Paths of Practice: Conversations on Journeys into Buddhism

Yogi Acharya Lama Gursam Rinpoche was born in India and received a monastic education from the age of six. He went on to study at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. He graduated at the top of his class, receiving honors from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Thereafter, he taught language and philosophy at the Drikung Kagyu Institute in Dehradun, serving His Holiness Chetsang Rinpoche for six years.

In 1995, he was invited to teach in the United States. He has taught and travelled extensively for...

Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a mindfulness and Dharma teacher who also practices corporate real estate law. Although he was exposed to meditation as a child, he found his own practice when, after law school, he found himself working at high-powered law firms where the job was extremely stressful.

Gullu completed the four-year Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teacher Training Program and qualified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Gullu is core faculty in the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training, the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner Program, and a mentor for the Sounds True Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. He is also...

The Venerable Lobzang Dorje, Leon E. Pettiway, Ph.D., began his dharma studies in January 1999 and took refuge under the guidance of Kyabje Dagom Rinpoche in May of that year. In 2002, he received Getsul (Novice) Vows in Kathmandu, Nepal, and took Gelong Vows (full ordination) in Switzerland from Kyabje Dagom Rinpoche in 2005. While he has studied with and has received numerous empowerments from many Gelug teachers, he also had the opportunity to study at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Centre of Buddhist Studies in Kathmandu, where he studied Tibetan and Buddhist Philosophy.

As the founder of Dagom Geden Kunkyob...

Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez is a professor of Humanities and Digital Society at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja-UNIR and a Jōdo Shinshū priest that serves Jinen-Kō, an online community of Portuguese and Spanish speaking folk who are interested in learning and practicing the Dharma, or teachings, of Pure Land Buddhism. For more information about Jinen-Kō, please see the following link: https://jodoshinshu.org/

We discussed modern ritual elements of Jōdo Shinshū and how 'the periphery can influence the center,' ritual archaeology and how some sanghas enact “lost” rituals, online dharma with Jinen-Kō and engaging with a...

Rev. Hibiki Junkyo Murakami serves as an Associate Minister at the Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. He was born and raised as the oldest son of Jonen-ji Temple in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan. Rev. Murakami received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Shin Buddhism from Ryukoku University in Kyoto in 2016 and 2018 respectively. He received Tokudo ordination in 2013 and Kyoshi certification in 2015. His Buddhist name is Shaku Junkyo.

Rev. Murakami completed the International Ministerial Orientation Program (IMOP) at the Jodo Shinshu Center in Berkeley, CA in 2018. Upon completion of his IMOP studies in January 2020, he was assigned to t...

Rev. Nyoze Kwong serves as abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center (Genjo-ji) in Santa Rosa, CA.

Kwong-roshi received a B.A. in Anthropology/Archeology from University of California Santa Cruz. He worked as a fundraiser in Stanford University’s Engineering Department. In 1998, he lived and worked at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico and studied socially engaged Buddhism with Joan Halifax-roshi and Bernie Glassman-roshi of the Zen Peacemaker Order for two and a half years. Nyoze received lay precepts in 1987 at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center. In 2009 he was ordained as a novice monk by Jakusho Kw...

Sensei José Shinzan Palma was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He is an ordained Zen priest and the Dharma successor of Roshi Joan Jiko Halifax. He met Korean Zen teacher, Ven. Samu Sunim in Mexico City in 1996, and then trained in the Buddhist Maitreya Seminary while living in the Toronto Zen Buddhist Temple where he stayed until 2005. He was ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest by Ven. Samu Sunim in 2004.

Shinzan arrived at Upaya Zen Center in 2006 where he lived and trained for over 8 years as a resident and student of Roshi Joan. He received Dharma transmission from R...

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher with a lifelong interest in blending spirituality and meditation with social justice. Having grown up in an ecumenical Christian community where families practiced a new kind of monasticism and worked with the poor, at the age of twenty-five she entered a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition and spent fifteen years living as a nun under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She received Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh and became a Zen teacher in 2007, and is also a teacher in the Vipassana Insight lineage through Spirit Rock...

