About
Daigan Gaither began Buddhist practice in 1995 in the Vipassana tradition and started Zen training in 2003 with Ryushin Paul Haller Roshi. He received lay ordination in 2006 and priest ordination in 2011. Gaither holds a BA in Philosophy and Religion from San Francisco State University and an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union and Institute of Buddhist Studies, including certificates in chaplaincy and Soto Zen Buddhism. He teaches on the intersections of Dharma with politics, gender, sexuality, and social justice. He serves on boards and committees focused on community needs and social justice causes.
Teaching focus
Gaither's core teaching draws on shikantaza (just sitting), breath-counting, koan introspection. The frame is the Zen tradition of seated meditation and direct pointing, but the language stays plain. Gaither doesn't lecture from height. The talks tend to think alongside whatever's actually present in the room. Recurring themes include zazen, samu, and sangha. None of those get presented as abstract ideas. They're worked into the body, into ethics, into how a practitioner shows up in family life or at work, so that the dharma stops feeling like a separate compartment. There's a steady invitation in the talks to keep practice human-sized. Sit when you can, return when you've drifted, and trust that small consistent attention does more over the years than dramatic breakthroughs. Format-wise, Gaither teaches in online, in-person, and the tone moves easily between guided sittings, dharma talks, and Q&A. Questions tend to get answered the way they were asked, without being reframed into something cleaner. That alone tells you a lot about how the room feels.
Background
Daigan Gaither began Buddhist practice in 1995 in the Vipassana tradition and started Zen training in 2003 with Ryushin Paul Haller Roshi. He received lay ordination in 2006 and priest ordination in 2011. Gaither holds a BA in Philosophy and Religion from San Francisco State University and an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union and Institute of Buddhist Studies, including certificates in chaplaincy and Soto Zen Buddhism. He teaches on the intersections of Dharma with politics, gender, sexuality, and social justice. He serves on boards and committees focused on community needs and social justice causes. Rev. Daigan Gaither began Buddhist practice in 1995 in the Vipassana (Insight) tradition, and then began to study Zen in 2003 with Ryushin Paul Haller Roshi. He received Lay Ordination in 2006 where he was given the name Daigan or “Great Vow”, and received Priest Ordination in July 2011. Daigan speaks internationally on a variety of topics particularly around politics, gender, sexuality, social justice and their intersections with the Dharma. He also sits or has sat on a number of boards and committees that serve community needs and further social justice causes. Daigan has a BA in Philosophy and Religion from San Francisco State University, and an MA in Buddhist Studies (with a chaplaincy certificate and a certificate in Soto Zen Buddhism) from the Graduate Theological Union and the Institute of Buddhist Studies. He identifies as a disabled, queer, white, cis male and uses he/him/they pronouns. Gaither teaches across several communities, including Insight Meditation Center, Insight Retreat Center. That work sits within the Zen tradition of seated meditation and direct pointing, and the recurring concerns of Gaither's teaching, ethical foundation, steady attention, and the slow softening of habitual reactivity, echo the older texts without sounding distant from a 21st-century practitioner's life. What stands out across Gaither's talks isn't a single technique but a steadying tone. Practice is treated as something built slowly, in ordinary life, with care. There's room for the difficulties practitioners actually bring into the room, grief, restlessness, the body's complaints, family obligations, and the encouragement is consistent without being pushy.
Lineage
Gaither teaches within the Zen tradition of seated meditation and direct pointing. Source notes mention training with Ryushin Paul Haller Roshi. Current affiliations include Insight Meditation Center, Insight Retreat Center. The lineage shows up less in titles than in the way Gaither talks about practice, with steady reference to the older Buddhist vocabulary while keeping the door open for people who've never read a sutra. Whether that framing lands as monastic or lay depends on the specific talk, but the consistent thread is care for the form without letting the form become the point.
What to expect
Sitting with Gaither, you can expect grounded instruction in shikantaza (just sitting), with space to ask questions and bring whatever's actually showing up in your practice. Online sessions tend to keep the same shape, shorter sits, a talk, and time for Q&A, in a format that's accessible from home. The teaching voice is steady. Gaither won't push you past your edge, and there's a clear preference for slow, sustainable practice over breakthrough chasing. Bring a notebook if you like, or don't. Either way, you'll be met where you are.
