Trinity Zen Teachers

Garret Condon M’87, is associate chaplain for Buddhist life at Trinity College and co-coordinator of the Trinity Zen Group. He helped found the group in 1997. He is a longtime member of the New Haven Zen Center. He became a dharma teacher in the Kwan Um School of Zen in 1997. He recently retired as director of system communications at Hartford HealthCare. A graduate of Providence College, he has an master’s from Trinity College and an MPH from UConn. He and his wife live in West Hartford. Garret can be contacted by emailing [email protected].

John Elias is associate chaplain for Buddhist life at Trinity College and co-coordinator of the Trinity Zen Group. He helped found the group in 1997. He is a longtime member of the New Haven Zen Center and became a dharma teacher in 2004. John, a Duke University graduate and Vietnam War veteran, is a retired computer engineer. He and his wife live in Plainville.

In addition to the two co-coordinators of Trinity Zen, the group is co-sponsored by the New Haven Zen Center and the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life at Trinity.

Jok Um Zen Master (Ken Kessel), guiding teacher of the New Haven Zen Center, received inka in April 1996 and received Dharma transmission (became a Zen Master) in April, 2016. He has studied with Zen Master Seung Sahn since 1975. He has an MSW degree and has been practicing as a psychotherapist since 1983. He lives in New York. He has been leading retreats at Trinity College for several years.

Paul Bloom is a senior dharma teacher at the New Haven Zen Center. Paul has practiced meditation since 1975. In 1994, Zen Master Seung Sahn authorized him as a senior dharma teacher. Paul lives in New Haven with his wife, Millie Grenough, a life coach, author and motivational expert. He graduated from Brandeis and Yale and is the principal of the furniture and interior design firm Bloom Design LLC. He is a poet, musician and photographer.

Keith Angilly is the head dharma teacher of the New Haven Zen Center. He is a senior dharma teacher in the Kwan Um School of Zen and lives in Meriden, CT with his wife and son.