Mike Luetchford
This page is also available in Slovak.
Michael Eido Luetchford is a British teacher of Zen Buddhism, a founding member of Dogen Sangha, and the first Dharma heir of Gudo Wafu Nishijima. He lived in Japan for more than two decades, studying Buddhism and practising zazen under Nishijima's guidance while helping to make Master Dogen's teachings available in English.
Life and study in Japan
Mike Luetchford was born in Dewsbury, United Kingdom, in October 1944. He graduated in electronic engineering, worked in the aerospace industry, and later taught mathematics, statistics, and computing at several British universities. A keen mountaineer from an early age, he joined a year-long expedition to the Himalayas in the late 1960s.
In 1977, he moved to Japan to work as an engineer. He met his wife, Yoko, in Tokyo and began attending Gudo Wafu Nishijima's English-language Zen seminars in October of that year. Mike and Yoko became his long-term students and received Dharma transmission from him in 1989.
Dogen Sangha and publishing work
From 1978, Mike worked with other students of Nishijima to edit an early English translation of Shobogenzo. In 1987, he was one of five students who founded Dogen Sangha with Nishijima and prepared the establishment of the Ida Ryogokudo Zazen Dojo in Tokyo.
In 1990, he founded Windbell Publications in the United Kingdom. Between 1994 and 1999, it published the authorised four-volume English edition of Shobogenzo translated by Gudo Nishijima and Mike Chodo Cross. Luetchford's role included editorial work on earlier texts, publishing Nishijima's works, and making the translations available to a wider readership.
He also worked with Nishijima and Jeremy Pearson on the translation and interpretation of the 301-koan collection Shinji Shobogenzo. He translated and interpreted Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā in his book Between Heaven and Earth: From Nagarjuna to Dogen. He later produced his own modern interpretations of selected Shobogenzo chapters to make the challenging text more accessible to contemporary readers.
Work in Europe
After returning to the United Kingdom in 1999, Mike and Yoko established a Dogen Sangha group in Bristol. For a number of years, Mike led regular zazen practice, monthly retreats in Bristol and London, and longer retreats in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Czechia, and Slovakia.
He moved to Czechia at the beginning of 2018. He created the online archive shobogenzo.net, where he continues to publish texts, audio recordings, photographs, and other material related to Nishijima's teaching and the history of Dogen Sangha. Since the end of 2023, he has stepped back from the day-to-day responsibility of running sitting groups, while remaining a teacher and adviser to their members and occasionally leading retreats.
Dogen Sangha groups in the United Kingdom, Czechia, and Slovakia now operate independently. They share the practice of zazen and Master Dogen's teaching but do not form a formal, centrally managed organisation.
Texts and talks
Translations and transcripts of some of Luetchford's texts are available in the Texts on Buddhism section. Video and audio recordings of his talks from Czech and Slovak retreats can be found on the Talks page. Current Dogen Sangha websites provide further English recordings, transcripts, and interpretations of Shobogenzo.
Sources and further reading
- London Zen: Mike Eido Luetchford – biography and current role within Dogen Sangha groups
- shobogenzo.net: About the archive – Luetchford's archive of Nishijima's texts and recordings
- shobogenzo.net: History of Dogen Sangha – a personal account of his studies, translation work, and the establishment of the Tokyo centre
- Shobogenzo: Authorised Version – publication and translation details for the four volumes
- Dogen Sangha Sitting Groups – current structure of the independent groups
- Audio talks and talk transcripts by Michael Eido Luetchford