The Dharma Wheel Asanga is an affinity organization of peers in the combined lineage that
derives from Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett, the first western female Soto Zen priest who served
twenty-six years as Abbess and spiritual director of Shasta Abbey in California and who was
dharma heir to Keido Chisan Koho Zenji, and the Sanbo Kyodan (“Association of the Teaching of
the Three Treasures”) Zen Community through Robert Aitken Roshi, founder of the Diamond
Sangha in Hawaii, and dharma heir to Koun Yamada Roshi, one of the three founders of the
Sanbo Kyodan.  The Dharma Wheel Asanga models itself on the White Plum Asanga, an affinity
organization of peers in the lineage of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, Roshi, who chose the term
“asanga” to infer “outside the Sangha” with the meaning of “taking the widest possible view”
The teachers who have formed this fellowship have done so in the spirit of collegiality, that is,
to provide a space to consult with one another concerning matters of teaching and practice in
order to maintain the integrity of our teaching lineage. All of the member teachers are fully
transmitted. Although we have chosen to affirm the independence of the individual sanghas,
both financially and in every other way (this is not an affiliation and has no legal standing or
obligations), we feel that this fellowship will be of great benefit to students in our sanghas as
well.

​Among the core values of the Asanga is to make known to our students practice and study
opportunities offered by our various sanghas, which they can self-select to attend, including:​​

• Daily and weekly sittings
• Dogen study groups
• Precepts study and jukai ceremonies
• Priest training
• Teacher training
• Advanced koan study (kenshukai)
• Zazenkai and sesshin
• Engaged Buddhism

See the Dharma Wheel Assanga Calendar for a description of our practice opportunities and
how to join them. 

The following fully transmitted teachers are members of the Dharma Wheel Asanga:

James Myosan Cordova, Sensei (Benevolent Zen Sangha, Rhode Island, www.benevolentzen.org)
Kate Kagan Hartland, Sensei (Bright Sea Zen Sangha, Massachusetts, www.brightseazen.org)
Diane Shoshin Fitzgerald, Sensei (Zen DownEast Sangha, Maine, www.zendowneast.org)
Steve Tetsuen Wallace, Sensei 
Carol Honmei Morley, Sensei (Broken Broom Zen Sangha, Massachusetts, www.bbzsouthnatick.com)