Genpo Roshi

Via Precious Metal:

It seems the perfect confluence of life events may have brought Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi to Buddhism.

Or at least prepared his mind for Buddhism to find him.

It happened in 1971 while on a trip to the Mojave Desert. Genpo Roshi had climbed a mountain and was contemplating his life and purpose. The past years had brought him experiences with death, relationship struggles and also pain.

While on the mountain, he had what he now considers a Zen experience. It was an awakening of the mind that shifted his perspective on life and made him more interested in serving others.

“Before that, I was just going full steam ahead,” Genpo Roshi said during an interview from his office at the Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake City, where he is the abbot, or spiritual leader. “When I had this experience, it did turn my life around.”

More here. Genpo Roshi appeared in the Winter 2008 Tricycle as well.

[Image: Mike Terry, Deseret News]

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