Geoffrey Ashton

Geoff Ashton is a Zen Roshi and Assistant Professor of Asian Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. He began his Zen training in 2004, learned the form of Mu-I Tai Chi from Stephen Dogi Kow Roshi, and received inka from Gordon Greene Roshi in 2020. He leads a Zen training group in San Francisco. 

Prior to USF, he was at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where he held an appointment as Assistant Professor of Asian Philosophy. Prof. Ashton has studied Sanskrit, Thai, and Spanish, and conducted research at numerous institutions abroad (twice as a Fulbright scholar), including Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi, India), Deccan College (Pune, India), the Jñāna-Pravaha Institute (Varanasi, India), Chiang Mai University (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand), and La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain). He has also been invited to present his research in India, Thailand, China, Singapore, Austria, Iceland, Poland, and England.

He has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and essays on Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Comparative Ethics, and Comparative Aesthetics. He currently has three main research agendas: Indian Philosophy of Religion, Buddhist Philosophy and Comparative Ethics, and Comparative Aesthetics.

Geoff has been instrumental in bringing Zen and Zen Leadership training into the curriculum of USF and has sponsored several IZL programs. He is a Zen master in Rinzai Zen, having received inka from Gordon Greene Roshi.