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Tetsugen Serra (b. 1953)

Zen Master Carlo Tetsugen Serra was born in Milan in 1953. During his stay at the Zen Monastery “Tosho-Ji – Southern Star” at Tokyo he began his training in the Zen path under Master Tetsugyu Soin Ban Roshi. Master Tetsugyo Deguchi (see above) of the Harada Daiun Sogaku Roshi lineage passed the Dharma on to him.
In 1986 he graduated in Oriental Medicine and Shiatsu Zen under Master Shizito Masunaga at the "Iokai Shiatsu Center" at Tokyo. In direct contact with Master Kimura, teacher of the Masunaga School, he undertook in-depth study that introduced him to the Zen therapy known as "Ten Shin" (of Pure Heaven's Heart), which was to become a staple of his own meditative and energy-based practice.
Back in Italy, in 1988 he founded the urban monastery "Enso-Ji - Il Cerchio" and the Zen Shiatsu School, both in Milan. There he teaches the principles of Shiatsu Zen in a simple and direct manner, according to the original style of the Zen tradition. Instruction is structured in first and second-level courses; the third-level course was introduced in 1994.
Two years later, in 1996, Master Tetsugen founded the Monastery of the Mountain "Sanbo-Ji - Tempio dei Tre Gioielli" (Temple of the Three Treasures) at Berceto (province of Parma) where intensive meditation retreats and residential seminars take place periodically.
In the following years Master Tetsugen widened the scope of didactic projects designed to strengthen practice skills, encompassing the introduction in 1997 of the practice of Shin-Do, an energy-based massage that works on the ‘extraordinary central channels’.
A year later, in 1998, the study of the "Master Jen Shu Jo" took off with a new, intensive-training group open to graduates from the Shiatsu Zen School.
In 1999, the Fan Guan technique, an energy-based means to rebalance the ‘minor celestial circulation’ was introduced. The same year courses for teachers of Shiatsu Zen began.
Lastly, Master Tetsugen has implemented Life Coach Zen, a therapy that draws on analytical listening to help people going through rough times.
Master Tetsugen is himself in charge of the conduct of life at the monastery and the teaching of meditation practice.
From 2000 to 2003 Master Tetsugen was appointed counsellor for Zen by the Executive Board of the U.B.I. (Unione Buddhista Italiana) of which he is a standing member. He is also a founding member of the international, UN-affiliated conference “Religion for Peace" and a founding member of the B.P.F. (Buddhist Peace Fellowship) in Italy.
Master Tetsugen has opened numerous Dojos (centres) for Zen practice in Italy as well as one center in Málaga (Spain).
Master Tetsugen is one of the signatories of the inter-religious "Manifesto for Peace" in Italy.
Master Tetsugen complements the dissemination of Zen practice with the pursuit of a wide range of activities. These include the setting up of a volunteer group that, beginning in 1999, started taking Shiatsu Zen to various detoxification and rehabilitation centres and to the prisons of San Vittore, Opera and Bollate. Other activities target the young, such as the "Intercultural Project" in Milan and the activities carried out at the Professional Institute Bertarelli, the Cremona High School and the Igbal Masih and Primo Levi grammar schools.

Master Tetsugen Serra's Published Books and Video-Recordings:

In Italian:

Zen shiatsu, Edizioni Fabbri
La terapia zen, Edizioni Xenia
Zen, Edizioni Fabbri
Vivere zen, Edizioni Xenia
Management by Zen Koan, Edizioni Guerini e Associati

Video-recording
Il massaggio shiatsu, Edizioni Finson

In Spanish:

Zen shiatsu para uno mismo, Ediciones Tutor (Spain)

Video-recording
El masaje shiatsu, Editorial Finson (Spain)

Master Carlo Tetsugen Serra has published many articles in various Italian periodicals and has also contributed to television broadcasts such as Gad Lerner's “L’infedele.”


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