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Teacher and Lineage

SENSEI SUNYANA GRAEF is the founder and teacher of the Vermont Zen Center and the teacher of the Casa Zen. She began her practice of Zen Buddhism in 1969 as a disciple of Roshi Philip Kapleau. Sensei Graef was born in Boston in 1948 and grew up in New York. In the sixties, she studied religion and philosophy at Bard College, until beginning her Zen training at the Rochester Zen Center.

Sensei spent over nine years on the staff of the Rochester Zen Center. She was ordained as a priest in 1986 and sanctioned as a Dharma Heir of Roshi Kapleau a year later. With her husband, Jed, and two daughters, Kaila and Dana, she moved to Vermont in June of 1988 to establish the Zen Center in Shelburne.

Sensei Graef comes to Costa Rica four times a year to conduct sesshins, ceremonies, and group activities. When she is not in the country, Group Leader Carlos Murillo is in charge of activites.

Sensei was the teacher of the Toronto Zen Centre in Canada for 10 years until sanctioning her first Dharma Heir, Sensei Taigen Henderson, who is now the teacher of the Toronto Centre.

Carlos Murillo, an experienced disciple of Sensei Graef, began Zen practice in 1974 under the direction of Roshi Kapleau. Sensei Graef asked him to become the Group Leader of the Casa Zen in 1988. Carlos is an economist, professor, and researcher at the National University of Costa Rica and is also an international consultant.

ROSHI PHILIP KAPLEAU trained in Japan for thirteen years under three Zen masters. He was the author of several books, including the classic, The Three Pillars of Zen. Roshi Kapleau passed away peacefully in Rochester, NY, surrounded by his disciples, on May 6, 2004 at the age of 91.