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An Introduction to Siouxland Zen from Daiden Dan Pecaut

Here’s an inspiring thought: over the last several decades, knowledge from all over the world has gone online. Knowledge barriers like language, culture, and geography are melting away.

Spiritually, the opportunity is unprecedented. Ancient to recent spiritual practices from the East to the West are being translated and updated for a more modern and complex world. 

Streams of wisdom from around the world no longer hide in obscurity but flow to us with the click of a mouse.

However, since so few of us are awakened beings, we need masters to translate this flood of material into more bite-sized forms that we can digest. We need enlightened ones to separate what is interesting from what is important and what is important from what is essential and what is essential from what is absolutely fundamental.

One way to accomplish this is to meditate within a lineage. With a lineage, after centuries of adaptation and innovation, integrity and accountability are built into the process. This is why I make it a point that we at Siouxland Zen are aligned with the Rinzai Zen tradition. Jun Po Denis Kelly was the first American to be ordained a roshi and become a lineage holder in the Rinzai Zen lineage. Jun Po, in turn, ordained Doshin Michael Nelson as roshi in this tradition. I am so grateful to each of these remarkable humans for carrying and innovating Rinzai Zen forward into our modern world.

With deepest gratitude for the teachers and teachings that have gone before, here’s encouraging each of us to take full advantage of this incredible opportunity for spiritual growth and development. And it all begins with daily meditation practice.

— Daiden Dan Pecaut