Rev. Blayne Higa is the Resident Minister of the Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple in Kealakekua on the Big Island of Hawaii. He holds a Master of Divinity from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California with a focus on Shin Buddhist ministry and chaplaincy. He has been a contributor to Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, and Buddhadharma, and is a frequent speaker and seminar leader at Buddhist communities in Hawaii and around the nation.

Rev. Blayne received Tokudo ordination and Kyoshi certification from the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha in Kyoto, Japan. He is the Chair of the Committee on...

Rev. Shinshu Roberts is a Dharma Heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She received her priest training at San Francisco Zen Center and from the North American branch of the Japanese Soto School. She has been appointed Kokusaifukyoshi (International Dharma Teacher) by the Shumucho (Japanese Soto Administration). She co-founded Ocean Gate Zen Center in Capitola, CA with her spouse Jaku Kinst. She is the author of Being-Time: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji and Meeting the Myriad Things A Zen Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Genjokoan (upcoming release on 8/19/2025).

We...

Rev. Teijo Munnich is a Soto Zen priest serving the Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple sangha based in Alexander, North Carolina, as well as the Zen Center of Asheville and Charlotte Zen Meditation Society. Rev. Teijo is a disciple and dharma heir of Rev Dainin Katagiri. She studied with him from 1975 until his death in 1990, receiving formal training at Hokyoji (Catching the Moon Zen Mountain Center) in Minnesota, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California and Hosshinji Sodo in Obama, Japan. Rev. Munnich was ordained as a Zen priest in 1981. In 1983, she began to envision a practice center and co...

Dawn Mauricio (she/her), a Filipina-Canadian, has been practicing and studying Insight Meditation since 2005. She graduated from the first teacher development group of True North Insight, Spirit Rock's Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training, Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practitioners' Program, and Spirit Rock's 4-year Retreat Teacher Training. She teaches with a playful, dynamic, and heartfelt approach to People of Color and folks of all backgrounds. Dawn leads retreats, multi-year programs, and workshops in Canada and the US for Spirit Rock, True North Insight, and Sacred Mountain Sangha. Dawn is a co-founder of the True North Insight BIPOC practice group, serves on...

Rev. Chimyo Atkinson is a Soto Zen priest that serves the Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple in Alexander, NC, as well as sanghas and centers throughout the United States and internationally. Rev. Chimyo was ordained by Rev. Teijo Munnich in 2007 and received Dharma Transmission in 2015. She received monastic training at Great Tree Temple and completed two Sotoshu International training periods (angos) in Japan in 2010 and 2011, two additional angos at Aichi Senmon Nisodo in Nagoya in 2012 and one ango at Ryumonji Monastery in Iowa in 2014. Chimyo served as Head of Practice at Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple and volu...

Rev. CJ Sokugan Dunford (they/them/theirs) is a Jōdo Shinshū minister serving as minister's assistant at the Berkeley Buddhist Temple and Tokudo minister at the Buddhist Temple of Marin. Rev. CJ recently completed a Doctorate of Ministry degree at the Pacific School of Religion and teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Rev. CJ works towards establishing practical Jodo Shinshu frameworks of spiritual care for LGBTQ+ folks that can be utilized by both leadership and laypersons in various sangha settings ranging from traditional temple structures, to smaller LGBTQ+ focused healing & support groups and organizes the annual Transgender Da...

Rev. Cyndi Jikaku Yasaki is a Jōdo Shinshū minister that serves the White River Buddhist Temple based in Auburn, WA. Rev. Cyndi completed her Certificate in Shin Buddhism from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Spring 2019 and received the first level of ordination, Tokudo, in Kyoto, Japan in Summer 2019. She married her husband, Rev. Tadao Koyama, in 2020 and moved with him to Tacoma, WA upon his ministerial assignment as the Resident Minister of the Tacoma Buddhist Temple. Rev. Cyndi received her Masters in Arts in Buddhist Studies from IBS and her second level of ordination, Kyoshi, in 2022.

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Fresh “Lev” White is a love and compassion activist. He offers mindfulness, mediation, and diversity trainings as tools for shifting towards more authentic, conscious, and passionate living. He teaches and writes about how unconditional love and self-compassion are the ultimate gateways to honoring and understanding others; thus, healing our communities and our planet. For more information about Lev, please see the following link: https://affirmativeacts.org/ Please also see below for links to some of the organizations Lev mentions as resources: Dark and Tender | Official Trailer | The Chronically UnderTouched (CUT) Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24WVJLqe7A Dh...

