Ryodo began practicing Zen in 1978 and entered formal studies at the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1980, working directly with Charlotte Joko Beck and Genpo Merzel Roshi as well as Taizan Maezumi Roshi, the founding Abbot of ZCLA. In 2007 he received Dharma Transmission from ZCLA’s current abbot, Roshi Egyoku Nakao, making him an independent Zen teacher. He continues to teach at ZCLA and also leads the Westchester Zen Circle, a meditation group he founded in 2009.

Ryodo is the author of Three Steps to Mindfulness: Bringing Zen Awareness Into Your Life, a manual for the Zen Mindfulness method he has been teaching since 2002. He is a member of the White Plum Asanga, the peer group of teachers in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, as well as the American Zen Teachers Association and the Lay Zen Teachers Association.