Fred Sen Ki Gruau is passionate about zazen, which he has practiced since 1988. He was ordained as a Zen monk by Master Kosen in 1993.
Every summer since 1989, without interruption, he has stayed for the full month of the Kosen Sangha’s Northern Hemisphere summer camp. From 1993 to 2001, he also attended the Southern Hemisphere summer camp. From 1996 to 2007, he managed the Kosen Sangha website in collaboration with Henri Mouillefarine.
Around 2013, Fred developed a new method for making the monks’ soup, which became standard practice.
From 1996 until Master Kosen’s death in 2025, Fred practiced daily at his dojo, first in Amsterdam and then in Montpellier. In May 2026, he received Dharma transmission (shiho) from Master Christophe Ryurin Desmur at Yujo Nyusanji Temple, in accordance with Master Kosen’s wishes.
Since 2021, Fred has organized fasting sesshin in a tipi, immersed in nature in the wild Camargue.
Fred is married to Paula Reikilu Femenias. They have two children, Ella (born in 2002) and Eno (born in 2007).
In 2016, Fred and Paula launched “Zazoom”, a way to practice Zen on Zoom. During the lockdown in 2020, this online dojo welcomed the entire Sangha. It later settled into a regular schedule of about eight time slots in Europe and another eight in Latin America. Following Master Kosen’s death, it hosted the traditional 49 days of zazen.
Fred is also passionate about his computer science research project. In 2001, he obtained a faculty position teaching and conducting research in computer science at Paris-Saclay University. Since then, his train journeys between Montpellier and Paris have added up to more than a round trip to the moon—and he practices… zazen on the train, too!