Who We Are

The Piedmont Zen Group (aka Delaplane Zen) is a small community of Zen practitioners in Fauquier County in Northern Virginia about 45 miles west of the Washington, DC beltway. In 1992, we began to meet at Emmanuel Episcopal Church near the town of Delaplane, Virginia. Due to Covid restrictions, we moved our regular Saturday meetings to a farm near Upperville, Virginia where we sit outside in a 100 year old shed. Our intensive retreats (or sesshins) are at the church.

Members

We welcome people from all religious traditions and meditation groups. We often invite guest teachers from other Zen groups for our all-day retreats and encourage members of the sangha to reach out to other Zen groups to challenge and deepen their Zen practice. Because we are a small group, we are organized democratically and through consensus. 

Senior members are Tom Davenport and Bill Kruvant, both trained in Japanese Zen traditions.

Tom Davenport (b. 1939) began practicing Zen in 1970 with Robert Aitken, Soen Nakagawa, Eido Shimano, John Daido Loori; and, for many years, with Kyozan Joshu Sasaki. Tom’s film Bodhidharma’s Shoe documents a 7 day sesshin in the Rinzai tradition led by Joshu Sasaki.

Bill Kruvant (b. 1949) began Zen in 1990 and studied with the late Jitsudo Ancheta Roshi, Musai Walter, and Daishin Brighton of the Maezumi Soto lineage. Bill is an accomplished potter and makes our incense burners and eating bowls.