History

Our Founder: Dainin Katagiri-roshi

Clouds in Water Zen Center follows in the lineage of Dainin Katagiri-roshi, a Soto Zen monk who came to this country in the early 1960′s, worked with Shunryu Suzuki-roshi for ten years at Zen Center in San Francisco, and came to Minnesota starting the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in 1972.

The Early Years

Clouds in Water was founded by Dosho Mike Port who was the guiding teacher and executive director of Clouds in Water from 1994 to 2004.  In the summer of 1997 Clouds in Water moved to its current location at 308 Prince Street, in the Northern Warehouse, in St. Paul near the Farmers’ Market.

Clouds in Water Today

Currently, Byakuren Judith Ragir serves as the Guiding Teacher for Clouds in Water Zen Center. Byakuren began her tenure November 1, 2006. Byakuren studied with Dainin Katagiri-roshi for 17 years at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. Following his death in 1990,

Byakuren Judith Ragir

Byakuren began working as a teacher at Clouds in Water. She was instrumental in the development of the center and was a senior teacher at Clouds for nine years. She received Dharma Transmission—permission to teach independently and transmit the Soto Zen Lineage—from Joen Snyder O’Neal, a Katagiri-Roshi lineage holder, in December of 2007.

Sosan Flynn currently holds the position of Executive Director, which has been kept separate from the Guiding Teacher’s function since 2004.