Dennis Merzel was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Southern California. In high school and college he was an All-American water polo player and champion swimmer. While attending junior college, he was co-captain of a state champion water polo team in 1963.

In 1965 he was on the water polo team that won the gold medal at the Israeli Maccabean Games. He attended the University of Southern California, obtaining a Masters degree in educational administration and went on to become a school teacher.

Zen career

In February 1971 Merzel had his first "awakening experience". He spent a year alone in the mountains of California. He decided to dedicate his life to understanding who he was and how he could be of service to humanity.

In 1973 he was ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk in the Soto tradition by Taizan Maezumi-roshi (Maezumi was authorized in three separate Zen traditions, but ordained monks in the Soto school.) He completed koan study with Maezumi in 1979, and in 1980 he received shiho (authorization to teach independently and ordain monks). Starting in 1982 Merzel began traveling to areas of Europe and established an international network of Zen groups.

In 1996, Merzel received formal inka, or full authorization to pass on the Harada-Yasutani lineage of Zen from Bernard Glassman, Maezumi's first Dharma successor. Merzel served as President of the Maezumi-founded White Plum Asanga from 1996 to 2007.

He has acted as Abbot of Big Mind Western Zen Center, (formerly known as Kanzeon Zen Center) in Salt Lake City, Utah, since 1987. He moved to Salt Lake City in 1993.

To date, Merzel has given shiho to thirteen students: Catherine Genno Pagès (1992), the late John Shodo Flatt (1994), Anton Tenkei Coppens (1996), Malgosia Jiho Braunek (2003), Daniel Doen Silberberg (2003), Nico Sojun Tydeman (2004), Nancy Genshin Gabrysch (2006), Diane Musho Hamilton (2006), Michael Mugaku Zimmerman (2006), Rich Taido Christofferson (2007), Michel Genko Dubois (2007), Tamara Myoho Gabrysch (2008) [5], Maurice Shonen Knegtel (2009, and KC Kyozen Sato Gerpheide (2009).

He has conferred inka (full Dharma transmission/authorization) to eight Zen teachers: the late John Daido Loori, Catherine Genno Pages, Anton Tenkei Coppens, Jan Chozen Bays, Charles Tenshin Fletcher, Nicolee Jikyo McMahon, Susan Myoyu Andersen, and Sydney Musai Walters.[1][2][4][5]

Merzel is married to Stephanie Young, his second wife (a great-great granddaughter of Brigham Young.) He has two children, Tai and Nicole.

Merzel began developing the "Big Mind" process in 1999, after having taught more traditional Zen meditation and koan study for more than twenty years. The process is intended to allow anyone ... including non-Buddhists ... to experience "the enlightenment of the Buddha". The process is designed as a combination of Eastern meditation and Western psychological techniques to transmit the essence of Zen teachings in a way that is readily accessible and relevant to Westerners, a realization they can further deepen through meditation.

The Big Mind process is claimed to enable participants to get in touch with various aspects of themselves by inviting them to identify as and speak from these aspects or states of mind. The teacher walks participants through interactions with different aspects of their mind, including ordinary, finite ones such as the Protector, the Skeptic and Desiring Mind; and possibly less familiar, "transcendent" ones such as the "Non-Seeking/Non-Grasping Mind", "the Way", and "Big Mind and Big Heart".

Since 1999, he has offered workshops to more than 20,000 individuals all around the world. In addition to presentations in cities in North America and Europe, Genpo Roshi has made "Big Mind" available on DVDs and online.

In 1990 Merzel was accused of sexual misconduct by his students at the Kanzeon Zen Center in Bar Harbor Maine, where he was abbot, and asked to leave, which he did. The center subsequently closed; Merzel and his wife divorced.

Merzel has been criticized by Soto priest Brad Warner several times on Warner's blog. Warner claims that attaining enlightenment through the "Big Mind" method is impossible, and also potentially dangerous.