Abiding Priests

Ryūki Tom Hawkins

Ryūki Tom Hawkins is a Sōtō Zen priest serving the sangha at Kojin-an/Oakland Zen Center. He began Sōtō Zen practice in the mid-1990s and was ordained as a priest in 2019 by Rev. Gengo Akiba, Roshi.

He was part of the monastic training community at Tōshōji monastery in Japan from 2022–2023, under the auspices of the Sōtō-shu. Ryūki served as shuso during the 2024 ango at Kojin-an and received dharma transmission from Akiba Roshi in 2025.

Rev. Hawkins also holds an M.Div. from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, with a focus on Sōtō Zen studies, as well as a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia (MA’92).

Ryūki currently serves as a board member of SZBA (Soto Zen Buddhists of America). Ryūki and his spouse, John, cultivate a small olive farm at their home in Modesto, California, assisted by their dogs, Gus and Isla.

Kanzan John Slattery

Kanzan John Slattery was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is a musician and architectural designer who has been practicing zazen since 2001. He began practicing with the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago in 2001, receiving the precepts and lay ordination from Rev. Zenku Jerry Smyers. Upon moving to Oakland, California in 2011, he began practicing at Kojin-an.

In August 2019, Kanzan was ordained by Akiba Roshi as a novice priest and in March 2025 received Dharma Transmission from him.

From October 2022 to January 2023, he joined the monastic community under the abbotship of Seido Suzuki Rōshi at Tōshōji monastery in Japan, and in November 2024 performed Shuso Hossenshiki (Dharma Combat) ceremony at Iouji temple in the city of Mishima, Japan under Rev. Ikki Nambara. 

In addition to serving as a priest at Kojin-an, Kanzan works in the field of public housing and continues to be active as a musician, having played drum set and percussion for more than forty years.