Episodes
Carolyn Jikai Dille has been a dedicated student of Buddhist practices for
30 years in the Soto Zen and the Early Buddhist Insight traditions. She
began teaching in dharma communities in 1998 and has studied with a variety
of teachers in the United States and Asia. Carolyn is a poet, writer, and
founding editor of Leaping Clear, www.leapingclear.org, a digital magazine
of the arts featuring artists with meditative and contemplative practices.
Published 06/14/21
Paula Jones first became a student of Jikoji founder Kobun Chino when she
attended the Santa Cruz Zendo in the mid-seventies. A year or two later
she, with her young daughter, moved into the residence with a changing
group of caretakers and friends, one of whom she later married. During and
after that time she attended sesshins at Hidden Villa with Kobun's students
from Los Altos, including Angie Boissevain, who some years later became her
teacher.
In the years that followed, she...
Published 05/23/21
David Shapiro became a student of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche in 1973, and
studied with him until his death in 1987. David was the founding director
of the Milwaukee Dharma Study Group, now the Shambhala Center, and was a
practicing internist for over 3 decades. He is currently involved with the
Light of Berotsana Translation Group and continues to practice within the
context of Tibetan Buddhism. For the last few years he has been involved in
the translation and publication of a number of...
Published 05/17/21
Carolyn Jikai Dille has been a dedicated student of Buddhist practices for
30 years in the Soto Zen and the Early Buddhist Insight traditions. She
began teaching in dharma communities in 1998 and has studied with a variety
of teachers in the United States and Asia. Carolyn is a poet, writer, and
founding editor of Leaping Clear, www.leapingclear.org, a digital magazine
of the arts featuring artists with meditative and contemplative practices.
Published 05/10/21
Meido Barbara Anderson is the Resident Guiding Teacher at O-An Zendo. She
began practicing meditation in 1967 soon after receiving her doctorate in
philosophy from Penn State University. She began her formal study and
practice of Zen with the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, receiving the Five
Precepts from him in 1994. In 2010 she received the Ten Grave Buddhist
Precepts from her guiding teacher Shoho Michael Newhall, abbot of Jikoji
and Dharma heir of Kobun Chino Roshi. She was ordained as...
Published 05/03/21
Ryotan Cynthia Kear (Horyu Ryotan - Dharma Stream Completely Overflowing)
has been practicing Soto Zen Buddhism for over 34 years. She received lay
ordination from Zen Center Abbot Paul Haller in 2004, and was priest
ordained (2008) and given Dharma Transmission (2010) by Darlene Cohen.
Published 04/26/21
Dan Zigmond is a Zen priest ordained by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi in 1998.
He is also a writer, father, and data scientist. He has practiced at San
Francisco Zen Center and Jikoji Zen Center, and studied a range of Dharma
traditions.
Published 04/18/21
Kokyo Henkel leads a new generation of Buddhist scholars and has been
practicing and teaching at San Francisco and Santa Cruz Zen Centers since
1990. Kokyo's interests include how the original, classic teachings of
Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan are still very much
alive and useful in present-day America for bringing peace and harmony to
this troubled world.
Published 04/11/21
Dogen Zenji writes, "At the very time of your sitting, you should examine
exhaustively whether the total world is vertical or horizontal. At that
very time, what is the sitting itself? Is it wheeling about in perfect
freedom? Is it like the spontaneous vigor of a leaping fish? Is it
thinking? Or not thinking? Is it doing? Is it nondoing?"
This sesshin will be a "Genzo-e", a concentrated study retreat on a chapter
of Dogen’s Shobogenzo. In this retreat we will investigate together...
Published 04/07/21
Misha Merrill is a Zen teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi of
the San Francisco Zen Center. She received Dharma Transmission from his
disciple, Les Kaye, in 1998, and since 1993 has been the guiding teacher of
Zen Heart Sangha on the Peninsula. Misha also teaches young children at the
Peninsula School of Menlo Park. She lives in the hills above Stanford with
her husband and four-footed friends, and joyfully cultivates a large
garden.
Jill Kaplan, born in Chicago, moved to...
Published 04/04/21
Carla Brennan, M.Ed., is an Insight Meditation teacher in Santa Cruz, CA.
She has trained in the Zen, Insight Meditation and Tibetan Buddhist
traditions since 1975. Carla is the Guiding Teacher for Bloom of the
Present Insight Meditation and teaches at other centers in the Bay Area. As
part of her Dharma teaching, Carla offers programs outdoors and encourages
her students to practice in nature. Carla also trains students in the
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with...
Published 03/28/21
Dan Zigmond is a Zen priest ordained by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi in 1998.
He is also a writer, father, and data scientist. He has practiced at San
Francisco Zen Center and Jikoji Zen Center, and studied a range of Dharma
traditions. He is currently the Director of Data Science at the Chan
Zuckerberg Initiative, and previously led teams at Instagram, Facebook,
YouTube, Google, and Microsoft. He is a contributing editor at Tricycle:
The Buddhist Review, author of the new book Buddha's...
Published 03/21/21
After meeting Jikoji founder Kobun Chino Roshi in Austria, Shoho received
priest ordination in 2000 from Vanja Palmers and traveled to USA/Tassajara
to receive training. Having studied at all three centers of the San
Francisco Zen Center, Shoho became a Jikoji resident in 2009. In 2010 she
joined her partner Kokyo Henkel to live at the Santa Cruz Zen Center. Since
then, she trained in the Tibetan Nyingma tradition, which led to her past
and current studies at the Rangjung Yeshe...
