Grace Schireson, Ph.D., President
Grace Schireson is the founder and head teacher of Empty Nest Zendo and several other Zen Groups in Central California. She is trained as a clinical psychologist and has practiced Zen meditation for more than forty years. Abbess Myoan Grace Schireson was given Dharma transmission in the Suzuki Roshi lineage by Sojun Mel Weitsman, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center. She studied Rinzai Zen in Japan with Keido Fukushima Roshi, the late Abbot of Tofukuji Monastery in Kyoto, Japan who asked her to teach the koans she had studied with him during her training there.
Chikudo Lewis Richmond, B.A., Provost
Lewis Richmond received dharma tranmission in the Suzuki Roshi lineage and is founder of The Vimala Sangha in Mill Valley, CA. He blogs at www.AgingAsASpiritualPractice.com and leads an online discussion on aging on the Tricycle magazine community forum.
CORE FACULTY 2007-2009
Darlene Cohen, M.A.
Darlene Cohen began sitting at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1970 and was dharma transmitted in Suzuki-roshi lineage in 2001. She is a senior teacher at the in Guerneville, California, and is the author of three books about living with chronic pain and anguish. She has taught classes and workshops for people in distress at medical facilities and dharma centers for many years.
Lewis Richmond, B.A. (See above)
Myoan Grace Schireson, Ph.D.(See above)
Myogen Steve Stucky, B.A., M. Div. (candidate)
Myogen Steve Stucky is Founder of the and Co-Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center