| Kanja Odland | |
| Birth Date: | 1963 |
| Birth Place: | Stockholm |
| Nationality: | Swedish |
| Religion: | Zen Buddhism |
| School: | Sōtō and Rinzai |
| Lineage: | Philip Kapleau |
| Roshi | |
| Location: | Zengården |
| Spouse: | Sante Poromaa |
| Website: | www.zentraining.org |
Kanja Odland (born 1963) is a Swedish Zen Buddhist teacher (Roshi) and priest in the tradition of Philip Kapleau and Bodhin Kjolhede.[1] [2] [3] Together with her co-teacher Sante Poromaa Roshi, she leads Zenbuddhistiska Samfundet, one of the major traditions of Zen Buddhism in Sweden with centers in several European countries.
Odland started her Zen training in 1984 and became a student of both Roshi Philip Kapleau and his successor Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede at Rochester Zen Center. She was ordained as a priest in 1999.[4] She is authorized as an independent teacher (Roshi) having "received dharma transmission (inka) in the 'Cloud-Water Sangha' lineage,"[5] which made her the first female zen teacher from Sweden.
Since 2001, Odland has been teaching full time at Zengården, Zenbuddhistiska Samfundet's training temple in Fellingsbro in rural Sweden.[6] ZBS also has centers in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Lund, Tampere (Finland), Cologne (Germany) and Glasgow (Scotland). The association has approximately 500 members[7] and is a member organisation in the Swedish Buddhist Community.[8]
Odland regularly offers regular sesshin (meditation retreats) in English and gives public talks on Zen. She is active in contemporary Swedish intellectual and cultural life.[9] [10]
Her first book Vandring på Spårlös Stig was published in 2013 and she has written various articles on Zen, including a commentary on the mu-koan published in Zen Bow magazine.[11] [12]
Odland and Poromaa have sanctioned five of their students as Zen teachers: Karl Kaliski Sensei,[13] Sangen Salo Sensei,[14] Dharman Ödman Sensei,[15] Mitra Virtaperko Sensei,[16] and Kansan Zetterberg Sensei.