Dana was founded in the Paris suburb of Montreuil in 1994 by Roshi Catherine Genno Pagès, a lineage holder in the Soto school, to offer regular Zen teaching and meditation in an urban setting. Its members form a community of lay practitioners who honor the integrity of the ancient Zen tradition while integrating the practice into daily, modern life. Catherine Genno Pagès Roshi is the first dharma heir of the American Zen master Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi, who is a successor of the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi, founder of the Zen Center of Los Angeles.