Steve Kanji Ruhl, whose dharma name means "indomitable spirit,” received his master of divinity degree in 2008 from Harvard University, where he helped to create Harvard Divinity School's new Buddhist ministry program. Ruhl was the first graduate from the Maezumi Institute’s “Zen Seminary for Socially Engaged Buddhism” and currently serves as the minister for the Appalachian Zen House near State College, Pennsylvania. Before entering the ministry, Ruhl was a published poet, journalist, and award-winning nonfiction writer. A long-time Zen practitioner, he has trained in Japan at Taiyo-ji Soto Zen temple with Watanabe Roshi; at Zen Mountain Monastery in New York with John Daido Loori Roshi; at Mount Equity Zendo in Pennsylvania with Dai-En Bennage Roshi; and at Springwater Meditation Center in New York with Toni Packer.