Inquiring without images

Toni Packer is the resident teacher at Genesee Valley Zen Center, Rochester, NY. Born in Germany in 1927, she then lived in Switzerland, where she married an American student. They moved to the United States in 1951, where she studied psychology at the University of Buffalo. In 1967, she became a student of Kapleau Roshi. In 1971 she was asked to begin counseling at the Rochester Zen Center, and in 1976 to take on additional teaching duties. Her encounter with the work of Krishnamurti led her to a deep questioning of all the established forms and traditions, including those of Zen Buddhism. She left the Zen Center in 1981 when she felt she could no longer work within the boundaries of the Buddhist tradition. In 1982, Genesee Valley Zen Center was founded, where Toni now teaches and administers, together with the resident staf