Our Auckland teachers
The Auckland Zen Centre was established in 2004 by two students of Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, Roshi Amala Wrightson and her husband Sensei Richard von Sturmer.
Both Amala-roshi and Richard-sensei lived at the Rochester Zen Centre for over a decade, studying with Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. In 2003 they returned to New Zealand and established the Auckland Zen Centre the following year.
In February 2012, Roshi Kjolhede travelled to Auckland to perform a Dharma transmission ceremony, making Amala-roshi a full Dharma heir and independent Zen teacher of the Cloud-Water Sangha.
In June 2024, Roshi Kjolhede travelled to Auckland again, this time to perform a teacher sanctioning ceremony, authorizing Sensei Richard von Sturmer as a Zen teacher of the Cloud-Water Sangha.
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Roshi Amala Wrightson
Spiritual Director
Roshi Amala Wrightson was born in Auckland in 1958, and worked in theatre before taking up full-time Zen training. She and her husband Sensei Richard von Sturmer began Zen practice in 1982 after attending a workshop led by Roshi Philip Kapleau in Sweden. In 1986 they became students of Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, Roshi Kapleau’s Dharma heir and then newly-appointed Abbot of the Rochester Zen Center.
Amala-roshi began full-time residential training at the Rochester Zen Center in 1989, shortly after completing an M.A. in Italian at Auckland University, and was ordained in 1999. From 1996 to 2003 she was the Center’s Head of Zendo (head priest in charge of training). In late 2003, upon completion of formal koan training under Roshi Kjolhede, Amala-roshi returned to resettle in New Zealand and, since then, has dedicated her time to the creation of a place for authentic Zen practice and training in Auckland.
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Sensei Richard von Sturmer
Centre Manager
Sensei Richard von Sturmer was born on Auckland’s North Shore in 1957. He is a Zen teacher, writer, performer, and film-maker. His written work has appeared in many anthologies and literary journals, and seven collections of his writing have been published. In 2020 he was the writer in residence at Waikato University, resulting in the publication of “Walking with Rocks, Dreaming with Rivers”. Richard collaborates with filmmaker and musician Gabriel White as the Floral Clocks and they have recorded three albums.
Richard-sensei trained for a decade at the Rochester Zen Center and completed the koan curriculum there. Then in 2004, back in New Zealand, he co-founded the Auckland Zen Centre along with Roshi Amala Wrightson. Richard-sensei has been serving the Auckland Sangha for twenty years and he was authorized as a Zen teacher by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede in 2024.
