Stephen Tokan "Steve" Hagen,

Rōshi (Japanese language, Japanese: "old teacher"; "old master") is a title in Zen Buddhism with different usages depending on sect and country. In Rinzai Zen, the term is reserved only for individuals who have received ''inka shōmei'', meaning the ...

, (born 1945) is the founder and former head teacher of the Dharma Field Zen Center in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota, and a Dharma heir of

Dainin Katagiri Jikai , was a Sōtō Zen priest and teacher, and the founding abbot of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he served from 1972 until his death from cancer in 1990. He is also the founder of Hokyoji Zen Practice Commu ...

-roshi. Additionally, he is the author of several books on

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Among them as of 2003, ''Buddhism Plain & Simple'' was one of the top five bestselling Buddhism books in the United States. In 2012, Hagen updated and revised ''How the World Can Be the Way It Is'' and published it as ''Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense—an Inquiry into Science, Philosophy, and Perception''.

Early life

Hagen grew up in

Duluth, Minnesota Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

where he was first drawn to

when he was seven or eight years old. He later told Linda Hanson of the ''

Duluth News Tribune The ''Duluth News Tribune'' (known locally as ''The Tribune'' or ''DNT'') is a newspaper based in Duluth, Minnesota. While circulation is heaviest in the Twin Ports metropolitan area, delivery extends into northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wis ...

'', "I wanted to know what’s going on and to not be fooled. I wanted to know what was real and genuine and true."

Studies

His childhood desire to know truth eventually led him to

Zen Buddhism Zen (; from Chinese: '' Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka ph ...

in 1967. In 1975 Hagen became a student of Zen master

and he was ordained a Zen priest in 1979. Katagiri Roshi gave Hagen

Dharma transmission In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' ('' kechimyaku'') theoretically traced back to the Buddha him ...

(endorsement to teach) in 1989. Katagiri gave Hagen the name "Tokan" which means "breaking through barrier into peace and understanding."

Dharma Field

Before opening Dharma Field, Hagen took frequent road trips to Menomonie and

Eau Claire, Wisconsin Eau Claire ( ; lit. "clear water") is a city in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, Eau Claire and Chippewa County, Wisconsin, Chippewa counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat, seat of Eau Claire County. It is the List of citie ...

to give workshops and to lead

sesshin A ''sesshin'' (接心, or also 摂心/攝心 literally "touching the heart-mind") is a period of intensive meditation (zazen) retreat in a Japanese Zen monastery, or in a Zen monastery or Zen center that belongs to one of the Japanese Zen trad ...

s. Hagen married Jean Forester, a piano teacher who died in 2010. Forester sold her home to help purchase St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in the Fulton neighborhood in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

community of Minneapolis, where Hagen founded Dharma Field in 1997.

James Ishmael Ford James Ishmael Ford (Zeno Myoun, Roshi) is an American Zen Buddhist priest and a retired Unitarian Universalist minister. He was born in Oakland, California on July 17, 1948. He earned a BA in psychology from Sonoma State University, as well as a ...

wrote that Dharma Field under Hagen had "...an independent sensibility that parallels Charlotte Joko Beck's teaching". Dharma Field offers foundational Buddhist studies as well as advanced courses. Among the latter, Hagen taught a yearlong course on

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, ''Nāgārjuna''; ) was an Indian monk and Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. He is widely considered one of the most importa ...

. Norm Randolph who is also a dharma heir of Katagiri is a teacher at Dharma Field. Lee Register who received dharma transmission from Hagen in 2011 is a former teacher. Bev Forsman was ordained by Hagen in 2007 and received dharma transmission in 2010. Forsman became head teacher in June 2012 and served until May 2014.

Dharma heirs

* Steve Matuszak

Publications

Bibliography

* * * * * *

Other books

* * ''(Introduction by Steve Hagen)''

Notes

External links

Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagen, Steve Zen Buddhism writers Soto Zen Buddhists American Zen Buddhists Living people 1945 births