No Mind Zen

Mushin Sensei

Alexandra Mushin Gericke received Dharma transmission (Shiho) in August 2022 from American Zen Master Soten Genpo Merzel. Genpo Roshi is the second successor to Taizan Maezumi Roshi, one of the pioneers bringing Zen from Japan to the US.

Alexandra grew up in Southern Germany and studied at the University of Utah in the US on a skiing scholarship, receiving a B.Sc. in psychology. She encountered Zen practice at the Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake City, Genpo Roshi’s residential training place at that time.

Feeling that Zen ‘awakening’ is what she had been looking for, she started to train intensely with Genpo Roshi and lived in the Zen community from 1996 to 2004, receiving Shukke Tokudo (monk-ordination) in 1998. She became a Dharma holder (Hoshi) in 2002 and a lineage holder (Denkai) in 2006.

Zen teaching is a mind-to-mind, heart-to-heart meeting. It reflects the deep mystery of life itself and allows us to more fully appreciate the gift of life, one Self and each other.

Mushin Sensei trained in traditional Japanese Zen form and ceremonies, intensive meditation, shikantaza and koan study, as well as more Western, contemporary expressions of Zen. As an additional upaya (skillful means), Genpo Roshi’s ‘Big Mind’ process, makes Zen insight very accessible, emphasizing freedom, exploration and playfulness. This teaching offers a view on awakening that embraces the self in all its aspects towards an integrated free functioning – being that manifests as love and compassion for oneself, others and the planet we live on.

Having been back in Europe since 2006, Alexandra is married to Belgian Zen teacher Frank De Waele Roshi, founder of the Zen Sangha. Frank is a successor of Genno Pagès Roshi from Paris, who is Genpo Roshi’s first successor and the first woman successor in our lineage.
Alexandra and Frank live in Ghent and have two teenage daughters. Besides being a mother she is also a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher.