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Bodhisattva Leadership:
Inspiring and guiding others toward awakening
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Our work practice includes strategically and sustainably governing, managing and administering the functions of the temple according to Buddha’s ten qualities of a good ruler and Dogen’s instructions for temple administrators. It also includes developing practice leadership in the lay and ordained sangha.
Being a steward of the sangha in any capacity is part of our work practice. This kind of service is not simply volunteer work at or for the temple. It’s a practice of investigating interconnectedness by becoming intimate with the life of the community. Thus it’s an opportunity to develop our own practice while offering our insights and expertise to the sangha, and also a chance to study bodhisattva leadership, which we can take out of the temple and into the other leadership roles we assume in our lives. Carrying the vision
Part of the wisdom/compassion balance of board members and practice leaders is developing and carrying the vision for the organization, but that doesn't mean that the vision only belongs to you. You're in the best position with the most information to make decisions about direction, and that's what the community has asked you to take on, but until the vision is shared, the sangha doesn't have a common identity and it can't come together and go in a single direction. There are two reasons the shared vision is important. One is that it indicates where the practice is going -- what we do here as a sangha. It says to people, If this is the practice you want to do, join us and let's practice together. If we can't articulate that, then sangha members don't know what to expect and they will start asking for things we can't do. The other reason that the shared vision is important is that it makes it possible for people to work together toward the same organizational goals. That includes board, staff and sangha, and we need all three of these groups working together if we're going to do anything meaningful and significant. If sangha members don't really know what the leadership is working on, they don't have any stake in that and they don't know how to offer resources -- and they don't know how to get out of the way. So: nothing much happens in a sangha if the leadership doesn't have some kind of compelling, inspiring vision that makes folks aspire to see that thing realized. Vision gives us a purpose and makes us vital parts of the sangha rather than just butts on cushions. What is bodhisattva leadership?
Whether you serve on a dharma center board or you're a practice leader, you're working with questions like these: What can I do with my own karmic body, speech and mind to create a sustainable situation here that keeps the practice of buddhas and ancestors alive in the world? How do I help make sure their practice is still going on a hundred years from now (because a hundred years from now is now)? What is leadership in the context of Zen practice? Leadership is usually associated with power, the ability--or the right--to control people or resources, or produce a certain effect. All kinds of other ideas can get mixed into leadership: authority, influence, energy, force, efficacy. Bodhisattva leadership is the kind of leadership that each and every practitioner exercises by simply embodying the practice and demonstrating living by vow. It’s what allows us to make good decisions, moment by moment, for ourselves and others, on a micro and a macro scale. There is no bodhisattva who is not a leader Bodhisattva and leadership can’t be separated One important aspect of leadership is helping to create wholesome conditions for awakening. That can mean ringing bells, cooking meals and giving dharma talks, and it can mean being an ambassador for the temple, a steward of resources, helping to set policies and manage staff and volunteers – in other words, a board member. One of the themes of our sangha life here at Sanshin is that we aspire to understand our practice and to practice our understanding. That means that it's not enough just to read a lot of books about how to run a successful nonprofit or how to be a good leader. We need to demonstrate our understanding of sangha through practice. For the bodhisattva, the aspiration to lead comes from the aspiration to serve. If as leaders we simply want the power, or we want to be seen as insiders, that's about greed, anger and ignorance. Bodhisattvas serve because they want to make it possible for people to practice now and in the future. We are bodhisattvas enabling the cultivation of bodhisattvas. Leaders need followers in order to lead. The sangha is free to choose who to listen to and who to take direction from, and folks are free to leave the community at any time. As leaders, we take the needs and input of the sangha, combine them with our own karmic circumstances, and do real-life concrete things. These things demonstrate our values, our judgment and our competence. Bodhisattva leaders hold wisdom and compassion in balance, and here's why that's a challenge. As a result of practice, they arouse great compassion for all beings. They know about the origin of suffering and they hear the cries of beings who are in the grip of the three poisons. They can see that this is a characteristic of this karmic human form, and liberation is not easy, so they feel great compassion for everyone. At the same time, they know because of their profound wisdom that the five skandhas are empty. There are no beings and no one to save, and no one for whom they need to feel compassion, and as that wisdom arises, the compassion starts to decrease. Then immediately, they're again aware of the cries of the world, and compassion comes back up. This is how bodhisattva leaders move through the world. When running a nonprofit within the samsaric world, we see this sort of thing all the time. We have to balance emotional needs with rational needs. We want everyone to feel heard, but not everyone can get the outcome they want. In a religious community, we also balance personal growth with organizational growth. In other words, sometimes we do the less efficient thing because it allows people to deepen their practice (but we do that with intention, not because we're disorganized). In a dharma center, somebody has to step up and take the leadership necessary to keep the place functioning and the practice available to the sangha. Although that's part of our work practice, it's not just volunteer work. It is a practice in itself, with opportunities to actively engage with the community in this time and place while ensuring the future of the temple and of Soto Zen itself. |
Resources for practice leaders
How can we help?Sanshin offers support to the small sanghas in our region that would like assistance with organization development. For example, several of our directors recently formed a support squad to help a dharma center board regroup after the teacher died. Visit this page to learn more about our resources for small groups.
