Beginning January 2026, I invite you to join me in a year of practice and training as an Active Student dedicated to carrying the Big Mind Path forward into the world as the awakened mind and the living heart of Zen.

We stand now in a moment not unlike the time of the Sixth Patriarch in late 7th and early 8th century China: a threshold era in which the shape of the Dharma is not yet fixed, but is asking to be embodied, carried, and given new life.

This coming year, we will return to the very wellspring of the teachings — to the turning point at which Zen became what we now recognize as its mature, awakened expression. The year will be divided into three segments, beginning with the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, from whom the river of “sudden enlightenment” first truly emerged.

From Huineng flowed two great currents of the Dharma: Matsu (Mazu Daoyi), whose fierce, dynamic, thunderclap teaching of shouts and shocks would give rise to the Rinzai tradition, a training of directness, courage, and the fearless breaking of conceptual mind.

And alongside him stood Sekitō Kisen, (Shitou Xiqian), whose deep stillness and luminous receptivity became the source of the Soto stream, a lineage best known for its emphasis on the profound stillness of “Shikantaza,” or "just sitting.” It was Sekitō who gave us the Sandokai — The Identity of Relative and Absolute — one of the most essential and elegant expressions of non-duality ever articulated. This poem remains, in my view, the apex of Big Mind Zen understanding: the demonstration that awakening must live fully in the world, as form and emptiness embodied in action.

Today, as Zen did in China at that time, it must cross a cultural threshold — into the West, into new soils, into the hands and hearts of mature practitioners capable of transmitting its essence without dilution or imitation. This is the task given to me by my esteemed teacher, Zen Master Maezumi Roshi in 1975, when he asked me to revitalize the way koans are taught, and the whole system of koan study, which he said was too stagnant.  And he also asked me and some of his other successors to create an American, or what I now call Western, Zen.

The Big Mind Path is a training for those who feel called to take responsibility for this transmission — not symbolically, but actually. It is for those ready to move from student to steward: to become carriers of the awakened heart/mind in a polarized world.

This program is designed for practitioners with established practice, sincerity, humility, and readiness to prioritize awakening above distraction. It is a year of study, embodiment, and preparation to guide others on the Big Mind Path. To succeed, you must be willing to make this a true priority, creating the space in your life for the substantial, concentrated practice,  generosity, and discipline required to realize these teachings and, one day, transmit them.

I would like to personally invite you to join me on this Path.

Love, 
Genpo Roshi

2026 Big Mind Path / Active Student Program

$250 Monthly   •   Minimum One Year Commitment Requested

This ongoing program for Active Students who are interested in deepening their own practice or in pursuing a Western Way towards becoming a Big Mind coach/guide, offers access to me personally as well as to a great team of Sensei’s and Roshi’s and includes: 

• Sunday Talks
• Personal interview with Roshi’s and Sensei’s
• Three 3-day-Weekend Online Masterclasses on this year’s selected Great Teachers/Texts
• Tuesday Living Zen Classes
• Online Weekday Zazen
• Access to the complete Kanzeon Media Archive (audios and videos since 1976)

During 2026 we will also host a variety of in-person Sesshins, Intensives, Big Heart Retreats and classes in addition to the events included in the Big Mind Path program. 

Email Chet Cannon to Join Today