Tenshin Reb Anderson was born in Mississippi and raised in Minnesota. In 1967, he left advanced studies in mathematics and Western psychology to join Zen Center. He trained with Suzuki Roshi, who ordained him as a priest in 1970 and gave him the name Tenshin Zenki, meaning “Naturally Real, The Whole Works.”
He received Dharma transmission in 1983 and later served as abbot of San Francisco Zen Center’s three training centers — City Center, Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center — from 1986 to 1995. He continues to teach at Zen Center and lives with his family at Green Gulch Farm.
He is the author of Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains: Dharma Talks on Zen Meditation, Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts, The Third Turning of the Wheel: Wisdom of the Samdhinirmocana Sutra, and Entering the Mind of Buddha: Zen and the Six Heroic Practices of Bodhisattvas.