Sanshin's leadershipPractice leaders
Shohaku Okumura, Founder
Shōhaku Okumura
Founder Shohaku Okumura, founder and abbot of Sanshin Zen Community, stepped back from day to day leadership in June, 2023. He was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1948. In 1970, he was ordained by the late Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, one of the foremost Zen masters of the twentieth-century. He received Dharma transmission from his teacher in 1975 and, shortly after, became one of the founding members of Pioneer Valley Zendo in Massachusetts. He returned to Japan in 1981 and began translating the works of Dogen Zenji, Uchiyama Roshi and other Soto masters from Japanese into English. In 1993, he moved back to the United States with his wife, Yuko, and their two children. He has previously served as teacher at the Kyoto Soto Zen Center in Japan and at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, and was Director of the Soto Zen International Center in San Francisco for thirteen years. Today, Okumura Roshi is recognized for his unique perspective on the life and teachings of Dogen Zenji derived from his experience as both practitioner and translator, and as a teacher in both Japanese and Western practice communities. He has given lectures on the Shobogenzo and other foundational texts; transcriptions have appeared in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Dharma Eye, and Buddhism Now. He has also written or contributed to a number of books; the complete publication list is available from our Dogen Institute. Hoko Karnegis, Senior Dharma Teacher
Hoko Karnegis
Senior dharma teacher Hōkō succeeded to the leadership of Sanshin in June, 2023. She was ordained as a novice by Shohaku Okumura in 2005, and she completed her shuso hossen that same year at Kogetsu-an in Shiga, Japan. She received dharma transmission in September, 2012 and completed zuise at Eiheiji and Sojiji in November of that year. She served as communications director at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community in southern Minnesota from 2013 to 2016 and as interim practice director at Milwaukee Zen Center from 2011 to 2013. She has served as an adjunct instructor at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, WI, where she taught Eastern Religious Traditions in the classroom and online, and now teaches Zen through Ivy Tech Community College's lifelong learning program. She is recognized by Sotoshu as nito kyoushi (second-rank teacher) and as a practitioner of baika, a type of Japanese Buddhist hymn created by Sotoshu in 1952. She is serving her second four-year appointment from Sotoshu as kokusai fukyoushi, or international teacher. Hosshin Shoaf
Hōsshin Shoaf
Shissui (work leader), Getting Started in Zen Practice facilitator, Wednesday morning doan. Hosshin Michael Shoaf found his way to meditation in his senior year in high school but didn’t really come to Zen practice until 1990 after reading Zen Mind, Beginners Mind. He moved to Bloomington in January of 1981 to enter Indiana University to study painting, sculpture and art history, finishing his studies in 1985. In 1986 he started a construction company that focused mainly on remodeling and renovation. Six years later Hosshin met Myoyu Andersen Roshi and began a 17-year practice with her that blended Soto and Rinzai Zen. At the same time he was part of a sitting group in Bloomington that later encouraged Okumura Roshi to consider that city as his base of operations. In 2009 he officially became a student of Okumura Roshi's at Sanshin. He ordained in 2013, was shuso during the 2018 ango (practice period), and received dharma transmission from Okumura Roshi in 2024. These days, along with temple duties as work leader, Hosshin considers himself a cabinet and furniture maker, thoroughly enjoying the design process, finding it as satisfying as painting or sculpture. He lives in the woods in a 100 year old log cabin on the outskirts of town and is in the process of renovating it until he dies. Seigen Hartkemeyer
Seigen Hartkemeyer
Tuesday & Thursday morning doshi, occasional editorial assistant to Okumura Roshi Having first met Okumura Roshi at the “Many Faces of Dogen” conference at Zen Mountain Monastery in July 2004, Seigen moved to Bloomington in 2008 to practice with the Sanshin community. As a young man, he developed an interest in Taoism in college in the early 1970s and then shifted over to reading extensively on Zen Buddhism in the mid-1970s, taking up regular zazen practice following a first visit to the Paris Zen Temple in 1978. Through 1978-79 he would sit regularly Sunday mornings with a small, informal group of practitioners in Madrid, Spain, and he did his first summer sesshin with the sangha of the International Zen Association in the French Alps in August 1979. Having received precepts and the dharma name “Seigen” from Taisen Deshimaru in 1981, he was ordained two years later in that sangha. Throughout the 1980s and early 2000s, he participated in a number of sesshins at the Temple of La Gendronnière (including a five-month residence there in 1983) and in Quebec. Academically, he pursued grad studies in Spanish in Cincinnati and linguistics in Illinois and worked teaching (mainly) Spanish, including at the university level and in a local high school in Bloomington. Before moving to Indiana, he directed the Central Michigan Sangha, a sitting and dharma-study group on the Central Michigan University campus. He is now retired from professional teaching. Ritoku RObinson
