Meet Spirit of Life
Our Community:
The Spirit of Life Zen community is a welcoming and inclusive space for the holistic development of mind, body, and spirit through Zen practice. We are located in the mother city of Cape Town South Africa. We are a small but growing group, building a safe, authentic community for a compassionate, healthy, and peaceful world.
Our Practice
Spirit of Life Zen brings the Zen Garland Order to Cape Town South Africa, coordinated by David Ando Rosenstein under the direction of Roshi Paul Genki Kahn. We guide each student in applying Zen skills and perspectives to their daily lives. Our Zen teaching integrates the venerable tradition of Zen with modern psychological processes expressed in languages and practices appropriate to our present time.
We see spiritual development as human development and a natural evolution placing self-concern in the context of shared interrelational existence. In our holistic approach we are part of the Engaged Buddhist movement, emphasizing social service as a crucial expression of human maturation. We uphold the Bodhisattva ideal of working for the welfare, healing, salvation and liberation of all creation.

Spirit of Life Teachers
One of the living Zen masters of our time, Roshi Genki augments traditional Zen practices with modern psychology, philosophy, science, and socially engaged service to marginalized and disadvantaged communities. Roshi Genki is a Dharma Successor and full Zen Priest in the Japanese Soto Zen lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi and Zen Master Bernie Glassman. He served as personal attendant (Jisha) to both.
Roshi Genki has developed a thorough and profound holistic approach to Zen practice that offers personal and inter-relational development for skillful living in the world with love, service, and joy. Roshi Genki describes this approach to spirituality as The Practice of Presence and Reclaiming the World As Sacred. Roshi Genki emphasizes that the Zen training hall is our daily life, our way of being in the world with ourselves, our intimate circle, our work, and our communities.

Roshi Paul Genki Kahn

David Ando Rosenstein
David Ando Rosenstein
Dr. David Ando Rosenstein is the Coordinator of the Spirit of Life Zen community in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a senior student of Roshi Paul Genki Kahn, Spiritual Director and Co-Founder of The Zen Garland Order. David has been an active member of the ZGO since 2019.
In 2022, he took precepts during the ZGO spring sesshin in Minnesota, USA. David holds a master’s degree in Buddhism Studies from the University of South Wales, where his dissertation explored the integration of Focusing with Zen, aligning with the eight core practices of the Zen Garland Order.
In addition to his spiritual practices, David is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and educator affiliated with both the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch. He has been involved in a number of scientific publications and book chapters in clinical research application. He integrates Zen practices into his clinical work, where he has a keen interest in the intersection between Zen and Wellbeing. David also practices Kyudo, a form of Japanese Archery, where he has achieved second dan and participated in Shinsa in Tokyo and Nagoya.
David is married to Gerrida Herbst and is a proud father to two children, Nathan and Nimeria. His diverse roles and interests converge to deepen his understanding and application of Zen in everyday life.