WHAT IS WESTERN ZEN?

Many people have had an enlightenment experience, that moment of extreme clarity, and of complete oneness with the world. This is the quintessential Zen experience, and it calls us to action. What do we do with this experience? What does it mean for our lives? Who can we talk to about it? Was it real? Can I do it again? For thousands of years, people have sought out an expert, a Zen Master, who can answer their questions, and share their knowledge of the territory.

Genpo Roshi is a Zen Master for our time and place. He’s been at this for 38 years after training under the famous Taizan Maezumi Roshi from 1971 until Maezumi Roshi’s death in 1995. He knows Zen and he knows the Western Mind. If you want to find out about enlightenment, start here. The search for inner peace, healing, enlightenment, and life wisdom through spiritual practice has now reached a new level. Big Mind, through it’s unique and highly effective combination of traditional Zen Buddhist meditation and study, along with modern western psychotherapy techniques, will empower your personal growth and development, give you a new appreciation of your relationships and enable you to lead a life of love and happiness.

Genpo Roshi trained in traditional Japanese Zen Buddhism under Taizan Maezumi Roshi of  Zen Center of Los Angeles for over 23 years. Following Maezumi Roshi's death in 1995, he continued teaching in the traditional style, using meditation and Koan study to help students have a personal realization and direct experience of the fundamental insights of the Buddha, most notably the experiences of oneness, impermanence, interdependence and the true nature of cause and effect or karma.

Over many years of teaching in North America and Europe, and indeed helping many hundreds of students, he wasn't completely satisfied. His basic great trust in the inherent Buddha nature of people drove him to study and experiment, and develop new tools, new and more skillful means to help bring the student to their own profound experience of Kensho or Satori, that state of pure oneness from which so much wisdom flows.

WHAT IS BIG MIND BIG HEART?

The Big Mind process is one of the three main practices Genpo Roshi teaches, so that people can uncover their real life. An enlightenment experience is just the beginning of understanding and appreciating the precious gift of your human life. In addition to Big Mind, we also teach and practice traditional sitting meditation, and koan study, which is the practice of working with one of our teachers on a list of several hundred Zen stories that help to illuminate the the various aspects of self within the relative, absolute and apex worlds.

Big Mind Big Heart is the name given, by American Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel, Roshi, to a special new way to discover, experience and appreciate your life. It’s also a good way of working out the kinks, the stuck places, and the unhealthy patterns that keep us down. Life is complex, and the inner self is an exquisite network of the psychological and the spiritual. Understanding it well naturally leads one to a better life. 

The Big Mind Big Heart approach to life is a method of self-investigation and analysis that is straightforward and effective, and working with it will open your heart and mind to a new appreciation of the fullness and richness of life. It’s a new combination of tools, a blend of Western psychology and science, and the Eastern traditions passed on to us, and it’s been developed for the express purpose of helping us to better understand the mind and the nature of human life.  

If you are interested in exploring the deep inner parts of yourself, how your mind, emotions and ideas operate together, and to experience the Universe in a new and different way, please take a few minutes and check out Big Mind Big Heart. We have books, DVDs and CD’s for you to use at home by yourself or with friends.

WHO IS GENPO ROSHI?

Born Dennis Merzel, in New York City, Genpo Roshi grew up in Long Beach California. He attended both Long Beach College and the University of Southern California, where he earned a Masters of Education. During this time he also was awarded All American honors, and a led an undefeated champion Water Polo team.

The name and title “Genpo Roshi” were given to him during his studies with Taizan Maezumi, Roshi, the founder of Zen Center of Los Angeles. Genpo Roshi  studied under Maezumi Roshi from 1972 until Maezumi Roshi’s death in 1995. Genpo Roshi and his successors have now gone on to establish Zen Centers in the United States, England, France, The Netherlands, Belgium Germany and Poland.

Currently the Abbot and founder of Kanzeon Sangha International, he’s also the author of 5 books and numerous DVD’s on both traditional and Western Zen, and has been a driving force in the effort to introduce Zen to the people of North America and Europe.

To us it’s not really any surprise that this modern day Zen Master has found a more effective way for modern people to improve their lives through the merging of this ancient and respected tradition of meditation and contemplation with the insights of western psychology and science. That method is called the Big Mind Big Heart Western Zen Approach to Life and it’s proved to be particularly effective.

Why Should I try the Big Mind Big Heart Approach?

We all have questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives and about how to get the most out of life. The Big Mind Big Heart approach will show you how to answer these questions for yourself, for what’s true in your own unique and special life. Big Mind Big Heart is not someone else’s interpretation of who you should be and how you should live but rather a way you can come to your own deep understandings, and directly experience your life, your relationships and the world at large in a new and rich way.

Big Mind Big Heart is non denominational. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian, Jew, Muslim or Atheist, you will benefit from the wisdom and insights of Zen and you will be able to immediately apply it to your own life.

We also offer many workshops and retreats around the world. Learning the Big Mind Big Heart approach live with Genpo Roshi is fun, exciting and profound. You’ll probably laugh, you might shed a tear, but, either way, you’ll come out of it with a deep sense of appreciation for yourself and others, and a new, richer, more enlightened view of life.

Questions? Our staff will be happy to talk with you. Call 801-328-8414 in the US, or write us an email at bigmindoffice@bigmind.org.

Zen Eye is our online download service. From here you can access over 300 hours of films shot over the last three years of Genpo Roshi’s live sessions on Zen, Big Mind, Koans, meditation and more.

In addition, we are continue to post new videos every week, so you can stay up on the very latest Big Mind sessions with Genpo Roshi filmed live at our center in Salt Lake City.

Go to Zen Eye

Go to Study

Softcover  $17.95

ADD TO CART | View Cart |

This softcover edition of Genpo Roshi’s latest book walks you through his Big Mind process and shows you how you can apply it quickly to your daily life.

Tune in Sundays 10:00 am MDT for our broadcasts!

TURN ON !

FREE NEWSLETTER

It’s easy to stay in touch with Big Mind.

Call 801-328-8414

Big Heart Circle Fundraising Plan

What is the Big Heart Circle?

The Big Heart Circle is a select group of benefactors who have been inspired by Genpo Roshi’s work and wish to support our effort to introduce the Big Mind process to people around the world, for the benefit of the world. This amazing teaching tool, and the ancient wisdom behind it, is simply the most powerful process for self-transformation known today and we are giving our lives to the effort to share it with everyone.  MORE