Published 03/14/21
Gerow Reece first sat with Yamada Reirin Roshi and the young monk, Maezumi
Sensei, in the old brick Zenshuji in Los Angeles in the early 60s. He then
practiced with Robert and Ann Aitken at Kokoan in their home in Honolulu.
Later, while studying in Kyoto, Japan, he sat at Antaiji with Uchiyama
Roshi and later with Morinaga Roshi at Daishu-in and Kobori Nanrei at
Ryoko-in, never settling on a teacher --until the arrival of his son. Gerow
serves ceremonial tea and occasionally teaches...
Published 03/07/21
Hobu Beata Chapman has practiced Zen with chronic nerve pain and
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for 29 years. She was ordained by
Katherine Thanas at Santa Cruz Zen Center and studied with Darlene Cohen
until her untimely death, receiving Dharma transmission from Tony Patchell
in 2013. Beata continues the Suffering & Delight groups for people with
chronic pain that Darlene founded around 25 years ago, and teaches upon
request at various center of practice. For more...
Published 02/28/21
Kokyo Henkel leads a new generation of Buddhist scholars and has been
practicing and teaching at San Francisco and Santa Cruz Zen Centers since
1990. Kokyo's interests include how the original, classic teachings of
Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan are still very much
alive and useful in present-day America for bringing peace and harmony to
this troubled world.
Published 02/21/21
Dan Zigmond is a Zen priest ordained by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi in 1998.
He is also a writer, father, and data scientist. He has practiced at San
Francisco Zen Center and Jikoji Zen Center, and studied a range of Dharma
traditions. He is currently the Director of Data Science at the Chan
Zuckerberg Initiative, and previously led teams at Instagram, Facebook,
YouTube, Google, and Microsoft. He is a contributing editor at Tricycle:
The Buddhist Review, author of the new book Buddha's...
Published 02/14/21
Carolyn Jikai Dille has been a dedicated student of Buddhist practices for
30 years in the Soto Zen and the Early Buddhist Insight traditions. She
began teaching in dharma communities in 1998 and has studied with a variety
of teachers in the United States and Asia. She holds dharma transmission
from Angie Enji Boissevain in the Phoenix Cloud lineage and graduated from
Spirit Rock’s CDL program.
Carolyn is a poet, writer, and founding editor of Leaping Clear,
www.leapingclear.org, a...
Published 02/07/21
Nehan-e is our annual silent meditation retreat held in honor of the
Buddha’s entering parinirvana, nirvana beyond death. This year, our
week-long sesshin will again be led by Carolyn Dille, a transmitted student
of Jikoji's founding director Angie Boissevain, continuing our tradition of
a Floating Zendo connection to Jikoji's Nehan-e. Portions of out Monday
program will be led by Paula Jones, from Floating Zendo San Diego.
Nehan-e this year focused on our bodhisattva vows, with the...
Published 02/07/21
Hobu Beata Chapman has practiced Zen with chronic nerve pain and
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for 29 years. She was ordained by
Katherine Thanas at Santa Cruz Zen Center and studied with Darlene Cohen
until her untimely death, receiving Dharma transmission from Tony Patchell
in 2013. Beata continues the Suffering & Delight groups for people with
chronic pain that Darlene founded around 25 years ago, and teaches upon
request at various center of practice. For more...
Published 01/17/21
Shoho Michael Newhall began practicing and studying with Kobun Chino
Otogawa Roshi in the early seventies, and was ordained by Kobun in the
mid-eighties. In the early nineties he was director at Jikoji Zen Center.
Throughout this time he taught visual arts at various schools and
universities, including Naropa University, where he also taught meditation
and Buddhism. Since that time, Mike has been the Resident Teacher and chief
priest at Jikoji
Published 12/20/20
Doug Jacobson began practicing Zen in Minneapolis in 1974 with Dainin
Katagiri Roshi, and had Jukai in 1977. He was a householder, father,
contractor, and civil engineer in Southern California for 25 years. Doug
came to Jikoji in 2008, and received priest ordination in 2010, and
transmission in 2015, from Shoho Michael Newhall. He currently serves
Jikoji as a teacher and resident. He also assists prisoners with Buddhist
practice.
Published 11/29/20
Rohatsu is the traditional winter sesshin commemorating Buddha’s
enlightenment. For the last decade, Jikoji has held silent Rohatsu
sesshins, initially led by Peter Szydlowski, in the Antaji-style, with no
talks, no service, and no chanting. This year, due to the pandemic, an all
silent sesshin was difficult, with so many of our Sangha isolated and even
alone.
For this Rohatsu, we took as our study text one of the pinnacles of
Mahayana Buddhism, the Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Ornament...
Published 11/29/20
Shoho Michael Newhall began practicing and studying with Kobun Chino
Otogawa Roshi in the early seventies, and was ordained by Kobun in the
mid-eighties. In the early nineties he was director at Jikoji Zen Center.
Throughout this time he taught visual arts at various schools and
universities, including Naropa University, where he also taught meditation
and Buddhism. Since that time, Mike has been the Resident Teacher and chief
priest at Jikoji
Published 11/22/20
Jundo Cohen is a Zen teacher and founder of the Treeleaf Zendo, a Sōtō Zen
community using visual media to link Zen practitioners around the world.
Treeleaf serves those who cannot easily commute to a Zen center due to
health concerns; age or disability; living in remote areas; or work,
childcare, or family needs; and provides zazen sittings, retreats,
discussion, interaction with a teacher, and all other activities of a Zen
Buddhist sangha, all fully online without thought of location...
Published 11/15/20