Bernie Glassman (born January 18, 1939), aka Tetsugen Bernard Glassman, is an American Zen Buddhist roshi and co-founder of the Zen Peacemakers (previously the Zen Peacemaker Order), an organization established in 1996 with his late wife Sandra Jishu Holmes. Glassman is a Dharma successor of the late Taizan Maezumi-roshi, and has to date given inka and Dharma transmission to several people.
Glassman has become known for his “street retreats”—excursions by Glassman and others into the streets for weeks at a time to live amongst the homeless.
According to author James Ishmael Ford, as of 2006 he has …transferred his leadership of the White Plum Asanga to his Dharma brother Merzel Roshi and has formally “disrobed,” renouncing priesthood in favor of serving as a lay teacher and leader of what is now called the Zen Peacemaker Family.