The Compassionate Path communityOur Lineage from top to bottom: Rev. Dr. Daiho Hilbert Roshi, Rev. Ken Hogaku McGuire Roshi, and Rev. Dr. Soyu Zengaku Matsuoka Roshi is affiliated with The Order of Clear Mind Zen founded in 2005 by Rev. Dr. Harvey Daiho Hilbert Roshi. Clear Mind Zen is an Engaged Buddhist training and practice order in the lineage of Rev. Dr. Soyu Zengaku Matsuoka Roshi. The goal of the order is to bring about abundant good for all beings through social action. Daiho Roshi says that Zen is not about detaching oneself from the world, “It’s about engaging the world in a way that will benefit all beings.” Daiho is a practioner of street Zen where one meditates in public spaces to bear witness to the joy and suffering in the world. The picture of him on the right is at the Vietnam War Memorial in Las Cruces. Here is a very short video of him sitting there.

Matsuoka Roshi was among the first Soto Zen masters to teach in the United States. He was the supervisor of the San Francisco Zen Buddhist Temple, which later became the San Francisco Zen Center. He was commited to teaching the practice of Zen to those in the West and was not attached to titles or the formal Zen association. To quote from his Wikipedia Page Matsuoka held “that Zen is a personal experience, and that the authority of the Soto Sect and its training monasteries (専門僧堂) inhibit the practice of Zen.” Obviously, this view was not popular among administrative types. Several books of his talks are available and what is striking about many of his talks is his deep love of popular American culture and how he weaves Zen into everyday life.

Matsuoka ordained four priests including Rev. Ken Hogaku Shozen McGuire Roshi. Along with his wife, Rev. Fern McGuire Roshi, Rev. Ken brought the Matsuoka lineage to New Mexico in the 1960s establishing both the Daibutsuji Zen Temple in Las Cruces, and the Dharma Mountain Zendo in the mountains above Cloudcroft. Rev. Ken also became a Great Master in the Vietnamese Rinzai Zen tradition.

Daiho Roshi was ordained by Rev. Ken in 2000 and received dharma transmission in 2005.

Be kind, respectful, honest
and continue seeing everything and everyone as Buddha
If you can't manage that right now
sit some more and keep training 
- Soyu Matsuoka

 Meditation must become a part of his life 
 and not something done for a certain period each day or once a week. 
 Meditation must be practiced so that it permeates one’s life and becomes its moving power.”
 - Soyu Matsuoka

 Zen is a way of living,
 it is not something to be desired or sought after.
 - Soyu Matsuoka