History
Founded in 1974 as the Denver Zen Center, our community first functioned as an affiliate of the Rochester Zen Center (of New York) in a small house in Congress Park. Amid a tide of steadily growing membership and activities, the Denver Zen Center became the autonomous Zen Center of Denver in 1989, when Danan Henry received Dharma transmission from Philip Kapleau Roshi and was assigned to be its spiritual director.
For decades, Danan Roshi played a pivotal role in the growth of the Center, working tirelessly to cultivate a community of committed practitioners and establish programs for authentic Zen training. As the sangha flourished, and it began to press against the limits of the residential location, he advocated strongly for a move to an already-existing religious structure to allow continued growth and root Zen more firmly in our city and culture.
In January 1998, the ZCD purchased the historic Fourth Church of Christ Scientist at 3101 W. 31st Avenue in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver. For many years the building served us well, but the enormous maintenance and renovation costs proved to be impractical over the long term. So, after much deliberation, the building was sold in the summer of 2015. Danan Roshi had retired some years before, and the ZCD had come under new leadership when Karin Ryuku Kempe, Ken Tetsuzan Morgareidge, and Peggy Metta Sheehan – Dharma heirs of Danan Roshi – received full transmission in September 2010, and jointly assumed spiritual directorship in January 2011.
Following the sale of the 31st Avenue temple and a subsequent year of searching, the Center purchased a property in the fall of 2016 at 1856 S. Columbine Street, near the University of Denver and conveniently located near University Boulevard and I-25. Over the next three years, supported by the astounding generosity of our members and the larger community, we built a beautiful new temple tailored to our needs and opened the doors of our new home in November 2019.
… Only to quickly close them in March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic took hold. Nearly overnight, we shifted gears and moved our practice activities online, using Zoom for most events. Expanding our online activities has had unexpected blessings, allowing many who would otherwise have had difficulty participating due to location or other factors to discover the profound benefits of meditating regularly with a community of devoted and experienced practitioners. Since the easing of Covid restrictions, we again offer a full calendar of in-person and hybrid events, including daily meditation, classes and retreats.