Minnesota Zen Meditation Center

This center stemmed from the 1960s, when a group of individuals in Minneapolis met together to practice zazen (Zen meditation). One of the students was Sekijun Karen Sunna, the center's current head priest. They soon developed an association with the San Francisco Zen Center, and its assistant priest Dainin Katagiri Roshi visited them on several occasions. In 1972, the group invited Katagiri Roshi to become leader of their new Zen Center. He accepted, and the Minnesota Zen Center was formed in January 1973.

Dainin Katagiri Roshi was born in Japan in 1928 and became a Zen monk in 1946. He trained at Eiheji Monastery, the original center of the Soto Shu sect. He came to the United States in 1963 to work with the North American Zen Buddhist Church, the Japanese-American Soto group, and was assigned to their Los Angeles temple. Five months later he was sent to San Francisco to assist Shunryu Suzuki Roshi at both the San Francisco temple (Sokoji) and the independent San Francisco Zen Center. While there he assisted in the opening of the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.

Since coming to Minneapolis, Katagiri Roshi has attracted students from across the Midwest and has visited various groups interested in Zen. Groups affiliated with the Minnesota Center have been established in Manhattan, Kansas; Iowa City, Iowa; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Omaha, Nebraska.

In 1978 the center purchased 280 acres near Houston, Minnesota, which offers meditation, classes and lectures as well as retreats. Since Katagiri Roshi's death in 1990, Sekijun Karen Sunna has acted as head priest. Address: 3343 E. Calhoun Pkwy., Minneapolis, MN 55408. Website: http://www.mnzenctr.com/.

Sources:

Minnesota Zen Center. http://www.mnzenctr.com/. March 8, 2000.