Teachers

Sensei Helma Jifu Vulink

Helma Jifu Vulink is the current spiritual leader of Zen Centrum Rotterdam. She began her Zen practice at the international Buddhist monastery Zen River in Groningen in 2004 and became a student of Tenkei Coppens Roshi. After some years, she received Shukke Tokudo (monk ordination) and in 2014, Tenkei Roshi gave her Dharma transmission (Shiho).

Before living at Zen River, she worked as a theater creator and later as an actor and facilitator in communication training. Her interest and experience in dealing with diverse situations deepened through body-oriented tantric research and meditation work, which ultimately led her to Zen Buddhism.

During her training at Zen River, she completed koan training as passed down by Maezumi Roshi and Genpo Roshi. Her Dharma transmission was formally recognized by the Soto School in 2015 after her stays in Japan at the training monastery Toshoji, where she spent six months for practice.

Shortly before beginning her work in Rotterdam, Jifu moved from Zen River to the Zen Boat in the center of Groningen and continues to contribute to the daily meditation and study program there. Since becoming the spiritual leader in 2020, she spends part of the week at Zen Centrum Rotterdam to lead meditations, teach dharma classes, and maintain contact with sangha members, both individually and in groups.

Sensei Leo Ahimsa Sumitra Huijg

Leo Ahimsa Sumitra Huijg began his Zen training in December 1991 with Niko Tenko Tydeman Roshi. After studying architecture in Delft and graphic techniques at the art academy in Rotterdam, he started working as a gardener in 1994, mainly maintaining private gardens. After his studies, he refused military service, which led to further philosophical exploration, where non-violence became an essential element. This prompted him to take multiple trips to India, China, and Japan, immerse himself in many Buddhist teachings, and develop a strong interest in Zen practice outside the zendo, especially in nature.

In the mid-1990s, he became a student of Gretha Jikai Roshi, who was at that time a teacher and a successor of Nico Tydeman. In 2019, he received Dharma transmission from her.

Sensei Willem Mumonkan de Vos

Willem Mumonkan de Vos remains grateful for having received mantra meditation and yoga exercises at a young age. This marked the beginning of his spiritual journey, with Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta serving as great sources of inspiration ever since.

After tumultuous years involving co-counseling and rebirthing practices in the 1980s, the five-minute meditation sessions in the Japanese sitting posture at the start of his Tai Chi classes were a profound gift. During his studies in educational pedagogy and meetings with Rob Janssen, a Buddhist and translator of the Buddhist canon, he discovered Zen Buddhism. Tao Zen practices and Reiki initiations provided the final push.

In 1989, he became a student of Niko Tenko Tydeman Roshi and in 2005 received the Buddhist precepts and his name, Mumonkan. He received monk ordination in 2022 and Dharma transmission from Gretha Jikai Aerts Roshi in 2024.

Understanding, following, and embodying this path is his greatest passion. His family with Sonja, Toon, and Mose is his great love. He is passionate about pedagogy and has been connected as an educational supervisor, researcher, and teacher to various universities, colleges, and educational centers since 1979.