Our
Story
Teachers connected to Korinji's founding.
L to R from top: Omori Sogen Rōshi, Tanouye Tenshin Roshi, Hosokawa Dogen Roshi, Toyoda Tenzan Rōkoji, Nakashima Seiko Sensei, Chiba Tenryu Sensei, So'zan Miller Roshi
The story of Korinji's founding begins with the transmission to the West of the vibrant Rinzai Zen lineage of Omori Sogen Roshi (1904–1994), one of the most influential Rinzai Zen masters of the twentieth century.
Concerned for the future of Zen in Japan, and recognizing the spiritual hunger of the West, Omori Roshi and his heirs Tanouye Tenshin Roshi (1938-2003) and Hosokawa Dogen Roshi (b. 1947) labored tirelessly to transmit these teachings to Western students. The lay Zen and Aikido master Toyoda Tenzan Rokoji (1947-2001) oversaw this activity in the mainland USA, centered in Chicago. Through all their efforts, a community of Zen students in North America and Europe slowly developed.
After the untimely death of Toyoda Rokoji in 2001, his students took up his dream of founding a genuine Rinzai Zen sodo, or training monastery, in the heartland of the United States. So'zan Miller Roshi (b. 1955) continued the crucial Chicago-based activity of teaching and transmitting the dharma, while Meido Moore Roshi (b. 1968) founded The Korinji Foundation in 2005. In those first difficult years of Korinji's life, the renowned Sado and Ikebana master Seiko Nakashima Sensei (1927-2014) - recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun for her work to promulgate Japanese cultural arts - and the Aikido master and Zen priest Chiba Tenryu Sensei (1940-2015), served in valued roles as advisors.
In 2008, 17 acres were purchased in south-central Wisconsin. Ground was broken in June, 2009. On November 3, 2013, Korinji's training hall was dedicated, with Meido Roshi installed then as our first abbot. In late 2017 Korinji's residence hall was completed, and the monastery began to function full-time shortly thereafter.
Korinji now serves as the headquarters of Rinzai Zen International, a worldwide community of affiliated practice groups, and has become known as a center for rigorous practice of Zen and the arts. It is also a place where several other Japanese Buddhist traditions are separately practiced, hosting eminent guest teachers like the great Tendai "marathon monk" Mitsunaga Kakudo Dai-Ajari, who conducted the kechien kanjo empowerment here and brushed the calligraphy hanging at the entrance to Korinji's training hall. Teachers from the Zen, Shingon, Tendai, and Shugendo traditions, and masters of tea ceremony, calligraphy, and martial arts, have all contributed to Korinji's growth.
Korinji’s mission is to preserve living Buddhist training and to open paths of wisdom and compassion for sincere practitioners.