There is no "pope" or "Dalai Lama" in Zen Buddhism. In monasteries, the term Rōshi (lit. "older teacher") is used as a respectful honorific to a significantly older Zen teacher considered to have matured in wisdom and to have attained a superior understanding and expression of the Buddhist teachings. Zen emphasizes the relation between teacher and student, and a direct transmission of the core of the teachings between the two.
There is no Zen Buddhist leader in the way that, for example, the Pope is the spiritual leader of Roman Catholic Christians or the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. Zen Buddhism is the meditation school of Buddhism. The emphasis is on a practitioner's direct experience--not on accepting any specific creed or dogma or teachings. Though there are helpful ideas associated with the practice, they do not ultimately count. What counts is a student mastering the practice.
There is no one leader. There are a number of different schools of Zen, each with its own leader. For example, my Zen Center's lineage leads back to Myoshin-ji, a temple in Kyoto, Japan. The leader of our school is Joshu Sasaki-roshi.
There is no one leader of all Buddhists monks. Some Buddhist lineages have heads, such as the Dalia Lama, who leads the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism; but Buddhism is a not a centrally controlled religion, like Roman Catholicism.
Each monk, when they have learned the teachings of the Buddha (the Dharma) sufficiently and have reach sufficient stage of spiritual development will be given permission to teach others. Once a Monk receives transmission they could go to another location and being teaching other there.
The dress and customs make no difference as long as your mind is Buddhist and you practice Buddhist teaching.
There is no difference. Both have been ordained. However, there is a difference between a priest or monk who has been sanctioned to teach and one who hasn't. It's possible to call those who have been sanctioned to teach "priests" and those who haven't "monks." .
Yes, there are Buddhist nuns as well as monks. They're known as Bhikkhuni.
Zen (A Buddhist sect)
Buddhist civilians can wear whatever they want but monks are encouraged to were red or orange robes due to the fact Buddhists are supposed to live a simple life.
There are quite a few Zen Buddhist monasteries in PA. Below is a link to a list from DharmaWeb.
it actually helped the monks achieve zen
Buddhist monks are allowed to take only their robes and the tipitaka into a temple
Buddhist monks invented Katakana in the early Heian Period (794 to 1185) by Buddhist monks.
Only somewhat in Zen. The art of Bonsai growing started in China. Chinese Chan Buddhist came to Japan and the Japanese that adopted Buddhism modified it slightly and it became Zen Buddhism. Finding beauty in austerity, Zen monks - with less land forms as a model -- developed their tray landscapes along certain lines so that a single tree in a pot could represent the universe.
Zen buddhist
Zen Buddhists meditate in Temples.