Ritoku Robinson
Sunday morning tea coordinator, occasional Sunday dharma speaker Ritoku is a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy and Religion having received said degree in 1993 from the California Institute of Integral Studies. From Indiana University he has earned a B.A. in Philosophy and a M.S. in Philosophy of Education. His undergraduate interest was Non-Western perspectives on Western Thought, those perspectives being Eastern Thought and indigenous philosophies such as may be found among Native Americans. He is of Cherokee descent and grew up with an interest in Native American culture. He has been active in the Native American Church, and has been educated in several forms of Native American religions. In 1988 he taught at the Rough Rock Demonstration School in the Navajo Nation. This school was the first Native-American-run school with a cross-cultural curriculum that included Navajo culture, language and religion. After this he served in the Peace Corps teaching philosophy and social science at the National University of Samoa. When living in San Francisco Ritoku entered Zen practice at the Zen Center of San Francisco. He became a member of the Hartford Street Zen Center, which is affiliated with the Zen Center of San Francisco. The Hartford Street Zen Center is both a Zen Temple and a hospice, and as part of his Zen training he worked with issues of death and dying. After he received his Ph.D, he became a resident scholar at the Zen Center of Los Angeles studying under Maezumi Roshi. He lived two years there after which Okumura Roshi ordained him as a novice. Ritoku's current interests include cross-cultural philosophies, philosophical psychology of religion, Asian and American Indian philosophies and religions. He is on the associate faculty in the Philosophy Department and the Native American and Indigenous Studies program at Indiana University School of Liberal Arts. He has taught: Introduction to Philosophy, Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, Buddhist Philosophy, Philosophies of China, American Indian Philosophies, and a variety of courses on Non-Western Philosophies. He has a book published: Primal Way and the Pathology of Civilization. Doju Layton
Dōju Layton
Getting Started in Zen Practice facilitator, Sunday dharma talks once a month Dōju grew up in the Washington D.C. area. He received an undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary and a master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. While in the latter program, he began practicing zazen at the Missouri Zen Center in St. Louis after deciding against an academic career but lacking another clear direction. Inspired after reading Kōshō Uchiyama’s Opening the Hand of Thought, in 2015 he moved to Sanshinji in Bloomington to practice under Okumura Rōshi. Dōju was ordained as a novice priest in 2017. To supplement his priest training, Dōju studied Buddhism at Indiana University, receiving a master's degree in Religious Studies in 2021. He is interested in the intersection of practice, ecology, and politics, and how to engage with these topics while being true to the Buddhist tradition. Yuko Okumura
Yuko Okumura
Teacher of nyoho sewing of Buddha's robe Yuko started to practice zazen when she was 16 and later went to Komazawa University to study Buddhism. During her time there, she had an opportunity to learn nyoho-e style sewing. She received lay precepts from Kin-ei Otogawa Zenji at Sojiji in Japan in 1977. After being married to Shohaku Okumura in 1983, she lived at Antaiji for one year to study okesa sewing. Since Sanshinji's establishment in Bloomington, she has been helping lay people to sew their rakusu and ordained people to sew their okesa. In 2018 she led an online kesa study group where she shared the English translation of the book Study of Kesa by Kyuma Echu. Myogen Ahlstrom
Myōgen Ahlstrom
Friday morning jikido/doan In traditional American fashion, Mark came to Buddhism through a book, The Razor's Edge. He couldn't let go of the question of why Larry burned his books on the mountain top. He took refuge at the Karna Thegsum Choling Dallas with Lama Dudjom Dorjee under the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism in 2006. In 2007 he moved to his native home of Bloomington-Normal Illinois and joined the Bloomington-Normal Zen Group (The Dharma Wind Zen Center), which he eventually ran for about five years. There he met and took precepts with Zuiko Redding at Jikyouji in Cedar Rapids (2010). He took a job with IU as a Database Administrator in 2015, and started practicing at Sanshinji. There he tries to balance work-life and and zen-life and usually laughs at the idea -- as if there is a difference! Sawyer Jisho hitchcock
