Yvon Myōken Bec

Yvon Myōken Bec (born 1949 in France)^[1] is a French Sōtō Zen monk in the Deshimaru–Zeisler line and the founding abbot of Mokusho Zen House Budapest, the principal Sōtō Zen sangha of post-communist Hungary and Romania^[1]. He studied law and philosophy at the Sorbonne^[1] and from 1974 followed both Taisen Deshimaru and his close disciple Étienne Mokushō Zeisler^[1].

Before his death on 7 June 1990, Zeisler entrusted Bec with the mission of carrying the Deshimaru lineage into Eastern Europe — and most specifically into Zeisler's native Hungary^[1]. Bec moved to Budapest and from 1992 led Mokusho Zen House, named in Zeisler's memory^[1]; in 1997 he founded the rural temple Hōbōji ("Treasure of the Dharma") in Pilisszentlászló, Hungary, identified by the Mokusho Zen House network as "the first Eastern-European Zen temple"^[4].

In the autumn of 2002 he received the formal dharma transmission (shihō) from Stéphane Kōsen Thibaut^[1], conferred — per the official Kōsen Sangha shihō roster — "in the name of his fellow disciple Master Étienne Mokushō Zeisler" and explicitly in recognition of "his remarkable work in Eastern European countries"^[2][3]. From his Budapest base, Bec continues to lead sesshin in Hungary, Romania (where the Mokushōzenji temple in Bucharest is also under his direction), and across Europe; his teaching is one of the principal living continuations of Zeisler's eastward mission^[1].