Dainin Katagiri

Dainin Katagiri was a Soto Zen master who helped establish Zen practice in the American Midwest, founding the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Born in Japan in 1928, he came to the United States in 1963 and initially assisted Shunryu Suzuki at the San Francisco Zen Center before establishing his own community in Minnesota.

Katagiri's teaching was characterized by a warmth and accessibility that made Zen practice available to Americans far from the coastal centers where Zen first took root. His published talks, collected in Returning to Silence and Each Moment Is the Universe, present Dogen's teaching in clear, practical language. He emphasized that Zen practice is not about achieving special states but about meeting each moment of life fully and completely. His community in Minnesota became a model for Soto Zen practice in the American heartland.