Rev. Kokyo Henkel

Kōkyō has been practicing Zen Buddhism since 1990 in residence at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, and No Abode Hermitage – all in the Sōtō Zen lineage of Shunryū Suzuki Rōshi – and a year at Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan (with Harada Tangen Roshi).

After living in these monastic communities for almost two decades, Kōkyō was then teacher at Santa Cruz Zen Center from 2010-2020, and since then has been studying and practicing with no fixed abode along with his wife, Rev. Shōhō Kuebast.

Kōkyō was ordained as a Zen priest in 1994 by Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi. receiving the Dharma name Kōkyō Yakai (Luminous Owl, Midnight Liberation 光梟夜解). He received Dharma Transmission from Tenshin Rōshi in 2010, becoming a 92nd generation lineage-holder authorized to guide others on the path.