Taizan Maezumi Roshi

1931-1995

Founder of Yokoji Zen Mountain Center and the Zen Center of Los Angeles, Hakuyu Koun Taizan Maezumi, Roshi was one of the most significant Zen practitioners of the twentieth century. During the last thirty-five years of his life, spent in the United States, he taught countless Westerners the subtle yet simple art of Zen meditation and practice.

He was known to tell his students not to go searching for this thing called "Zen," but instead to develop an appreciation for their own lives. In his words: "All of us are equally absolute, equally precious, equally splendid, wherever we are at this moment."