Pedro Kaiten Piquero was born in 1976, exactly 38 years before the death of his master Gudo Wafu Nishijima, of whom he was the last disciple. In 2017, he received Dharma transmission in Japan from Venerable Peter Rodo Rocca in the lineage of Nishijima Roshi. He is president of the Dogen Sangha in Spain and director of the Zendo Gudo, as well as an active member and guest lecturer of the Dharma Voices for Animals organization.

For more information about Venerable Kaiten and the above organizations, please see the following links:

Zendo Gudo

https://zendogudo.es/

Dharma Voices for Animals

https://www.dharmavoicesforanimals.org/

We discussed perfectionism and classical piano, animal rights and having compassion for the bull and the bullfighter, impermanence and the relief in knowing that you'll be forgotten in 100 years, and the importance of taking your time.

Rev. Shudo Paula Lazarz is a 6th degree Black Sash in Shaolin Kung Fu and an ordained priest in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. Her over two decades of study in the martial arts and Buddhist practice has been an exploration of the idea of the historical Shaolin Temple, culminating in Warrior’s Path Buddhist Academy. Paula is a co-owner of Energy Fitness, Inc., Head Instructor at HealthKick Kung Fu and a Practice Leader at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate.

For more information about Paula and the above organizations, please see the following links:

Ancient Dragon Zen Gate

https://www.ancientdragon.org

Warrior's Path Buddhist Academy 

https://warriorspathacademy.org

HealthKick Kung Fu 

https://healthkickkungfu.com

We discussed how practicing martial arts in tandem with Chan/Zen peels back the onion layers of our humanity and reveals our true nature, feeling a sense of homecoming while visiting Shaolin Temple as well as Green Dragon Temple/Green Gulch Farm, lay ordination and female representation in sangha leadership, and the importance of remembering that difficulty is part of the training.

Mindy Newman, MA, MTS, LMHC, is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice. She has an MA in counseling psychology from Lesley University and an MTS in world religion from Harvard University. A committed practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, Newman began her dharma study with Lama Migmar Tseten in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has studied with other profound teachers in both the Sakya and Gelug traditions. She is a graduate of Nalanda Institute’s Contemplative Psychotherapy Program and teaches meditation as part of the institute’s Introduction to Meditation series at Tibet House. Newman was recently one of Tricycle’s online dharma talk leaders and has written several pieces for Tricycle as a contributor. She also coordinates Nalanda Institute’s Counseling and Mentoring Referral Network and is passionate about making Buddhist psychotherapy more widely accessible.

For more information about Mindy and her work with Tricycle, please see the following links:

https://www.mindynewman.com/

https://tricycle.org/author/mindy-newman/

Please also see the following link for Geshe Tenzin Zopa's website:

http://www.tenzinzopa.com/

We talked about preparing for a pilgrimage to Bhutan and how sharing reflections with others can strengthen the pilgrimage experience, Geshe Tenzin Zopa and being drawn towards Vajrayana practice, grief and exploring Māyādevī through both inner and outer journeys, and the importance of remembering that the Buddhist journey can be messy.

Roland sensei was born in Richmond B.C. He attended the Steveston Buddhist temple and the Calgary Buddhist temple when his family moved there in the 1970’s. He is a retired physician who worked in senior’s care (Geriatric Medicine). While an active temple member all his life he started studying Buddhism more seriously in 2016. He received his first level ordination (Tokudo) in Japan in 2019 and his second level ordination (Kyoshi) in 2022. Besides his temple life he enjoys golf in the summer and is trying to learn the Taiko. He is married to Brenda and has two adult children.

For more information about the Buddhist Temple of Southern Alberta (BTSA), please check out the following link: https://www.thebtsa.com/

We discussed internment and the Japanese Canadian diaspora, the development of the BTSA as an amalgamation of other temples in the region, growing up in a temple family and asking for ministerial advice from his younger brother, geriatric medicine and transitioning from a career as a physician to becoming a minister, temple outreach and the impact that an enthusiastic young adult temple group has had on community building, and the importance of taking that step of trying out something new that interests you.

Rev. Michael Tran is an ordained Buddhist minister with over 30 years of Buddhist study and practice, and more than a decade of experience in spiritual care. His training includes lineages in Chinese Ch’an (Japanese Zen), Pure Land, and Tibetan Nyingma traditions, which inform his compassionate and inter-traditional approach to service. He holds a B.A. in East Asian Cultures from UC Irvine and an M.Div. in Buddhist Chaplaincy from University of the West, and completed Clinical Pastoral Education at USC Arcadia Hospital.

Rev. Tran is ordained through the International Order of Buddhist Ministers and currently serves as a hospice chaplain, bereavement coordinator, and spiritual counselor. He is a board member and Chief Operations Officer of the Bodhiyana Buddhist Chaplain Fellowship and serves on the ritual teams of Kuang Min Buddhist Association in La Puente and Quan Yum Temple in Los Angeles Chinatown. His work centers on healing, presence, and service across communities.

