Bruce Seiryu Blackman, Sensei,
is spiritual director for ZCB/Clare Sangha. He began his Zen studies in 1981 while
working in Southeast Asia and training with Sr. Elaine MacInnes of the Sanbo Kyodan;
and later with the Diamond Sangha of Robert Aitken. In 1996, Bruce became a student
of Sr. Janet Richardson and joined Clare Sangha. He was named Dharma Holder in 2001,
and installed as Sensei in the White Plum lineage in 2004, receiving transmission from
Roshi Richardson after 23 years of Zen training. Sensei's dharma name is Seiryu
("clear stream").
Bruce was a foreign service officer for 25 years in East Asia, Latin America, and the senior foreign service, specializing in economic program development. Fluent in Spanish, he received master's degrees from UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University.
Since 1995, he has been transporting special needs children to school, and working with a restorative justice agency. He joined the agency's board of directors, serving as treasurer, president, and interfaith council representative. Concurrently, he mentored inmates and taught emotional awareness in jails and federal prison, including yoga and meditation. Bruce was also elected to the board of an international adoption agency.
As a guiding Zen teacher, he is a storyteller in the koan tradition. Stories that correspond help to reduce the gravity and lighten us up, Sensei says of their value in Zen training. He and his wife, Joan, reside in northern Virginia, not far from their grandchildren.
Janet Jinne Richardson, Roshi,
co-founder of ZCB/Clare Sangha, has moved to Florida but still teaches at ZCB from
time to time. She studied with Roshi Bernard Tetsugen Glassman. In 1994, she was
named Sensei, receiving transmission from her teacher, Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy, SJ.
In 1997, she received inka from Zen Master Glassman and was installed as Roshi
(venerable teacher) in the White Plum Asangha. Roshi's dharma name is Jinne
("beloved of God").
Janet's life experiences are in social work, education, the United Nations, and international development. She is a translator and member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace (CSJP), an international congregation of Catholic women committed to peace through justice.
She tells the story of a Christian who came to the Zen Master expressing apprehension about taking up Zen studies. The Master promised that Zen studies would make this student a better Christian, and help empty her as St. Paul said that Jesus was empty. She found this promise encouraging and affirming, and that its proof in experience continues motivating Christians to pursue Zen studies with vigor and satisfaction.
Called forth by Roshi Glassman, Rosalie Jishin McQuaide, Sensei,
co-founder of ZCB/Clare Sangha, has moved to Florida but still teaches at ZCB when
she can. She began her studies with Roshi Kennedy in 1976, continuing with Roshi
Richardson and receiving transmission in 1998. Sensei's dharma name is Jishin
("heart of compassion").
A member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace (CSJP), Rosalie and Roshi Richardson initiated and led two years of meditation instruction in a federal prison. Her life experiences in musicology, social activism, and archives preceded her current service as liturgical organist and pianist, composer, and historian-author.
Sensei recounts that, years ago, a group of persons -- curious, interested, wary, eager -- assembled before the teacher for the first time. The teacher made a few comments and then asked each person to answer, "Why are you here?" One person answered in a complete state of unknowing, "Because I want to be here."
"Again and still, sweet flowers blossom in the courtyard of the many-sided house, While in the back, the cypress and the poplar extend their arms in cooling shade."