Lineage

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Enlightened Life Fellowship brings Zen off the cushion and into the chaos. We are a modern Zen Buddhist church rooted in defiant awareness, fierce compassion, and lived truth. Our lineage honors tradition, but our path is unapologetically current. We don’t chase perfection, we practice presence in the real world, with real lives, real identities, and real mess.

This church began with the transmission of the Dharma from Sensei Joel S. Diehl, a teacher with a master’s degree in Eastern Philosophy whose brilliance and clarity laid the groundwork for what would become Applied Zen. Together with his student Reverend Gregory H. Charter, he co-founded Enlightened Life Fellowship in 2013. On the day the church officially opened, Sensei Diehl ordained Reverend Charter, establishing the beginning of a living lineage grounded in spiritual courage, creative expression, and radical presence.

Over the years, this lineage has been shaped by bold and beautiful ministers:

Reverend Gregory H. Charter (2013–present), our current head minister and first ordination in the lineage, has been practicing Zen since the age of seven. He brings a unique and embodied voice to modern Buddhism, drawing from, media influences, spiritual inquiry, science and technology into a breathing tradition called Applied Zen.

Sensei Joel S. Diehl (2013–2020), the founding teacher and philosophical architect of the Fellowship, transmitted the heart of the lineage before his passing. His teachings were loud, compassionate, and sometimes confrontational, but always rooted in presence. He saw potential in ordinary people, honored the sacred in the broken, and dared to imagine a form of Zen that could meet the modern world as it is.

Reverend James A. Bealer (2014–2015), brother of Sensei Diehl, and beloved spiritual leader brought a Christian focus to the early vision of the Fellowship. He helped lay the foundation for our interfaith spirit and inclusive theology before his passing.

Reverend Cathy M. Miller (2015–2020) contributed hundreds of poetic, soul-stirring Dharma teachings that continue to nourish our community today. Though she is no longer active in the church, her spiritual legacy lives on through the written word.

We are not here to escape the real world. We are here to meet it, fully awake. Enlightened Life Fellowship stands for looking deeply into today without flinching. This is not perfection. This is practice and practice is sacred.