A Growing Virtual Sangha
Rising Lotus Sangha was born out of need during the CoVid pandemic.
What happened next was that people from all over the globe joined us.
We have made the decision to remain an online sangha
so you don't even have to leave your home to practice
and learn about Zen with others.
All are welcome here.
Our Teacher
Rev. Kyoji began studying Buddhism in the Soto Zen tradition in 2004 and received Shukke Tokudo (priest ordination) in 2019. She is the founder and guiding teacher at Rising Lotus Sangha, an online Zen community with a global reach.
Her teaching style is to bring the practice of Zen out of the books and into everyday life, meeting people where they are.
Rev. Kyoji graduated from Eastern Mennonite University in 2000 and worked in the health insurance and healthcare industries.
She and her husband are the parents of four grown children and grandparents to four. They live in Pennsylvania US, with their Boxer dog, Henry. In her spare time, Rev. Kyoji can be found hiking or walking with Henry, knitting, enjoying her porch and garden or at the beach.
Our Lineage
Our Sangha is in the lineage of Matsuoka-Roshi, who came to the US, shortly before World War II to serve Japanese immigrants. Therefore he is sometimes referred to as "The light bearer".
Assisting the abbot of Zenshuji Temple in Los Angeles, and later the supervisor at Sokoji Soto Zen Mission (Temple) in San Francisco.
He founded the Chicago Buddhist Temple in 1949 (now the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago). In the 1960s he gathered a following of Americans.
Matsuoka-roshi ordained Hogaku McGuire-Roshi.
McGuire-Roshi ordained Daiho-Roshi, who founded and was abbot of the order of Clear Mind Zen until 2022 when he retired and left the order. Rev. Kyoji and Rev. Daishin were both ordained in the order of Clear Mind Zen.
Matsuoka-Roshi
Daiho-Roshi, Hogaku Shozen, and Fern Shin Getsu McGuire circa 2004
Matsuoka left the Soto-shu, holding that Zen is a personal experience and that the authority of the Soto Sect and its training monasteries inhibit the practice of Zen.
Matsuoka died in 1997.
