfilling his dreams for it by remaining strong and vital without dependence on any particular person or teacher. Click the following links to read Kyogen’s obituary, a piece by his Soto Zen Dharma brother James Ford, and a piece by Paul Metzger, an evangelical Christian friend of Kyogen’s with whom Kyogen had a meaningful dialogue for many years. Kyogen is considered the honorary founder of Bright Way Zen temple.

The Carlsons’ teaching is strongly influenced by Roshi Kennett’s in its recognition of the importance of awakening and precepts, and the potential value of monastic practice and a close student-teacher relationship. They have strived to open the doors of the Dharma wider, however, and support people as they practice in a wide variety of ways, primarily in lay life. It could be said that Roshi Kennett instilled in the Carlsons a respect for the potential depth of practice, and they are working to maintain contact with that depth while increasing the breadth of the practice available to lay people in the midst of everyday life. While Dharma Rain Zen Center offers meditation retreats, residential practice, formal student-teacher relationships and even ordination to people, they never imply that practice incorporating these things is any better than a practice that does not. As long as you sit zazen and keep the precepts you can be a full-fledged Soto Zen Buddhist. What the Carlsons would further recommend, however, is that you avail yourself of the support of Sangha – the Buddhist community – because it can make all the difference. Finally, they teach that you should be “ordained into your life” and aspire to manifest your life as a sacred vocation, whatever your circumstances or work.

Roshi Kennett in Sojiji Zendo in the 60’s

Domyo knew she wanted Gyokuko as her teacher as soon as she met her in the fall of 1995. She became a formal lay student of Gyokuko’s in 1997 and soon began inquiring about ordination. Given the Carlsons’ emphasis on lay practice as a valid and complete path, this desire arose for Domyo without any coaxing on Gyokuko’s part. She first conceived of the idea when she saw a picture of Roshi Kennett sitting in the zendo at Sojiji (picture to the left), thinking, “I don’t just want to read about this, I want to do it!” Domyo confesses that her desire to be ordained basically came down to wanting to concentrate on formal practice and do nothing else – an obsession, really, rather than a noble calling. Fortunately motivations evolve over time! Gyokuko ordained Domyo as a novice priest in March of 2001 (picture lower right). For the next chapter see Teacher’s Bio.

Domyo’s Ordination 3-2-2001

[1] Boucher, Sandy (1993). Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism. Beacon Press.