Lineage and transmission

Zen is a living tradition transmitted from teacher to disciple for more than 2,500 years, beginning with Shakyamuni Buddha. This spiritual lineage, rooted in Dharma practice, has developed through different schools and historical periods while preserving direct transmission as its core.

In our community, we follow the lineage carefully preserved through generations of teachers and transmitted up to Daizan Soriano Sensei, our current Dharma teacher.

Kodo Sawaki Roshi was one of the great masters of modern Japanese Zen. He became known as “Homeless Kodo” because he refused to settle in a temple and traveled throughout Japan teaching zazen wherever people were willing to hear and practice the Dharma: prisons, factories, universities, and local communities. He taught at Komazawa University and served at Soji-ji, one of the two major Soto temples in Japan. His teaching can be summarized in two points: precision in zazen and constant study of Dogen’s Shobogenzo. He died in 1966, after a lifetime of teaching both lay and ordained practitioners.

Shuyu Narita Roshi was the first disciple formally confirmed in Dharma by Kodo Sawaki. In 1977, on the tenth anniversary of Taisen Deshimaru Roshi’s mission in Europe, he visited Europe for the first time at Deshimaru’s invitation. He was abbot of Todenji Temple in Iidagawa (Akita Prefecture).

Taisen Deshimaru Roshi was born in Saga, Japan, in 1914. He studied political and economic sciences in Tokyo and later worked for Mitsubishi. As a young man he met Kodo Sawaki and became his disciple, following him for about thirty years. After Kodo Sawaki’s death, Deshimaru came to Europe and became the first teacher formally authorized by the Soto school to establish Zen practice there. During fifteen years of uninterrupted activity, he dedicated himself to transmitting Dharma and training the first European Zen monks and lay practitioners. He received Dharma transmission from Yamada Reirin Zenji, abbot of Eiheiji.

Dokushô Villalba Roshi received Soto Zen priest ordination from Taisen Deshimaru in Paris in 1978. After Deshimaru’s passing, he continued his study under Shuyu Narita Roshi and received Dharma transmission from him in 1987.

Daizan Soriano Sensei received Dharma transmission from Dokushô Villalba in December 2020, becoming his legitimate spiritual successor. He currently serves as spiritual director of the Zen centers in Alicante and Murcia.