22 Facts About Taizan Maezumi

Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher and roshi, and lineage holder in the Soto, Rinzai, and Sanbo Kyodan traditions of Zen.

Taizan Maezumi combined the Rinzai use of koans and the Soto emphasis on shikantaza in his teachings, influenced by his years studying under Hakuun Yasutani in Sanbo Kyodan.

Taizan Maezumi founded or co-founded several institutions and practice centers, including the Zen Center of Los Angeles, White Plum Asanga, Yokoji Zen Mountain Center and the Zen Mountain Monastery.

Taizan Maezumi left behind twelve dharma successors, appointed sixty-eight priests and gave Buddhist precepts to more than five hundred practitioners.

Taizan Maezumi was born in Japan on February 24,1931, to Yoshiko Kuroda-Taizan Maezumi and Baian Hakujun Kuroda, a prominent Soto priest, in his father's temple in Otawara, Tochigi.

Taizan Maezumi was ordained as a novice monk in the Soto lineage at age eleven, and in high school began studying Zen under a lay Rinzai instructor, Koryu Osaka.

Taizan Maezumi began sitting zazen occasionally with Nyogen Senzaki, in nearby Boyle Heights, Los Angeles for the next two years.

In 1959 Taizan Maezumi took classes in English at San Francisco State University.

Early in the 1960s, Taizan Maezumi began holding zazen at Zenshuji for Western students, which eventually led to the opening of the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1967.

Also in 1967, Taizan Maezumi began studying with Hakuun Yasutani, completing koan study under him and receiving inka in 1970.

Taizan Maezumi received inka from Koryu Osaka in 1973, making him a lineage-holder in the Soto, Rinzai and Sanbo Kyodan schools.

In 1975 Taizan Maezumi married his second wife, Martha Ekyo Taizan Maezumi, and later the couple had three children.

In 1976, Taizan Maezumi founded the non-profit Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values, promoting academic scholarship on Buddhist topics.

That following year Taizan Maezumi founded a summer retreat for the ZCLA called the Yokoji Zen Mountain Center, which today serves as a year-round residential and non-residential Zen training center.

Taizan Maezumi died on May 15,1995, while visiting his family in Japan.

Taizan Maezumi did this to emphasize the Sanbo Kyodan connection of his past into the Dharma transmission of White Plum Asanga, naming Glassman President of the organization in his will.

Taizan Maezumi was known to be especially strict about the posture of his students while sitting zazen.

Taizan Maezumi used a range of koans from different Zen traditions, including the Blue Cliff Record, The Gateless Gate, Transmission of the Lamp, and the Book of Equanimity.

Taizan Maezumi publicly admitted he was an alcoholic in 1983, and sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center.

Taizan Maezumi was forthcoming in admitting his mistakes and did not justify his behaviors.

Taizan Maezumi named twelve Dharma Successors, ordained sixty-eight priests, and administered the Buddhist precepts to over five hundred individuals.

Taizan Maezumi was not a good father, or a good husband to my mother, but he was an outstanding teacher with a love for the dharma and a vision of liberation that took precedence in all he did.