Amy Hollowell Sensei is one of three dharma heirs, or successors, of the French Zen master Catherine Genno Pagès Roshi, who founded Dana Zen Center in Montreuil, France, in 1994. Genno Roshi is a second-generation dharma heir of the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi, founder of Zen Center of Los Angeles and the White Plum Asangha.



Amy Sensei is a member of the White Plum Asangha, which was created by Maezumi Roshi to support and unite all the practice centers and dharma successors in his lineage worldwide. Born and raised in Japan, Maezumi Roshi (1931-1995) traveled to America as a young man and became one of the great pioneers of modern Zen, bringing traditional Japanese Zen Buddhism to the West and thus opening a new frontier that would transform both the practice and the practioners. In 1967, he founded the Zen Center of Los Angeles. Maezumi Roshi  received dharma transmission from Hakujun Kuroda Roshi in 1955. He also received final approval as a teacher (Inka) from both Koryu Osaka Roshi and Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, thus becoming a dharma heir in three lines of Zen, in both the Soto and Rinzai schools.


Maezumi Roshi formally transmitted the dharma to twelve successors: Bernie Glassman, Dennis Genpo Merzel, Charlotte Joko Beck, Jan Chozen Bays, John Daido Loori, Gerry Shishin Wick, John Tesshin Sanderson, Alfred Jitsudo Ancheta, Charles Tenshin Fletcher, Susan Myoyu Andersen, Nicolee Jikyo Miller, and William Nyogen Yeo. These twelve successors have further transmitted the dharma to their own  successors, who have in turn transmitted it to their successors, throughout the world.