Sawyer Jisho Hitchcock
Operations manager, Monday & Tuesday morning jikido-doan, Getting Started in Zen Practice facilitator Sawyer grew up primarily in central Indiana, and found his way to Sanshinji in Bloomington in 2016, while living at his family’s cabin house a half-hour away in Yellowwood State Forest. After dipping his toes into Zen practice at Sanshin, he spent several years in the Western U.S., working conservation internships and generally being enamored by the presence of mountains and a sense of wild nature in an ecologically damaged world. While living in Montana, he met Zenku Jerry Smyers of Mission Mountain Zen, from whom he eventually received a wagesa, lay precepts, and the dharma name Jisho in July of 2020. Later that year, Sawyer returned to southern Indiana, and since then his involvement with Sanshin has steadily increased by some strange dharma-magnetism. He lived at Sanshin as a resident from April through December of 2022 and found it deeply compelling to be a part of establishing residential practice here. He received lay precepts from Hoko Karnegis in July of 2023, retaining the name Jisho (compassion-nature). Following his residency, Sawyer was hired as Sanshin’s event coordinator and this year became its operations manager. As a part-time farmhand, he has found it meaningful to begin to develop relationships between Sanshin and nearby small, sustainably-minded farms, sourcing produce from the local community for the sesshin and retreats he helps to coordinate. He finds Sanshin’s mission of “investigating interconnectedness as it manifests in community” to be a profound and effective organizing principle for Soto Zen bodhisattva practice amidst the imbalances and opportunities of our modern world. He is grateful to also be able to explore and practice Buddhism with his parents, with whom he first began to practice meditation in 2015. Board of directors
JEFF SEIKAN ALBERTS
Jeff Seikan Alberts
Email Jeff Jeff is a professor of psychological and brain sciences at IU, where his particular areas of study include animal learning and behavior, behavioral neuroscience and developmental psychology. He's been practicing at Sanshin for several years, frequently participating in the Wednesday evening zazen/book group and the Sunday morning dharma talks. He took lay precepts at Sanshin in 2022. ZENKI BATSON
Zenki Batson
Email Zenki Zenki Kathleen Batson is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki and is Vice-Abbess of the Chapel Hill Zen Center in North Carolina. She grew up in metro Detroit and first tried meditating in sixth grade after reading Shunryu Suzuki’s book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. She began developing a consistent meditation practice in her early 20s and was introduced to Dogen’s writings in a college course on Taoism and Zen Buddhism taught by Tom Kasulis at Northland College. She first received the Precepts in 1995 at a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh and first heard Okumura Roshi speak at MZMC in the 1990’s. She began practicing with her teacher Josho Pat Phelan in 2000. She received zaike tokudo in 2002, shukke tokudo in 2015, was shuso in 2019, and received Dharma transmission from her teacher on January 1, 2023. Zenki deeply appreciates Okumura Roshi’s work and has attended several of his Genzo-e retreats over the last two decades. In her free time, she enjoys making music and art and spending time camping and kayaking calm waters. She lives in Durham, NC with her husband, son, and a cat. GENE KISHIN ELIAS
Gene Kishin Elias
Treasurer Email Gene The very day Gene finished his second reading of the biography Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig, he also got an advertisement for classes at the local community college. On the front page of the ad was a class called Introduction to Zen. He signed up for the class the same day and has been a student now for many years. The style of practice at Sanshin is a very simple but elegant form of practice, one that Gene finds very appealing. In 2018, he became a member of the Board of Directors, and then Treasurer – having the qualifications of an MBA in Finance. After serving 3+ years, he took some time off from the board, but rejoined in 2023 and now serves as your Treasurer once again. In 2022 he took lay precepts at Zenshuji in Los Angeles as part of the 100th anniversary of Soto Zen in North America. Gene resides in Southern Indiana where he studies Soto Zen and practices zazen both at his home in the Yellow Wood State Forest and with the Sanshin Zen Community sangha. MARK JO-E FRALEY
Mark Jo-e Fraley
