Otogawa, who preferred to be called by his first name, rather than by either of the Japanese Zen honorifics: sensei (teacher) or roshi (master),[2] came to San Francisco, California, United States, from Japan in 1967 in response to an invitation from Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, serving as his assistant at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970.

He moved to Los Altos and began teaching there at the Haiku Zendo shortly after leaving Tassajara, in the late summer of 1970.

After Suzuki's death in 1971, Otogawa became the official head of Haiku Zen Center (soon after incorporated under the name Bodhi) in Los Altos, remaining there as teacher until 1978.

He went on to establish another center, Hokoji, in Arroyo Seco near Taos, New Mexico,[3] taught regularly at Naropa University, and returned periodically to Bodhi to lead retreats.

[13]During a shosan (a formal public question-and-answer session) Angie Boissevain came before Otogawa with a question that had been burning within her all morning.

But after she made the customary three bows and knelt before him she found her mind utterly blank, the question gone.

[12] Shortly after September 11, 2001, Otogawa was the honored guest at the weekly meeting of the sangha which would become Everyday Dharma Zen Center.

A visibly distraught young woman asked, "How can I deal with the enormous fear and anger that I feel about what happened?"

"[12] As a master of kyūdō (Japanese archery),[14] Otogawa was asked to teach a course at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.

The arrow sailed high over the target, went past the railing, beyond the cliff, only to plunge into the ocean far below.