Peter Schneider (Zen priest) Peter Schneider (Zen priest) Peter Schneider (born 1937) is a Sōtō Zen priest, founder of Beginner's Mind Zen Center, located in Northridge, California. Peter and Jane Schneider were early students of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi in the 1960s. Both served as Suzuki-roshi's jisha (personal attendant) in the early years of the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Peter and Jane also assisted in transcription of his dharma talks for later publishing. Following Suzuki-roshi’s death, they accepted scholarships from the San Francisco Zen Center to study Buddhism in Japan. They lived and studied in Japan from 1973 to 1995. They founded the Beginner’s Mind Zen
Zen lineage charts Center, which along with its affiliate temples, comprises one of the most influential Zen organizations in the United States. A book of his teachings, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", is one of the most popular books on Zen and Buddhism in the West. was a Sōtō Rōshi, the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan Zen Buddhist organization. The Sanbõ Kyõdan incorporates Rinzai Kōan study as well as much of Soto tradition, a style Yasutani had learned from his teacher Harada Daiun Sogaku. As founder of the Sanbo Kyodan, and teacher of Taizan Maezumi, Yasutani has been one of the most influential persons