Onze Lijn / Our Lineage

Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, Roshi (1931-1995), was abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA) and had a strong influence on the growth of Zen Buddhism in the United States and Europe. He received Dharma transmission from Hakujun Kuroda Roshi, in 1955. He also received approval as a teacher from Koryu Osaka Roshi and Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, and so was Dharma successor in three Zen lineages (Soto, Shakyamuni-Kai and Sanbo-Kyodan).

He came to the United states in 1956 and there eventually founded ZCLA, giving Dharma transmission to twelve successors.

Maezumi Roshi died in Japan on a visit to his family in May 1995. He and his late wife, Martha Ekyo Maezumi, are survived by their three children, Kirsten, Yuri and Shira.

Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1944, and grew up in California. He started formal Zen training under Taizan Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1972. In 1980, Genpo Roshi received Shiho (Dharma Transmission) from Maezumi Roshi and in the following year he began to conduct sesshins in several European countries. He founded Kanzeon Sangha in 1984 which includes all his students in the United States and Europe. 

In 1992 he gave hij Dharma-transmission to Catherine Genno Pagès who thus became his first Dharma successor.