Rev. Myozen Joan Amaral is a Soto Zen priest and the Founder and Guiding Teacher of the Zen Center North Shore located in Beverly, MA. Joan is a dharma heir of Zenkei Blanche Hartman in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi. Joan trained at Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery for six years. While in residency at San Francisco Zen Center, she formed a dharma group – Dharma en Español – devoted to studying Suzuki Roshi’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind in Spanish (Mente Zen, Mente de Principiante), in order to provide the opportunity for native Spanish speakers to hear the dharma in...

Rev. Dr. Duncan Ryūken Williams is a Soto Zen priest and the Professor of Religion and East Asian Languages & Cultures as well as the Director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture. Dr. Williams is the author of American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War, The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Soto Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan, and the editor of seven volumes including Hapa Japan, Issei Buddhism in the Americas, American Buddhism, and Buddhism and Ecology. He has also translated four books from Japanese i...

Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez is a professor of Humanities and Digital Society at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja-UNIR and a Jōdo Shinshū priest that serves Jinen-Kō, an online community of Portuguese and Spanish speaking folk who are interested in learning and practicing the Dharma, or teachings, of Pure Land Buddhism. For more information about Jinen-Kō and the European Shin Conference 2025, please see the following link: https://jodoshinshu.org/

We talked about the ever-changing nature of the past, initially taking refuge within the Vajrayāna tradition, finding a “livable” practice in Jōdo Shinshū, how rituals within Jōdo...

Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a secular mindfulness and Buddhist teacher working primarily with justice activists and BIPOC meditation practitioners as well as with people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Mushim is a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California, and has been published in Lion's Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma and various anthologies. Mushim's training and practice have roots in Korean Zen (Seon or Sŏn Buddhism) and Vipassanā, among others. For more information, please visit www.mushimikeda.com. We discussed 'prefigurative activism,' transitioning from a monastic Korean Zen practice to Insight/Vipassanā, mindfulness practices for car...

Bonbu Stories is an Asian American arts collaborative dedicated to using music as a medium for raw storytelling and building connections. Featured on the podcast are Sydney Shiroyama, Miharu Okamura, and Miko Shudo. For more information about the group, please see the following link:

https://bonbustories.art/

Please also see the following link for "Lantern Song" by Bonbu Stories:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZMJ39gNHU0

We talked about the process of writing and choreographing Lantern Song, finding “home” and connection with different Jodo Shinshu Buddhist sanghas whil...

Rev. Gyokei Yokoyama is a Soto Zen priest that currently serves as Kokusai Fukyoshi (International Missionary) of Sozenji Buddhist Temple in Montebello, California. Gyokei also serves as the Secretary of Soto Zen Buddhism North America and as a board member of the Association of Soto Zen Buddhists (ASZB) and Soto Zen Buddhist North America (SZBA).Gyokei is the former minister of the Long Beach Buddhist Church, a non-denominational Japanese American Buddhist Church, and the former abbot of Iwoji temple, Shinshiro, Aichi Pref., Japan. Additionally, Gyokei has been a supporting teacher at Angel City Zen Center in Los Angeles and...

Rev. Liên Shutt is an ordained Soto Zen priest and Dharma teacher in the tradition of Shunryū Suzuki Roshi. Born to a Buddhist family in Vietnam, Rev. Liên trained in the Insight and Zen traditions in the U.S., Thailand, Japan, and Vietnam. Rev. Liên co-founded Buddhists of Color in 1998 and currently is the founder and guiding teacher of Access to Zen, an anti-racist, inclusive sangha and non-profit in the San Francisco Bay Area (AccessToZen.org). Rev. Liên is also the co-host of the podcast, Opening Dharma Access, and the author of Home Is Here: Pract...

