Ray Kotoku Crivello
Zen Center of Pittsburgh / Deep Spring Temple
Sewickley, PA
Kotoku Ray Crivello is ordained in the Lineage of Gengo Akiba, Roshi, Sokan or Bishop, Administrative Head of the North American Region of the Japanese Soto School.
His Zen practice and studies began in his late teens as a temple resident at the New York Zendo Shobo-ji, in the Rinzai tradition under the Abbotship of Soen Nakagawa Roshi from 1970-1975. His duties there included assisting in the day-to-day management of the temple, attendant to the abbot and leading introductory meditation classes and retreats.
In 1976, Kotoku relocated to San Francisco where he lived and practiced at San Francisco Zen Center including two years of practice study at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, until 1983. After completing University studies in 1986, he established a home practice until becoming Akiba Roshi’s disciple in the late 1990’s. Kotoku was ordained in 2004 by Akiba Roshi at , Kojin-an in Oakland, California
Following periods of formal monastery training held in America and in Japan, hosted by the Japanese Soto-Shu for the training of western Zen Priests, Kotoku received Shiho, or Dharma Transmission with Akiba Roshi in 2012.