Shohaku Okumura is a Soto Zen priest and Dharma successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. He is a graduate of Komazawa University and has practiced in Japan at Antaiji, Zuioji, and the Kyoto Soto Zen Center, and in Massachusetts at the Pioneer Valley Zendo. He is the former director of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center in San Francisco. His previously published books of translation include Uchiyama Roshi's Opening the Hand of Thought, as well as Dogen's Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Koroku, with Taigen Dan Leighton. He is the author of Living by Vow: A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Texts and Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo. He is the founding teacher of the Sanshin Zen Community, based in Bloomington, Indiana, where he lives with his family.