[1][3] While still in high school, he encountered his teacher, Mumon Yamada, while running an errand for his father to Myōshin-ji.
[1] After college he entered Shofukuji and began his training in 1962 under Rinzai Zen master and Japanese calligrapher Mumon Yamada,[2] from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1982.
[1][3] In 1982 he was sent by Mumon to Sogen-ji to help an elderly abbot tend to the building and training schedules, which is the main of the four pillars where he is still teaching now.
In September 1989, Harada came to the United States to provide instruction for students and in 1995 founded Tahoma Sogenji Zen Monastery on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, where the practice mirrors the practices found at Sogen-ji.
The fourth pillar is Hokuozan Sogenji in Asendorf, Germany, being the central place for the many One Drop groups all over Europe.