| Vanessa Zuisei Goddard | |
| Birth Date: | 1973 |
| Birth Place: | Mexico City |
| Religion: | Zen Buddhism |
| School: | Rinzai and Sōtō |
| Lineage: | Mountains and Rivers Order (part of White Plum Asanga) |
| Teacher: | John Daido Loori Geoffrey Shugen Arnold |
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard (born 1973) is a Mexican American Zen Buddhist teacher. She is a writer, editor, former monastic, and author of the book Still Running: the Art of Meditation in Motion. Her writings have been featured in Tricycle Magazine, Lion's Roar, Buddhadharma, and Parabola. She has served as Tricycle Magazine's Teachings Editor and is the Guiding Teacher of Ocean Mind Sangha.
Shortly after graduating from college at the University of Pennsylvania, Zuisei entered into Zen training at Zen Mountain Monastery with her first teacher—also founder and abbot of the monastery—John Daido Loori. Zuisei lived and trained there full-time for twenty-four years, mostly as a monastic, and later as a lay practitioner and teacher. She led retreats and meditation workshops, and began working with Zen students one on one. In 2018 she received dharma transmission (authorization to teach) from her teacher and current abbot of the monastery, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold.[1] After leaving the monastery, Zuisei resided and taught in New York City before moving to Playa del Carmen, and subsequently, to Panama City, Panama. She continues to teach worldwide as the Guiding Teacher at Ocean Mind Sangha via virtual classes, retreats, and one-on-one sessions with newcomers and informal and formal students.[2]
While at Zen Mountain Monastery, Zuisei fulfilled various editorial roles and served as creative director and director of operations for Dharma Communications, the monastery's outreach arm. She oversaw the monastery's websites, journals, books, and various print materials.[3]
Her writing has been featured in the Buddhist journals Lion's Roar, Buddhadharma, and Parabola, and she is a regular contributor at Tricycle Magazine: The Buddhist Review, where she also worked as the Teachings Editor from 2021 to 2023.