Susan Myoyu Andersen, Roshi
Rev. Susan Myoyu Andersen, Roshi, the spiritual director and resident teacher of Great Plains Zen Center studied for over twenty years with Taizan Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. In 1978, she was ordained as a Buddhist nun and in 1995 Maezumi Roshi gave her Shiho (Dharma transmission), authorizing her to become a Zen teacher. She later received inka from Genpo Merzel Roshi.
Myoyu Roshi is a mother and grandmother. She studied music and was active as a composer for a number of years. Myoyu Roshi worked for many years as an occupational therapist in the school system, serving differently-abled children and adults in various settings. She is active in her community with organizations that serve groups of people who are underrepresented. She is learning and introducing regenerative agriculture practices in the Great Plains Zen Center gardens and grounds in Monroe, Wisconsin.
John Gendo Wolff, Roshi
John Gendo Wolff, Roshi has been a Zen practitioner for over 30 years. He received Jukai (lay ordination) from Dennis Genpo Merzel, Roshi, on August 1, 1992. On July 15, 2006, he was ordained as a priest in the White Plum lineage by Myoyu Roshi. In June 2012, he received Dharma Transmission (Shiho) from Myoyu Roshi, and on April 21, 2018, she conferred inka. Gendo Roshi is the resident teacher at Great Wave Zen Sangha, in Ludington, Michigan. He is the author of The Driftwood Shrine: Discovering Zen in American Poetry. He currently works as a college professor, is married, and has raised three children.
Julie Seido Nelson, Sensei
Seido Sensei is a part of both the Greater Boston Zen Center as well as the Great Plains Zen Center. She began practicing Zen in the Robert Aitken lineage in about 2004. She received Denkai transmission in that lineage in the spring of 2021 and continued her studies with Myoyu Roshi in 2022 after they met through the Buddhist Healthy Boundaries course. She received full Dharma transmission (Denbo) from Myoyu Roshi in August of 2023.
She lives in the Boston area, and is a retired university professor with two adult children and one grandchild. Sensei is a frequent participant in our weekday morning sittings online and can be contacted with email.