Development Chair Email Mark Mark has been practicing at Sanshin for several years, frequently participating in the Wednesday evening zazen/book group and the Sunday morning dharma talks. He took lay precepts at Zenshuji in Los Angeles in 2022 as part of the 100th anniversary of Soto Zen in North America. Mark is the associate director of IU's Political and Civic Engagement program. He has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Philosophy/Neuroscience/Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Public Administration from University of Washington’s Evans School of Policy and Governance. He has extensive experience in community organizing, political campaigning, legislative relations, strategic communications, and non-profit management. MICHAEL KOMYO MELFI
Michael Komyo Melfi
Chair Email Michael Michael Komyo Melfi is the primary organizer for Grove City Zen in Ohio. After gaining an interest in Buddhism in High School, Michael began reading and studying more in college and discovered Sanshin Zen Community in his backyard in Bloomington. He took precepts with Hoko Karnegis at Sanshin in Bloomington in 2019 receiving the Dharma name “Komyo” meaning ancient light. After leaving Bloomington and moving to the Columbus area he wanted to continue to practice Zen in the Sanshin style and give others the opportunity to do the same. Michael is currently a pre-novice under Hoko Karnegis, meaning that he is in the process of training and completing requirements to ordain as a novice monk in the Sanshin lineage. Michael studied History and Religious Studies at Indiana University and has a passion for studying Buddhist Philosophy and History. He lives in Grove City with his wife and fellow board member Laura Miller, and their two dogs. LAURA MILLER
Laura Miller
Vice Chair Email Laura Laura graduated from Indiana University with a Masters of Public Health and holds a Masters Certificate in Public and Non-Profit Leadership from the Ohio State University, and has spent her career in social justice oriented non-profit leadership. She lives in Grove City, Ohio with her husband and fellow board member Komyo Melfi, and their two dogs. Laura began exploring Zen Buddhism in 2017 and enjoyed attending Sunday morning dharma talks at Sanshin prior to moving out of Bloomington. She currently practices with Grove City Zen in Columbus, Ohio. KARLA JIGEN PASSALACQUA
Karla Passalacqua
Secretary Email Karla Karla started practicing with Sanshin in 2016 and received lay precepts from Okumura Roshi in 2018. She has recently made a career change away from investigating microbes in the laboratory to her current role as Medical Writer & Editor in Medical Education at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. She has a Master’s degree in Painting from Wayne State University and a PhD in Microbiology & Immunology from the University of Michigan. Karla has experience practicing in the Korean Seon tradition, and she has been to India three times to teach biology at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries for the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative. A resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, she is a bit of a bird and bug nut, a walking enthusiast, and a book lover. Eido Reinhart
Eido Reinhart
Email Eido Inside lineage director Eido was raised as a Presbyterian, but as a young adult in the seventies her attraction to contemplative and monastic traditions led her to become a Roman Catholic. Influenced by Thomas Merton, she entered a Catholic contemplative monastery (Sisters of St Clare) from 1979 to 1980. Before this she had become acquainted with Zen meditation, and it became her prayer posture. She participated in sesshin with Dainin Katagiri Roshi in Minnesota. During this time another important influence was the early version of what would become Kosho Uchiyama’s Opening the Hand of Thought. She followed these parallel Christian and Zen paths (Christian and Zen) for many years and much of her zazen practice was on her own. After leaving the Catholic monastery she participated in a summer seichu (practice period) at Mount Baldy in California, a Rinzai practice center started by Joshu Sasaki Roshi, who was in residence at that time. He also wrote a book called “Buddha is the Center of Gravity’ which included the significant statement “There is no God but he [she] is always with you.” She returned to her life in Minneapolis where she worked as a physical therapist for 50 years. In the eighties she got married and had two sons and later, two granddaughters. She lived in Juneau (AK) from 1985 to 1992 and there was no Zen practice going on there. She continued her parallel paths (Catholic and Zen) but the Zen practice was mostly private except for attending a week-end sesshin annually at Minnesota Zen Center when she visited family and friends in Minneapolis. After Katagiri Roshi died she returned to MZMC in 1993 to discover that Shohaku Okumura was the temporary abbot. Eventually she chose him as her teacher, practicing at MZMC while he was there and for several years beyond that. She received lay precepts from him, then ordination as a novice and eventually transmission. Eido participated in two three-month angos in Japan (2013 and 2016), participated in zuisse in Japan and is recognized by Sotoshu as kokusai fukyoushi (international teacher/missionary).
Sanshin's governance documents and selected policies
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