Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi is the Founder and former Abbot of the international non-profit organization Dharma Sangha and its two centers, the Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Colorado, USA, and the Zen Buddhist Center in the Black Forest, Germany. He is a Dharma Heir of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi’s.
Baker Roshi has been teaching Zen Buddhism for almost 60 years. From 1968 to 1971, he studied in Japan at Antaiji, Eiheiji, and Daitokuji Zen monasteries. He became Suzuki Roshi’s Dharma Heir in 1969 and was installed by Suzuki Roshi as the second Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1971. He was instrumental in founding Green Gulch Farm in 1972. After leaving the San Francisco Zen Center in 1983, he founded the Dharma Sangha. At present, he lives mostly at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Colorado, while spending the summer months at the center in Germany. Every Sunday, he gives an online lecture in his Dharma practice program "Weekly Zen".