Taizan Maezumi

Taizan Maezumi was a Soto Zen master who founded the Zen Center of Los Angeles and became one of the most influential Zen teachers in the Western world. Born in 1931 into a Soto Zen temple family, he came to Los Angeles in 1956 and gradually built a community that became a major center for American Zen practice. He held dharma transmission in three lineages—Soto, Rinzai, and Sanbo Kyodan—giving him an unusually comprehensive perspective.

Maezumi trained many students who went on to become prominent Zen teachers in their own right, including Bernard Tetsugen Glassman, John Daido Loori, and Dennis Genpo Merzel. His community, the White Plum Asanga, represents one of the largest and most diverse networks of Zen teachers in the West. His teaching integrated the traditional rigor of Japanese Zen with an openness to American culture and sensibility.