Our Teacher

Sensei Taigen Henderson was born in Toronto in 1949 and grew up in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Toronto. Upon his return to Canada he attended Trinity College School in Toronto and later founded his own construction and renovation company.

Sensei’s childhood encounter with Buddhism in Sri Lanka had left a deep impression on him and in 1970, he attended a workshop at The Rochester Zen Center. In 1971 he began to practice at the Toronto Zen Centre, which was then an affiliate of the Rochester Zen Center under the direction of Roshi Philip Kapleau. Roshi Kapleau trained in Japan for thirteen years under three Zen masters. He was the author of several books, including The Three Pillars of Zen.

The Toronto Zen Centre became independent in 1986 and in 1996 came under the direction of Sensei Sunyana Graef, the abbot of the Vermont Zen Center and a Dharma Heir of Roshi Kapleau. Sensei Taigen became a student of Sensei Sunyana Graef and later her disciple. He was ordained as a priest in 2004 and sanctioned as a Dharma Heir of Sensei Graef in June of 2005 at which time he was installed as the abbot of the Toronto Zen Centre.

Sensei Taigen lives in Toronto with his wife Bonnie and has three grown children.

•  To find books by Kapleau Roshi, visit the Reading List.

Ven. Taigen Henderson is abbot
of the Toronto Zen Centre

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