The Rochester Zen Center is a Soto and Rinzai Zen Buddhist sangha located in Rochester, NY in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage established in 1966 by Philip Kapleau.
The history of the Rochester Zen Center begins overseas with the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials at the close of World War II. Trying to come to grips with the appalling testimony he heard as a court reporter, thirty-three year old Philip Kapleau began a spiritual search that would lead him to a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery in 1953. His experiences there became the basis of his classic book, The Three Pillars of Zen, still much in demand forty years after its initial publication.
One of the earliest readers of the book was a Batavia resident named Ralph Chapin, who saw the galley proofs while visiting Japan and, intrigued, asked that ten copies be sent him when the book was published. When they arrived, he passed one on to his Rochester friends Chester Carlson (the inventor of xerography) and his wife Dorris. In March of 1966, Mrs. Carlson invited Philip Kapleau to come to Rochester and work with her meditation group, and in June the Zen Meditation Center came into being with a membership of twenty-two. The Center’s first sesshin took place in October, and the first issue of its newsletter, Zen Bow, appeared in 1967. For fourty-two years (1966-2008), the Rochester Zen Center has thrived, becoming one of the largest and most respected Buddhist centers in North America. From those first twenty-two adventurous souls, membership has grown to more than six hundred strong, with sitting groups and affiliate centers in Mexico and Germany, and throughout the United States. Through its daily meditation services, residential training programs, and introductory workshops, the Center has helped introduce Buddhism into the American mainstream, while simultaneously reshaping and integrating the forms of Zen into America’s own unique culture. The Rochester Zen Center has also contributed to the intellectual development of American Zen, not only through Philip Kapleau’s books, The Zen of Living and Dying, Zen Merging of East and West, To Cherish All Life, and the recent Awakening to Zen, but also through the writings of its members and its decennial anniversary conferences. In 1986, the 20th Anniversary Conference focused on "Buddhism and Nonviolence," and the 1996 Thirtieth Anniversary explored "Buddhism in America." Since 1986 the head abbot at Rochester Zen Center has been Bodhin Kjolhede, who received inka from Kapleau. The community offers intensive Zen sesshin retreats, introductory workshops and training programs throughout the year and is open to guests. The Rochester Zen Center also has a 135 acre country retreat named Chapin Mill. Donated by Ralph Chapin, one of its founding members. Each year the center has several sesshin at Chapin Mill. The building of a new zendo is underway at Chapin Mill. All non licensed work is being done by Zen Center Members. In June 2007 the first full sesshin was held at the new zendo.
