Zen lineage charts interest from beat poets such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder. The most successful implementation of Zen-practice was brought about by Shunryu Suzuki, Hakuun Yasutani, and Yasutani's student Taizan Maezumi. Shunryu Suzuki (鈴木 俊隆 "Suzuki Shunryū", dharma name "Shōgaku Shunryū" 祥岳俊隆, often called Suzuki Roshi) (born May 18, 1904, Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan; died December 4, 1971 in San Francisco, CA, USA) was a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, and is renowned for founding the first Buddhist monastery outside Asia (Tassajara Zen Mountain Center). Suzuki founded San Francisco Zen
Japanese Zen often pointed to as an event that enhanced its profile in the Western world. It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners pursuing a serious interest in Zen, other than descendants of Asian immigrants, reached a significant level. Eugen Herrigel's book "Zen in the Art of Archery" describing his training in the Zen-influenced martial art of Kyūdō, inspired many of the Western world's early Zen practitioners. However, many scholars, such as Yamada Shoji, are quick to criticize this book. The single most influential person for the spread of Zen Buddhism was D. T.