Taisen Deshimaru’s way of bringing Zen to Europe rested first of all on direct, face‑to‑face transmission. He taught zazen and gave lectures, led intensive retreats (sesshin), and offered personal guidance, presenting Soto Zen in a form that emphasized practice over abstraction. His teaching style preserved the centrality of seated meditation while making it intelligible to Western students, showing that Zen could be lived rather than merely studied. Through these encounters, many Europeans encountered an authentic lineage rooted in his transmission from Kodo Sawaki, yet expressed in a language and manner that spoke to their own cultural context.

Alongside this living encounter, Deshimaru devoted himself to building enduring structures for practice. He founded numerous dojos and Zen centers across Europe, with a strong base in France, and helped establish the Association Zen Internationale (AZI) to coordinate and support these communities. A key element of this institutional work was the creation of La Gendronnière, a major temple in France that served as a focal point for sesshin and sustained training. These centers and the broader association provided a stable framework in which lay practitioners and ordained disciples could deepen their engagement with Zen.

Deshimaru also ensured continuity by ordaining European monks and nuns, thereby nurturing a generation of teachers capable of transmitting the practice in their own languages and cultures. Through regular sesshin and daily zazen in the dojos, these disciples embodied and carried forward the discipline he had introduced. His many talks and writings, later published as books, extended his influence far beyond those who could practice with him directly, allowing readers across Europe to encounter his presentation of Soto Zen. In this way, a living network of practitioners, institutions, and texts took root, enabling Zen to become an integral part of the European spiritual landscape rather than a passing curiosity.