Reb Anderson

Reb Anderson is a lineage-holder in the Soto Zen tradition brought to the United States by Shuryu Suzuki Roshi. Born in Mississipi, he grew up in Minnesota and left advanced study in mathematics and Western psychology to come to Zen Center in 1967. He practiced with Suzuki Roshi, who ordained him as a priest in 1970 and gave him the name Tenshin Zenki ("Naturally Real, The Whole Works"). He received dharma transmission in 1983 and served as abbot of San Francisco Zen Center's three training centers (City Center, Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center) from 1986 to 1995 and has offered retreats and classes there for many years. He is particularly interested in Buddhist yoga, philosophy, and psychology, and in the relationship of wisdom and compassion to the social and ecological crises of our times.

In 2001, with a small group of students, he founded No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, California, as a temple and practice community devoted to his teaching and more broadly to Mahayana teachings in the Soto Zen tradition and continues to offer regular teachings there both in person and on-line and he continues to lead meditation retreats and classes nationally and internationally.

Reb Anderson is author of "Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains: Dharma Talks on Zen Meditation", "Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts" and "The Third Turning of the Wheel: Wisdom of the Samdhinirmocana Sutra". In addition his writings have been published in Wind Bell: Essays and Lectures from the San Francisco Zen Center, 1968-1998, and in numerous Buddhist periodicals including Inquiring Mind, Tricycle, Turning Wheel and Shambala Sun (now Lion's Roar).

Other information including his current teaching schedule and audio and video recordings of many of his dharma talks are available on his website.