Muhō was the ninth abbot of Antaiji between 2002 and 2020. He was born in 1968 in Berlin and grew up in Western Germany. At age 16, he was introduced to zazen by one of his high school teachers and soon had the wish to become a Zen monk. To prepare for his stay in Japan, he studied Japanese at the university in Berlin, along with philosophy and physics. During his studies, he spent one year at Kyōto University and learned about Antaiji for the first time. At age 22, he spent six months there as a lay practioner.
Three years later, after graduating from university, Muhō ordained as a monk under the abbot Miyaura Shinyū Rōshi. Apart from Antaiji he trained for one year at the Rinzai monastery Tōfukuji in Kyōto, and one year at Hosshinji in Obama.
After obtaining the transmission of dharma (shihō) from his teacher Miyaura Rōshi he decided to live as a homeless monk in a park in central Ōsaka, where he led a zazen group. He was 33 years old.
After six months though, in February of 2002, he learned of the sudden death of his teacher and was called back to Antaiji. He succeeded his teacher as the ninth abbot in the spring of that year. In 2020 he retired after 18 years as the abbot and appointed Ekō, a Japanese nun, as his successor. You can find him on YouTube and Twitter.
Muhō is married since 2002 and has three children. His old writings are in the “Adult practice” section of this website.