Myo Denis Lahey
Hartford Street Zen Center
San Francisco, CA
Rev. Myō is the Abbot at Issan-ji, Myō shū zan as well as Guiding Teacher at Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento, California, and has previously served as the Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.
A Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson, Myō is a sometime board member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association of North America (SZBA) and also serves as its Treasurer, and is a member of the Association for Sōtō Zen Buddhism of Japan (ASZB). Raised in an observant Roman Catholic home, Myō was drawn to religion and spirituality at an early age and found Zen Buddhism in his teens. Rev. Myō began sitting practice in 1969 whilst still in high school, and attended zazen-kai at Haiku Zendō in Los Altos, which had recently been established and which hosted Suzuki-roshi from time to time. Rev. Myō is available to the entire community for dokusan(practice discussion) by appointment.