The Head of the Order is respected as the most senior member of the Order, and is a key figure in the functioning of the Order. The Head of the Order serves both as the spiritual leader of the Order, providing a critical refuge point for all who practice within the Order, monastic and lay alike, and also as, in conjunction with the Order officers and the senior monks of the Order, its administrative center. His function and range of authority are defined in the Rules of the Order.

Reverend Master Koten Benson is the current Head of our monastic Order. He is a Dharma heir of Reverend Master Jiyu-Kennett. He was born in 1955 in Newfoundland, Canada, where he attended Memorial University of Newfoundland, earning a B.A. in Anthropology.

On July 4, 1978 he was ordained as a monk by Reverend Master Jiyu at Shasta Abbey, was transmitted in Dec.1979, and named as a Master by her in 1983 and ratified in Oct.1985. While at Shasta Abbey, he cared for the Abbey’s herd of milk goats, was Novice Master, and served for many years as a chaplain and research assistant to Reverend Master Jiyu. He is her official biographer.

In 1986 he became the prior of Lions Gate Buddhist Priory in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 2007 the Priory moved to Lytton in the British Columbia Interior, where he now resides. He has three monastic disciples. He was elected Head of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives in April of 2025.