Tom Kirchner, a Zen monk and priest at Rinsen-ji in Kyoto and translator of Entangling Vines…a collection of Zen koans, will visit Maui on August 31. Tom has kindly agreed to speak to Maui Zendo about his life and work in Japan at that evening’s sitting.

We will begin at 5pm rather than 5:30 that day. We will end at 7 pm.

The koan collection Shūmon kattōshū 宗門葛藤集 has found an able translator in Thomas Kirchner, a ten-year veteran of Zen monastic life and presently the caretaker of Rinsen-ji, the subtemple that serves as the Founder’s Hall of Tenryū-ji in Kyoto. In translating this work, one of the most important texts for Japanese Rinzai koan studies, Kirchner worked closely with Rev. Hirata Seikō (1924–2008), the former Chief Abbot of the Tenryū-ji branch of Rinzai Zen and former master of Tenryū-ji monastery.