Practice Leaders / Teacher Trainees

Kate Myoku Forbess, Dharma Holder, has been practicing since 1994. She began her training with Charlotte Joko Beck and was her student for 12 years. Myoku was named a Practice Leader in 2019 and a Dharma Holder in 2021. For the past 5 years, she has been studying with Elihu Genmyo Smith, a Dharma successor of Joko's and the guiding teacher for Prairie Zen Center. When circumstances allow, she also practices at Great Vow Monastery with Jan Chozen Bays and Hogen Bays.

Chuck Sweet has been practicing Zen since 1972, starting in Ann Arbor, Mich., and then with Joko Beck at Zen Center San Diego for 23 years until Joko left in 2006. He has continued to practice with ZCSD since then and in 2019 joined Kate Watson-Forbess as a designated Practice Leader/Teacher Trainee. Chuck aspires to assist and work with the San Diego Sangha and teachers of the White Plum lineage to keep the time-tested spirit of ZCSD alive and well.