Charles River Zen is a Rinzai Zen community is in the Hakuin Ekaku lineage, represented by Rōshi Kyōzan Jōshū Sasaki, who came to America in 1962, and Shinge-shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat. CRZ is an outgrowth of Hōun-an, Dharma Cloud Hermitage, a Zen temple which was incorporated in 2001.

Dharma Cloud Hermitage was responsible for the Zen activities at the Cambridge Buddhist Association between 2004 and 2011. With the closing of the CBA practice facilities Dharma Cloud Hermitage needed to find a new home. We relocated our center to Watertown Square and adopted the name Charles River Zen while preserving the temple name Hōun-an, which was given  by Jōshū Rōshi. Since the passing of Jōshū Rōshi CRZ has also been establishing relationship with the Zen Studies Society, another eminent Rinzai Zen lineage in the United States. The Abbot of CRZ, Dokurō Oshō, is a Dharma heir to Shinge Rōshi of the Zen Studies Society.

Our logo comprises waves and empty space, manifesting movement and stillness in one, embraced in a circle of wholeness. Charles River Zen is an all-inclusive practice community that strives to serve the sangha (community) in exploring the way of Zen both as a householder practice and as the practice of ordained, monastic participants.