Anton Tenkei Coppens

Anton Tenkei Coppens (The Netherlands, 1949) is the abbot of Zen River Temple. He has a background in art and art history, started his Zen training in England in 1976, and continued it from 1980 with Genpo Merzel Roshi and Taizan Maezumi Roshi, mostly in the US but also in several European countries. He received Shiho, Dharma transmission, from Genpo Roshi in 1996 and Inka, the final seal of approval, in 2006. Tenkei Roshi also practised Zen in Japan with Junyu Kuroda Roshi and became a fully qualified representative of the Soto school. Together with his wife, Myoho Tamara Gabrysch Roshi, and a number of close students, he established Zen River Temple in 2002. To date, he has appointed eight Dharma successors.

Tenkei Roshi was co-editor of Beyond Sanity and Madness by Genpo Roshi and also edited Dharma talks by Maezumi Roshi, which were published as The Echoless Valley and Teaching of the Great Mountain.