Mark Kanchi Esterman Roshi began Zen training under Japanese Rinzai Zen Master Seikan Hasegawa in 1969 and continued training with him in locations on the East coast of the U.S. as well as in Japan until 2002. He was ordained by Rev. Hasegawa in 1997 and served under him as Head Monk of Rock Creek Buddhist Temple 1970-2002, and Vice-Abbott 1999-2002.
He began studying with Zen Master Genpo Merzel at Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake City in 2003. He received Jukai (Receiving the Precepts) and Shukke Tokudo (Ordination) from Genpo Roshi in 2004, Hoshi (Lineage Holder) in 2010, Shiho (Transmission as a successor and teacher of Zen) October 17, 2014, and Inka (final seal of approval as Zen Master) June 3, 2022.
Mark was born and raised in the New York City area. He and his late wife Margaret, who was a Rinpoche in a Tibetan Buddhist lineage, married in 1977 and have three children and four grandchildren. They were also partners in an independent book publishing company which has published books in a variety of fields including education, music, art, children’s books and gardening as well as Buddhism. He is a graduate of Amherst College and received a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Brandeis University. He has taught classes on Zen, Big Mind and meditation locally at Kanzeon Zen Center, the University of Utah Lifelong Learning Program and elsewhere. He founded the Salt Lake Zen Group in 2012.
Mary Ellen Seien Sloan Roshi, has been studying with Roshi since 2001, received Shukke Tokudo in 2005, Shiho (Dharma transmission) September, 2017, and Inka June 2023, and is a certified Big Mind Facilitator. She is one of the current Kanzeon teachers and leads zazen, teaching, and dokusan (personal interview). She served as Roshi’s assistant and attendant for several years.
Mary Ellen is an attorney and member of the Utah State Bar and a mother of one daughter.
Christian Jikishin von Wolkahof Sensei has been a student of Genpo Roshi since 1989. He received Shukke Tokudo ordination in 2007 and Dharma Transmission (Shiho) as a successor in 2018.
As co-founder of Kanzeon Sangha Germany in 1996 and the Kanzeon Zen Center Düsseldorf in 2001, he managed the center until the end of 2007 together with his then-wife Marci Forand. From 2008 until 2012 the family lived with their children Carl and Toni at the Kanzeon Zen Center International in Salt Lake City.
Chris is particularly interested in translating the ancient principles of Zen into modern language, western lifestyle and northern climate. He feels that his most valuable asset as a teacher is the Big Mind Process. He lives in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he works in the state government and teaches Zen at Kanzeon Sangha Germany.
Alexandra Mushin Gericke Sensei was born and grew up in Southern Germany. She skied for the German national youth team, earning her a scholarship for the University of Utah. While coming to Salt Lake City to study Psychology in 1994, she also had her first encounter with Zen practice at the Kanzeon Zen Center.
Wanting to study with her teacher, Soten Genpo Roshi, she became a resident Kanzeon in 1996. Living there for eight years, she trained in both the more traditional forms of Zen as well as in Roshi's Big Mind process. She received Shukke Tokudo (Ordination) in 1998 and served as Roshi's attendant for many years, becoming Hoshi (Lineage Holder) in 2002 and receiving Denkai in 2006.
Since 2008, she has been married to Belgian Zen teacher Frank De Waele Roshi. They live in Ghent with their two daughters. She also trained in body awareness practices like Feldenkrais and Focusing and is working as a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher.
In August of 2022, Mushin received Shiho (Dharma Transmission) from Genpo Roshi in Germany and then went on to start the No Mind Zendo in Belgium.
Charlotte Jigen Juul is both a Zen teacher and psychotherapist with an M.A. in Buddhist Psychology from Naropa University, Colorado, and a B.A. in Transpersonal Psychotherapy from Psychosynthesis Trust, London. She is a certified Somatic Experience Practitioner (SEP), and a certified Big Mind Facilitator.
She received Jukai in 2010 and Shukke Tokudo in 2018 and will receive Shiho, Dharma Transmission, in August 2024 from her teacher and husband Genpo Roshi. She completed koan study after several years of intense training as well as a one-year solo retreat.
Jigen began her spiritual journey in the mid 90’s, and in 2000 gave up her professional and personal life to join Andrew Cohen’s international community EnlightenNext and focus full-time on awakening. After leaving the community in 2008, she attended a retreat with Genpo Roshi and recognized that Zen Buddhism was her path.
Her work embraces both the spiritual and the psychological, utilizing psychotherapy and Big Mind to explore the deeply rooted patterns that hinder our spiritual development and the places we are stuck in our spiritual practice that obstruct our psychological well-being and maturation.
She lives and practices at their home in Oregon and the Big Island of Hawaii alongside her husband and partner.
Bruce Hogen Lambson Hoshi began his Buddhist studies in the 1990's in Seattle with a group affiliated with Tibetan Dzogchen teacher Sogyal Rinpoche. He first met Genpo Roshi in 1998 and in 2003 moved to Salt Lake City to join Kanzeon Zen Center. He received Jukai (Receiving the Precepts) in 2004, Shukke Tokudo (Ordination) in 2005, and Hoshi in 2022.
Bruce and his wife Jenny, who is nearing completion of her studies to be a Buddhist Chaplain through Upaya Zen Center, have a daughter, Celeste, and live in Sandy Utah.
His background is business and he currently serves in both administrative and teaching roles for Kanzeon Big Mind. Along with that Bruce enjoys playing electric bass and guitar and following world affairs, politics, and social and cultural trends, using the guidelines of Ken Wilber's Integral framework.