About NHZC

Our Teachers
	Ken Kessel, JDPSN, is guiding teacher of the New Haven Zen Center. He received inka in April 1996. He studied with Zen Master Seung Sahn beginning in 1975. He has an MSW degree and has been practicing as a psychotherapist since 1983, working with children and families in foster care, substance abuse, outpatient and inpatient mental health and therapeutic preschool settings, as well as in private practice. He lives in New Jersey.
	Paul Bloom is abbot of the New Haven Zen Center. He has practiced meditation since 1975 and been associated with the center for more than two decades. In 1994, Zen Master Seung Sahn authorized him as a Senior Dharma Teacher. He has studied for many years with Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Bobby Rhodes) and our Guiding Teacher, Ken Kessel JDPSN, as well as other teachers in the Kwan Um School of Zen. Paul graduated from Brandeis and Yale and is the principal of the furniture and interior design firm Bloom Design LLC. He is a poet, musician, photographer and activist who travels the backcountry as time allows. Paul lives in New Haven with his wife, a life coach, author and motivational expert. They are now proud grandparents.
	Marion Wagner is Head Dharma Teacher of the New Haven Zen Center. Marion has been associated with the NHZC since about 1978 when she came to hear a "Real Zen Master" at the urging of a friend. She stayed, listening to him pound the floor with a stick until she "got it.” Marion, a nurse, worked at Yale New Haven Hospital from 1974 to 1989 mainly in Med-Surge, Hemodialysis and Psychiatry. She is married to Chuck Wagner, who is retired from ITT Management.
Guest Teachers
	Steven Cohen MD is abbot of the Chogye International Zen Center of New York. He has been a student of Zen Master Seung Sahn since 1974. Before moving to New York in 1984, he was a founding member of the New Haven Zen Center where he served as administrative director (1975-79) and head dharma teacher (1979-84). He became a senior dharma teacher in 1999 and received inka on April 6, 2002, certifying him as a Ji Do Poep Sa Nim. Cohen JDPSN is a Professor of Dermatology, Director of Residency Training, and Deputy Chair of the Department of Dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Steve and Phyllis Cohen have been married for 33 years; they have two children. Twice National Champion (1966-67) and a member of the US Olympic Team 1968, he was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1991.