Our Mission
Asbury Park Zen Center | Authentic Heart Zen 501(c)3
To promote to all beings from all backgrounds the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. This will be accomplished by providing Zen Buddhist education through ordained and lay monks, priests, and teachers in the Sōtō Zen Buddhist tradition. Asbury Park Zen Center supports the spiritual health of the community through all of our practices including meditation; and collaborates with charitable organizations to support social needs dedicated to the peace of every living being.
Purpose
The purpose of the Organization is to share the teachings of ‘The Buddha’ with all people who demonstrate an interest in Buddhism and Sōtō Zen Buddhism . This includes people of all backgrounds without exception in compliance with all Federal and State mandates regarding non-discriminatory policies. Our mission is to provide a place for people to practice Zen and to spread awareness of this practice with the public, and to support the community.
We will also provide a space for ancillary practitioners, (e.g., yoga, Tai Chi, etc.) to practice while supporting the Organization. All of this will be accomplished with strict adherence to the guiding principles of Zen Buddhism: To do no harm while only doing good. In this way the Organization shall demonstrate continuous support for the well-being of all of its members and the community at large.
History
Authentic Heart Zen (DBA: Asbury Park Zen Center) is a 501(c)3 non-profit Sōtō Zen Buddhist Organization operating in the tradition of the Sōtō-shū (曹洞宗); the largest of the three traditional sects of Japanese Zen Buddhism. It a continuation of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 AD or A.C.E.) by Dòngshān Liánjiè, an expression of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha who lived and taught in India in the sixth century B.C.E.
Located in New Jersey, Authentic Heart Zen had its beginnings in Fall 2015 under the name Twisted River Zen and has continued under the name of Authentic Heart Zen proposed in April 2018 and instituted in February of 2019. Our organization is affiliated with One Heart Zen (oneheartzen.org) of Somerville, Massachusetts; which also traces its lineage to the San Francisco Zen Center, co-founded by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi who came to America in 1962 to assist in establishing the roots of Zen in America with his successor Richard Baker Roshi
Myōshin Roshi (Tom Jones)
Myōshin Roshi (Tom Jones) is a fully transmitted Sōtō Zen Teacher and Priest who was ordained by Venerable Kotatsu Roko Roshi on December 9, 2018, and received Dharma Transmission on May 31, 2025. Myōshin, Founder of Authentic Heart Zen, a 501(c)3, not for profit corporation headquartered in Asbury Park, New Jersey, served as Shuso (head monk) of Monmouth Zen Circle (https://www.monmouthzencircle.org/) in 2019, and has been offering weekly zazen and services for Authentic Heart Zen and One Heart Zen since 2020.
Myōshin was introduced to Buddhism at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York in June 1995 by Roshi Joan Halifax www.upaya.org/about/roshi who was presenting ‘Being with Dying’, a program to assist health care providers working with the dying. Mōyshin’s interest in Buddhism was immediate and his training has been intense and unrelenting ever since.
Myōshin’s interest in thanatology (death, dying, grief, and bereavement) began while working as a caregiver for people dying from AIDS in the early 1990’s, which led to his becoming a patient representative with the Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon HIV/AIDS Consortium, an organization created under the auspices of The Ryan White Title I Care Act, to provide medical care and social services to People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
In 1996, with the help of Roshi Joan and others at Upaya, Myōshin developed ‘Discovering Peace’, a mindfulness-based program for PLWHA. For this he was awarded the Certificate of Recognition by Len Fishman, New Jersey Commissioner of Health, and Douglas Morgan, Assistant Commissioner for AIDS Prevention and Control for his ‘Continuous Dedication in the Area of HIV Prevention and Control in 1997.
Subsequently, Myōshin earned a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from NYU, where he received training in thanatology and psychodynamic psychotherapy. He then pursued post graduate training in psychoanalysis at the Center for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey (CPPNJ), is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and the Founder and President of Howell Counseling, LLC, a mental health organization incorporated in February, 2007, which provides psychotherapy and counseling to the general public.
In 2007 Myōshin began individual Zen training with Kodo Boyd Daiosho, the former guiding teacher of the Lincroft Zen Sangha and in 2013 became a disciple of Venerable Zen Master Kotatsu Roko (John Bailes) Roshi, Founder of One Heart Zen https://oneheartzen.org/ in Somerville MA. His many years of discipleship culminated in his Priest Ordination in December 2018, followed by a 90-day silent retreat at Green Dragon Temple, one of two residential training monasteries of the San Francisco Zen Center, in Muir Beach, California
Myōshin Roshi (Tom Jones)
Zen Training
Myōshin’s formal Zen training began at Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Southern Colorado, https://www.dharmasangha.org/ where he did his first seven-day sesshin with Richard Baker Roshi, co-founder of the San Francisco Zen Center. He then began training at Dai Bosatsu Kongo-ji, a Rinzai center in the Catskill mountains, https://zenstudies.org/dai-bosatsu-zendo/ which continued regularly for 10 years. During the following 10 years Myōshin intermittently traveled to Upaya Zen Center in Sante Fe, New Mexico, https://www.upaya.org/ the Zen Center of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, https://zcla.org/ and the San Francisco Zen Center in San Francisco, California https://www.sfzc.org/ to do sesshins (intensive meditation retreats) and a 90 day “practice period” following his ordination. Myōshin has trained with his longtime teacher Akshobya Kōtatsu Rokō while returning periodically to the above centers as well as Hokyoji Zen Practice Community in Eitzen, Minnesota, https://hokyoji.org/ where he traveled to sew his Zen Master’s (Teacher / Roshi) Okesa (Buddha Robe).
Myōshin has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Rutgers University, and is a published poet and author. Additionally, he worked as a professional drummer in NYC during the late 1970s and 80s, where he recorded one album of his music as a singer / songwriter.
Currently, Myōshin provides Zazen, Dokusan, and religious services by request.