Spiritual Directors
Karin Ryuku Kempe has been practicing Zen since 1971, beginning at the Rochester Zen Center with Philip Kapleau Roshi andToni Packer. She then practiced with Shishin Wick Roshi, dharma heir of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, at the Great Mountain Zen Center, receiving jukai in 1997. Karin completed her koan training in 2005 with Danan Henry Roshi at the Zen Center of Denver, and served as an assistant teacher until receiving dharma transmission in 2010. Karin then completed her training with Shishin Roshi and received inka from him in January 2019. For some 20 years, she worked as a family physician and in prevention services while raising her family, and has been retired since 2012. She currently serves as co-spiritual director of the ZCD, along with Peggy Sheehan Roshi, and is on the Board of Directors of the White Plum Asangha.
Peggy Metta Sheehan practiced and studied with Danan Henry Roshi at the Zen Center of Denver beginning in 1991. She received jukai from him in 1999 and served as Head of Zendo from 2001 to 2005. She completed her koan study in 2005 and was an assistant teacher at the Zen Center from 2005-2010. She received dharma transmission from Danan Roshi in September, 2010 and has served as a spiritual director of the Center since January 2011. Peggy is a retired pediatrician who also taught MBSR (Mindfulness-based stress reduction) for Kaiser Permanente for 15 years and currently offers classes at the Zen Center. She serves alongside Karin Roshi as co-spiritual director of the ZCD.
Assistant Teachers
Geoff Bouku Keeton began practice at the ZCD in 1991, studying with Danan Henry Roshi. He was ordained In 1996 and completed his formal training in 2015 with Ken Morgareidge Roshi, and received dharma transmission in 2024. He served as Head of Mountain Staff until July 2025. Geoff is a father, hospice nurse and musician.
Bill Kyoshin Hamaker has practiced at the Zen Center of Denver studying with Danan Henry Roshi and Karin Ryuku Roshi for over thirty years. He has served as Head of Zendo and as a member of the Board of Directors. A retired public school music teacher, Bill is married with two grown children and a cat. He became an assistant teacher in 2020.
Dennis Sienko has been studying Zen for more than 25 years. He studied initially under Danan Henry Roshi and completed his koan training under Peggy Metta Roshi. Dennis served as Head of Zendo from 2016-2022. He was raised Catholic but found his true home in Zen. Dennis desires that all people find a fulfilling spiritual path that best resonates with them. He is married and has one daughter in college. Dennis became an assistant teacher in 2020, and teaches with us mostly during the fall and winter – when he is not occupied being a forest ranger in one of our national parks.
Cathy Seizan Wright lives and works in Ft. Collins and the mountains of Leadville, CO. She began zazen in 1990 at the Zen Center of Denver under Danan Henry Roshi until his retirement, and received dharma transmission from Peggy Metta Roshi in 2023. She currently runs a zazen group in Ft. Collins on Mondays and Tuesdays. She teaches yoga and enjoys pottery, hiking, and swimming.
Head of Zendo
Greg Fellman has been sitting with the Zen Center of Denver for over twenty years. He worked for many years as a social worker, and living in China for two years ignited a passion for both Asian spirituality and practices, as well as Chinese tea. He currently practices and offers tea ceremony in the Global Tea Hut lineage. A lifelong musician, he now composes music for television, podcasts, and other media.
Former Head of Zendo
Merilee Schultheiss is a retired hospice nurse who joined the ZCD in 1998 with her husband Clark Dollard. She completed jukai with Peggy Metta Sheehan in August 2015, and served as Head of Zendo from April 2022 – September 2025.
Spiritual Director, Retired
Ken Tetsuzan Morgareidge joined the Zen Center of Denver and became a student of Philip Kapleau Roshi in 1984. He received lay ordination in 1986, and continued to study with Kapleau Roshi until he became a student of Danan Henry Roshi in 1988. He completed formal koan training in 2001 and was an assistant teacher until receiving dharma transmission in 2010. Ken earned a Ph.D in Physiology at UCLA and is now retired after 30 years teaching human biology courses at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy, Naropa University and the Rolf Institute. He is also the author of Dogs, Trees, Beards and Other Wonders: Meditations on the Forty-eight Cases of the Wumenguan. Ken Tetsuzan Roshi retired in 2021.