Teachers

Bill Boyle, the current teacher, has been a member of the Princeton Area Zen Group since its inception. In 2005, he completed his koan study with the founding teachers Manfred Steger and Perle Besserman, and now offers dharma talks and interviews (dokusan). Bill has an M.A. in Education from Indiana University and operates a hotel management firm in northern New Jersey.

Manfred Steger holds a PhD in political science from Rutgers University. In 1981 he started his Zen training in his native Austria with Genro Koudela Roshi at the Bodhidharma Zendo in Vienna, an affiliate of Joshu Sasaki Roshi's Rinzai-ji Order in California. In 1986, he became a student of Robert Aitken Roshi at the Diamond Sangha in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he completed his koan practice. Since 1988, he has taught Zen in Honolulu, Austria, and Princeton. In 1991, he voluntarily resigned as Junior Teacher of the Diamond Sangha and, with his wife Perle, founded the Princeton Area Zen Group as its first teacher. He is currently Head of School of International and Community Studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia.

Perle Besserman holds a PhD in comparative literature from Columbia university. She began her Zen practice in 1981 with Kyudo Nakagawa Roshi of Ryutakuji Monastery in Mishima, Japan. She was a founding member of the Soho Zendo in New York and, in 1984, joined the Diamond Sangha as Robert Aitken Roshi's student in Honolulu, Hawaii. After working with Pat Hawk, a successor of Robert Aitken, she completed her koan study with Manfred Steger. In 1992, she began teaching at the Princeton Area Zen Group Group. She is currently Professor Emerita of English at Illinois State University.

Both Manfred Steger and Perle Besserman continue to be involved with the Princeton Area Zen Group. They contribute taped dharma talks to the group and lead meditation retreats in the Princeton area approximately once a year.