Rev. Myozan Ian Kilroy is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and a Dharma heir of Taigu Turlur Roshi, in the lineage of Nishijima Roshi and Rempo Niwa Zenji. Rev. Myozan serves the Zen Buddhism Ireland sangha, where he is the founding teacher and abbot at Dublin Zen Centre. Rev. Myozan is the founding president of the Irish Buddhist Union and represents Buddhism on the Dublin City Interfaith Forum. In early 2025, Rev. Myozan's book "Do Not Try to Become a Buddha: Practicing Zen Right Where You Are" will be available via Wisdom Publications. (https://wisdomexperience.org/product/do-not-try-to-become-a-buddha/).

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Rev. Monshin Paul Naamon is the abbot and co-founder of the Tendai Buddhist Institute (Jiunzan Tendaiji), an officially recognized branch temple of Enryakuji Temple on Mt. Hiei located in East Chatham, NY.

We discuss the feng shui and geographical history of the Tendai Buddhist Institute’s location, finding what was missing in Zen in America within Tendai in Japan, converting a horse barn into a Hondo, ritual and meditation as informing each other, and the importance of finding and connecting with the bodhisattva 'superheroes' living among us.

Roshi June Ryushin Tanoue is a Zen Buddhist priest and the co-founder of Zen Life & Meditation Center based in Chicago, IL. June Roshi is also a Kumu Hula (Master Teacher of Hula) and the founder of Halau I Ka Pono, the Hula School of Chicago. For more information about June Roshi and the Zen Life & Meditation Center, please see the following links:

https://www.zlmc.org/

https://www.lionsroar.com/the-hula-sutra/

We talk about the connections between hula and Zen practice, maternal family histories and the sacred feminine, recognizing Kaiona...

Wendy Dainin Lau, MD, is an Emergency Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician and an ordained Zen priest that serves the Upaya Zen Center sangha in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dainin is also the author of Inner Practice of Medicine, which compiles the lessons that she has been gathering throughout her time as a doctor and teacher of doctors. For more information about Dainin and the Upaya Zen Center, please see the following link: https://www.upaya.org/

We discuss Shuso Hossen-Shiki ceremonies, the learning and healing exchange occurring while treating Roshi Joan Halifax's recent injury, Upaya’s No...

Sangen Salo is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and teacher that serves as abbot of Sanneji based in Karjaa, Finland. Sangen sensei is also Sante Poromaa Roshi’s first Dharma heir in the lineage of Roshi Philip Kapleau and teaches at the Helsinki Zen Center as well as other zendos in the Sanneji network.

We talk about the connections between Zen practice and playing the shakuhachi, learning from Sante Poromaa Roshi and the deep sense of understanding and connection between teacher and student, participating in takuhatsu (alms-gathering) in Japan with a lightly sprained ankle, and practicing not ju...

Zenzele Isoke, PhD, is a black feminist theorist, urban ethnographer, and political storyteller and serves as an Associate Professor in The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland in College Park. Dr. Isoke practices meditation in the Insight and Zen traditions, with experience practicing at the Clouds and Water Zen Center and Common Ground Meditation Center.

We talk about the heart-opening qualities of Christianity and Buddhism, deepening an understanding of form and emptiness while chanting at George Floyd’s funeral, incorporating breath and mindfulness techniques into university courses about racial tr...

Gillian Coote, Roshi, is a social documentary filmmaker, writer, grandmother and bush regenerator, and serves the Sydney Zen Centre sangha as a senior resident teacher.

We talk about camping out during sesshins amongst iguanas and noisy koalas, weeding and removing invasive species as part of Buddhist practice, synchronicities and meeting Robert Aitken Roshi, how she's weaved architecture and house building projects into her life, and the rewards of following your curiosity.

Rev. Kanse Capon Shonin, a Nichiren Shu priest, serves the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Temple of UK located in Dagenham, Essex.

We discuss celebrating Oeshiki and hosting members of the European Nichiren Shu sangha network, the closer-than-family relationship between master and disciple, embarking on a more than 300 mile pilgrimage from Penzance to Dagenham, the legacy of Captain John M. James, and cultivating a faith that's "like water."

Jinzu Minna Jain (they/them) is an artist, writer, and racial & systemic equity educator. They identify as BIPOC, disabled, queer and trans/nonbinary. Jinzu has been practicing Sōtō Zen Buddhism for over twenty years and is a novice priest at Clouds in Water Zen Center. They are also the Director of Learning & Development with Real Transformation Today, a racial equity education and consulting group. Jinzu is mostly curious about how Zen practice can help us be human well, meet ourselves and one another complexly, and enjoy our little lives a little more. They wish to break down barriers to...

