Our Teacher
Meido Moore Roshi (1968) is the founding shike (training master or abbot) of
Korinji, and guiding teacher of Rinzai Zen International. He is author
of The Rinzai Zen Way: A Guide to Practice and Hidden Zen: Practices for Sudden
Awakening and Embodied Realization (both from Shambhala Publications).
Meido Roshi began Zen practice in 1988 after completing a religious studies degree at Rutgers University and participating in the Antioch Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya, India. He went on to train under three Rinzai masters in Omori Sogen Roshi's line: the late Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji (dharma heir of Tenshin Tanouye Roshi), in whose training hall he resided for seven years while also enduring a severe training in traditional martial arts over a decade; Dogen Hosokawa Roshi (Omori Roshi’s dharma heir), under whom he trained for fifteen years; and So'zan Miller Roshi (Hosokawa Roshi's dharma heir), under whom he trained for three years and completed the koan curriculum of this lineage.
Meido Roshi founded The Korinji Foundation in 2005. In 2008 at the age of 40 he received inka shomei or "mind seal" — recognition as an 86th-generation Zen lineage holder — and was additionally empowered as a teacher authorized to transmit the full range of Rinzai Zen practices. In 2013 he was installed as the first abbot of Korinji, and in 2018 began overseeing training at the completed monastery. He continues today to learn from his living Zen teachers who serve as crucial advisors.
In his late 40s, in order to broaden his practice knowledge and grasp of Japanese Buddhism, Meido Roshi also begun studying under Tendai, Shingon, and Shugendo teachers in Japan. He is a Shingon ajari, and has received full ransmission (dento) of the Ein Horyu Shugendo practice lineage.
For twenty-five years prior to Korinji's completion, Roshi was a professional martial art teacher studying a number of Japanese martial traditions. In this capacity he traveled internationally to teach both traditional martial arts as well as tactical applications for law-enforcement, government security agencies, and anti-terrorist units. After Toyoda Rokoji's death, he was a student of the late Aikido master T.K. Chiba Shihan and the late Headmaster of the Shinbukan Kuroda Ryugi, Tetsuzan Kuroda Sensei. Roshi is certified as a shihan (master-level teacher, 7th dan) by the Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo. He studies Kogetsu Enshu Ryu Sado (tea ceremony), calligraphy, ceramics, and is a trained bladesmith.