Guglielmo Doryu Cappelli

Guglielmo Doryu Cappelli

Professional Curriculum

Dancer and choreographer, he studied ballet with Fausta Gaggi, teacher at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza, and Contemporary Dance at the Centro Professionale di Danza Contemporanea with Elsa Piperno, Joseph Fontano, Fabrizio Monteverde, and other teachers. He participated in performances and  workshops.

In 1985 he joined the company of dance and theatre “Teatro del  Disgelo” led by Annamaria Epifanìa, as a dancer and performer, and later as a choreographer.

He studied mime with Lidsay Kemp, Butoh dance with  Kazuo and Yoshito Ōno,  and with Yumiko Yoshioka; he followed courses of Tai Chi Chuan ad Qi Gong.

He is an expert in ethnic and avant-garde music, as well as new musical trends. Graduated in Umanistic and Antrhropological Studies with a thesis in Anthropology of Dance.

He currently teaches Creative Dance and Improvisation Techniques, and is author and choreographer of the performances staged by the students of the Course  of  Creative Dance/Dance therapy held at the Anshin Centre. He works with Annamaria Gyoetsu Epifanìa his partner in art and life, in leading stages and seminars.

His way in Zen Practice

Teacher of Zen meditation. He approached Buddhism in 1988, trying the different  Buddhist traditions under the guidance of qualified teachers, such as Geshe Yeshe Tobden, Corrado Pensa, Stephen and Martine Batchelor, Thích Nhất Hạnh. Since 1997 he entirely devotes himself to Soto Zen. In 1999  receives monastic ordination according to the Soto Zen School at the Zen Temple La Gendronniere, France, from Master Roland Yuno Rech, a disciple to Master Taisen Deshimaru Roshi. Between 2001 and 2006 he run the Zen Dojo of the Association Zen Internationale in Rome.

 In 2006, together with Annamaria Gyoetsu Epifanìa, he starts the Anshin Zen Centre. Beginning 2010, he becomes a disciple of Shohaku Okumura Roshi, abbot  of the Sanshinji Temple in Bloomington, Indiana, USA, and  completes with him his monastic training.

He participated in two Angos (intensive three months long retreats) for monastic training organized by Soto Shu International: in 2008 at the Zen Temple La Gendronniere, and in  2012 at the Shogoji Temple, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. In 2014 he served as a Shuso, or head monk, during the summer Ango at the Sanshinji Temple, USA. In July 2014, he was confirmed as a Shuso during the Hosenshiki, or Dharma Combat ceremony, at the  Sanshinji Temple in the presence of Rev.  Genko Akiba Roshi. In March 2015, he received Dharma transmission from his Master Okumura Roshi. The Transmission was officially confirmed in July 2015 with the Zuise ceremony held at the Eiheihi and Sojiji Temples in Japan, and he received the title of  Kyoshi, or teacher authorized by Soto Shu Shumuko, the administrative body of the international Soto Zen. Since 2016 he has the title of  Kokusai fukyoshi, i.e. a teacher devoting himself to spreading the teachings of Soto Zen Buddhism outside Japan.

Especially interested in the interreligious dialogue, he co-operates with the National Office for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue of the Italian Episcopal Conference in connection with the Christian-Buddhist dialogue; with  DIM/MID (Monastic Interreligious Dialogue), and with the Fondazione Astalli in education to diversity and inter-religious dialogue in  secondary and high schools. He is regularly invited as guest speaker by the departments of Saint John's University and University of California in Rome. He made speeches at the Lateranense, Gregoriana and Urbaniana Pontifical Universities and La Sapienza University of Rome.

He has been one of the teachers of the First Triennial Study Course of Zen Buddhism (2020 - 2023), realized thanks to the contribution of the Italian Buddhist Union, with the patronage of the European Office of Soto Shu, in collaboration with some of the most prestigious international universities.

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