Zen (2009 film) of Buddhism, which has had a huge cultural influence but is little understood — let alone practiced — by ordinary Japanese." The film premiered in Japan in 2009. The following year, it had its US debut at the International Buddhist Film Festival. The film was released on DVD and includes a short documentary entitled "The Zen of Dogen" with Kazuaki Tanahashi. Zen (2009 film) The film is a biography of Dōgen Zenji, a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher. After travelling to China to study, Dogen founded the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. The Buddhist Film Foundation described it as "a
Zen center Zen center The phrase Zen center was coined by American students of Shunryu Suzuki in the mid-twentieth century, and the San Francisco Zen Center became the first Zen center, incorporating in 1962. Neither temples nor monasteries (although at times operating such facilities), Zen centers occupy a unique place in the historical development of Zen Buddhism and of Buddhism in the United States. As Zen practice has expanded throughout the United States over the last fifty years, the variety of Zen centers has increased. While some are now the homes of wealthy communities in major cities (such as Zen Center of