Teacher/s and Facilitators
Guiding Teacher: Andrew Sono Tootell
Dr Andrew Tootell (born 1956) is an Australian Zen teacher in the Ordinary Mind School tradition, founded by Charlotte Joko Beck (1917 – 2011). Andrew lives on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, where he resides with his wife, sculptor Annie Quirk-Tootell.
Andrew is an accredited mental health social worker and maintains a private psychotherapy practice on-line via zoom or telephone. He has completed a Graduate Diploma in Narrative Therapy (1998) from the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, where he studied with the late Michael White and a Master of Clinical Science (2002) from the University of Adelaide, where he studied psychoanalysis with the Adelaide Psychoanalytic Institute. Andrew also holds a doctorate from the Human Development and Counselling Department at Waikato University, New Zealand (2006). He is currently exploring the common ground shared between Relational Psychotherapy. and Zen Buddhism.
Andrew began Zen practice in 1988, inspired by reading Phillip Kapleau’s The Three Pillars of Zen, Joko Beck’s Everyday Zen and by the birth of his son, Joshua, from his first marriage. Andrew began sitting with the Sydney Zen Centre (Diamond Sangha) and later also practised in the Burmese Vipassana tradition at the Blue Mountains Insight Centre and later at the Adelaide Zen Centre. It wasn’t until he started corresponding with Barry Magid in 2002, (a dharma heir of Joko Beck and founder of the Ordinary Mind Zendo New York) that he settled down into a teacher-student relationship. During these years Andrew maintained a regular correspondence with Barry and travelled to New York when he could to attend sesshin. Since that time, Barry has always been Andrew’s primary teacher but he has also studied Koan practice with the late Sexton Bourke Roshi (1949 – 2011) and Ellen Davison Roshi, both teachers in the Diamond Sangha lineage.
During 2014 Andrew travelled to New York to become the resident manager of the Ordinary Mind Zendo New York for three months, where he continued his training with Barry Magid and received denkai (transmission giving him permission to teach and offer the precepts). On the 20th of July 2019, in a ceremony held at the Garrison Institute, New York, Andrew was given denbo transmission by his teacher Barry Magid. This is full transmission in the lineage and acknowledgement of mastery on the Zen way. The title for a Dharma successor is Sensei. A sensei is free to function as a Zen teacher in any way they find appropriate including transmitting their own students. Andrew is a current member of the Lay Zen Teachers Association.
Andrew’s CV (pdf, 80kb).
Facilitators
Elisabeth Barrett
I’ve been practising with the Gurdjieff work since 1972 in South Australia where I ran a Gurdjieff group. I moved to this area in 1996 and joined the Coffs harbour Theravadin Buddhist group. I was later asked to teach Buddhism at Karangi primary school, which I did before moving to Bellingen in 2010. I met Andrew a couple of years ago and joined the OzZen group.
Louise Shinso Cranny
I attended my first Vipassana retreat 37 years ago and felt I had come home. Since then, I have attended many retreats including several Zen retreats. I have been a cook for the local Vipassana Tallow wood sangha for over 20 years and attend around four retreats a year. While cooking at retreats, I attend the talks, the enquiry’s and some sits each day. After the death of a partner 6 years ago, I did a personal intensive retreat. Jack Kornfield challenges his students to be kind to themselves, every day. For a year. Then, he said you won’t want to stop. I decided to take the challenge. So, for the last five and a half years I have had a daily meditation practice. I also teach yoga.
This has resulted in a gradual change in focus in my life. I try to find joy in the little things by being present. Observing thoughts [observing emotions is harder] and not identifying with them too much, and being grateful, is also part of my daily practice. My reading has changed to mostly Buddhist and neuroscience literature, and I enjoy connecting with others and nature. I write haiku. I look forward to leading guided meditations as I like to share the things that bring me freedom from suffering. I would like to host small meditation and yoga retreats at my home beside the river, in the beautiful Kalang Valley in the near future, maybe in autumn.
David Harvey
I came to OzZen in 2020 with a lifelong interest in meditation and personal / spiritual reflection. I have practiced Tibetan and other forms of Buddhist meditation and teachings, TM (Transcendental Meditation), MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) amongst many other formal & informal meditation groups and practices.
I have trained as a psychotherapist, community and youth worker, as well as private practice in various body-oriented health modalities including Traditional Chinese Medicine and Zen Shiatsu.
I value the opportunity to sit in reflective awareness with others and extending the opportunity with others, and look forward to sharing & broadening my own practice in 2022.
Larry Kodo Hancock
I began sitting zazen in Kyoto, Japan in 1977 at Myoshinji temple. I also sat sesshins at Hanazono Rinzai University and at Shofukuji temple in Kobe.
In Sydney in the 90’s I sat once a week with a group called Queer Dharma and then in 2018, I started sitting with Ordinary Mind (OzZen) Soto Zen group in Sawtell.
Phil Genkai Pisanu
Phil has been interested in Zen for a long period, initially researching the extensive literature on Zen concepts and stories of historical and modern Zen teachers. He has been practicing seriously since first going to Andrew’s small Zen group in Sawtell on the mid north coast. Now retired, Phil worked in ecology and land management for over 20 years and is interested in the interface between ecology and Zen practice. He lives in Coffs Harbour with his partner and is a keen surfer. He was the editor of the OzZen Journal and recently worked closely with Andrew to set up the OzZen study guide.
Ryan Eno Squires
I have been drawn to Buddhism since the late 90’s and began my formal practice mostly through Insight traditions (with a sprinkling of Tibetan teachings) in the inner west of Sydney. I also have a Catholic and evangelical Christian background, and am grateful for the experiences and people I have met within these traditions. I have been formally practicing with OzZen in recent years and undertook the Jukai ceremony in 2024. Prior to this I was heavily influenced by western Buddhist teachers such as Gil Fronsal, Joseph Goldstein, Jon Kabat Zinn, and Tara Brach. I was a high school music teacher, but am now a general registered psychologist practicing privately within several organisations and as a school counsellor. I am a husband, father (of two teenagers) and love surfing, motorcycle riding, and hitting the gym every other day. I bring Zen practice into every aspect of how I live my life (warts and all!), and am particularly drawn to explorations of koans (both in the formal and everyday sense), and the interaction between zen and psychotherapy. Of course, none of this is possible without my fellow practitioners, friends, family, and teachers along the way. With much gratitude, I look forward to meeting you and sharing the journey!
Zenko Jack Wicks
I have been a practising Buddhist since 2012. Although my primary practice is Zen and I have practiced in the Vipassana, Western Insight and Early Buddhist traditions along the way. I practice in the Ordinary Mind Zen School with Andrew Sono, and previously in the Sanbo Zen koan tradition with Arno Hess and LiYea Bretz. I was ordained as a Zen Priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage by Rev. Neti Mushin Parekh in December 2024.
I teach mindfulness in prisons in South East Queensland. I have a blog at www.wannabepoet.com.
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