Catherine Raynor Brown is a sangha member of the Karma Kagyu Thigsum Chokhorling (or Karma Choeling Buddhist Monastery), a study, practice and retreat centre in the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism based in Waitoki, New Zealand. https://kagyu.org.nz/

We discuss the recent passing of the monastery's founding teacher and observing 49 days of prayer, traditional Tibetan healthcare and medicine, best practices for stupa renovations, a buddha statue's eye opening ceremony with blessings from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and remembering that "it's okay."

Shosan Victoria Austin is an international Soto Zen priest that serves the San Francisco Zen Center sangha as a Dharma teacher, previously fulfilling the roles of Work Leader, Tenzo, Tanto, and President. Victoria is also a certified Senior Intermediate teacher within the Iyengar Yoga tradition.

We talk about participating in abbot stepping up and down ceremonies, the differences between guilt and responsibility, Iyengar Yoga, developing and providing accessible zazen postures for all bodies, viewing the body as organized by committee, and acting on what you feel is true and needed.

Rev. Kodai Haga (Sen) leads the Rinzai Zen Mission, which is based in Paia, Maui.

We talk about surfing as a way of becoming one with nature, visiting other temples and traditions within the Hawaiian Buddhist temple network, growing up in a temple family and reconnecting with Buddhism after college, monastic training at Enkaku-ji and koan study, "moonbows" and pig feet stew, and the question of how to teach Japanese Buddhism in an American context.

So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson is a resident priest at the San Francisco Zen Center and serves as the Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for the City Center, Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Eli also teaches mindfulness to BIPOC grade school children and regularly instructs at SFZC's Young Urban Zen.

We discuss learning more about what it is to be human through a deep cleaning of the kitchen at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the importance of finding a teacher that resonates with you, jukai and embodying the precepts, the heart-mind of children, male identity and...

Josan Janis Cooke Newman is the author of the memoir, The Russian Word for Snow, and two novels: Mary; Mrs. A. Lincoln and A Master Plan for Rescue. Janis also teaches creative writing, offering courses like Writing and Mindfulness: Cultivating a Daily Practice through the San Francisco Zen Center, and founded Lit Camp, a writer's conference that takes place at the Esalen Institute. Janis also founded Creative Caffeine Daily, an online writing community.

We talk about memoir writing and Zen, being a ‘baby Buddhist,’ the joyful experience of sewing a rakusu, the impact of taking lay ordination prec...

Shodhin Geiman, PhD, serves as abbot of the Chicago Zen Center and as Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University. Shodhin is the author of Alone in a World of Wounds: A Dharmic Response to the Ills of Sentient Beings as well as Obstacles to Stillness: Thoughts, Hindrances, and Self-Surrender in Evagrius and the Buddha.

We discuss 'Midwestern Zen,' Chicago Zen Center’s 50th anniversary, the fundamental role of dokusan in Zen practice, and viewing the bodhisattva vows from a place of egolessness.

Jaune Evans is a Soto Zen priest and senior teacher at the Everyday Zen Foundation. Jaune also serves as guiding teacher of the Heart of Compassion Zen Sangha in Point Reyes, California.

We talk about exploring light and air as photography subjects, early experiences with the White Plum Asanga, developing a connection with the Everyday Zen Foundation and teacher Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Issan Dorsey's beautiful heart, and how her work during the AIDS epidemic and her work with indigenous American communities has impacted her practice.

Shinkō Andreas Hagn is a Soto Zen priest, who serves the Daijihi Soto Zen Sangha in Vienna, Austria. Shinkō also operates two businesses: Plantago and Shinkoko – Fine things from Japan. See below for links to their respective websites as well as Shinkō's personal website. We talk about incorporating a prison rehabilitation program into Daijihi’s Japanese tea business, sitting sesshin in the Black Forest and connecting with Avalokiteshvara, the practice of everyday life, Shōhaku Okumura and beneficial action, and the experience of establishing a Soto Zen sangha in Vienna. https://www.daijihi.org/en/home-english/ https://plantago.at/ http...