For Rev. Michael's blog (The Buddha Wears Glasses), please check out the following link: www.sgvbuddhism.wordpress.com

For more information about the Bodhiyana Buddhist Chaplain Fellowship, please check out the following link: www.bbcf84000.org

We talked about Buddhism in the San Gabriel Valley and “3-in-1 Combo” temples, chaplaincy and applying Pure Land teachings to hospice care clients and meeting their needs, recognizing ancestors as temple tenants and protectors through their lotus seats, The Buddha Wears Glasses blog and highlighting the nuanced Buddhist experience, and the importance of sangha, exploring, and the benefits of engaging with monastics.

Rev. Tony Truong serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors and Temple Minister at Ming Ya Buddhist Foundation in Los Angeles, where he supports the community’s liturgical life and daily operations. Ordained as a Lay Minister in 2018 through the International Center for Chinese Buddhist Culture and Education, his path has been shaped by his family’s deep ties to Chinese Buddhist Chan and Pure Land practice, as well as his own training in Shingon Vajrayana.

He studied and practiced at Mount Koya in Japan and later continued his formation at Gokoku-ji Temple in Tokyo, under the Buzan-ha sect of Shingon Buddhism, with which Ming Ya has long maintained a spiritual partnership. Alongside his temple service, he is active in developing English-language liturgical resources to help make practice more accessible within Chinese American communities.

A second-generation Chinese-Vietnamese American of Teochew descent, Rev. Truong was born in Minnesota, raised in the San Gabriel Valley, and teaches high school English in the region. To learn more about his community and work, visit the temple’s Instagram: @mingyabf.la.

We discussed Rev. Truong's early experiences with Buddhism while attending his father’s memorial service and the impact of hearing chanting in the Teochew dialect, curiosity and being drawn to Buddhist symbolism and Ming Ya’s “gold room,” becoming a part of temple leadership and working towards bringing more people into the sangha, Ming Ya’s roots in Vietnamese Daoism and its connections to Shingon, and the importance of remembering that Buddhism is not just philosophy but also experienced through community.

Howard Lazzarini holds a degree in Japanese Language and Literature from the University of California at Berkeley. He spent 12 years in Japan and for several years during that time, in the early 1970s, practiced Soto Zen at Antaiji, a small temple that was located in the north Takagamine section of Kyoto. There he met his first teacher, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi and sat in the shikantaza style of Uchiyama Roshi and Dogen. After returning to the US he began studying with Shohaku Okumura Roshi of Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana, where he took lay ordination. He translated The Sound that Perceives the World in close collaboration with Okumura Roshi and Shoko Hayashi Lazzarini, his wife. He currently lives in Everett, Washington, and practices with the Everett Zazen Group located in Everett.

Please see below for more information about his upcoming translation, The Sound That Perceives the World: Calling Out to the Bodhisattva by Kosho Uchiyama, as well as the Everett Zazen Group:https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Sound-That-Perceives-the-World/Kosho-Uchiyama/9781614299516

https://everettzazengroup.org/

We discussed growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and becoming a merchant mariner, finding Antaiji while hitchhiking in Japan and his early experiences with Zen, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi’s life and relationship with the Kannon-gyo, reconnecting with Shohaku Okumura Roshi in the US and starting the Everett Zazen Group in Washington state, and the importance of letting go of likes and dislikes and "opening the hand of thought."

Primož Korelc Hiriko was born in 1985 in Ljubljana (Slovenia), but grew up in Dolenjska. Hiriko spent many years as a Buddhist monk abroad, specifically in Great Britain, New Zealand, Thailand and Sri Lanka. During this period, Hiriko studied Buddhist psychology and developed self-reflection, which gave Hiriko a deeper insight into the mind and psyche. Hiriko's expertise focuses mainly on phenomenological research into the structure of the mind. After ten years of studying Buddhist philosophy and psychology, Hiriko obtained the title of acharya . 

In 2016, Hiriko founded the first Slovenian Buddhist monastery, Samaṇadīpa, in Goljek near Trebnje, where Hiriko was the abbot and teacher until 2023. Since then, Hiriko has been acting as its legal representative. Hiriko is also known for being the editor-in-chief of Path Press and the author of two biographical books, “The Hermit of Bundala” and “The Island Within”, as well as being a translator of ancient Buddhist texts. Hiriko is still actively working as a psychosocial and pastoral counselor and has specialized in logotherapy psychotherapy since last year. Hiriko also regularly leads meditation retreats and lectures on meditation in Maribor and Ljubljana.

For more information about Hiriko and the Samaṇadīpa Forest Buddhist Monastery, please see below:

https://hiriko.org/

https://samanadipa.org/sl/

For a link to Nyanamoli Thero's work that Hiriko mentioned, please see below:

https://www.youtube.com/@HillsideHermitage

We talked about guilt as a consequence of freedom and as inherent within the broader human experience, psychotherapy and spirituality, the experience of leaving home to pursue a monastic life and investigating the mind, founding Samaṇadīpa Forest Buddhist Monastery in Slovenia and transitioning to lay life, and the importance of knowing that the Buddhist path, though fulfilling, is not always easy.

Peace Twesigye is a musician, meditation teacher and mentor, teacher of BuddhaDharma, and leadership consultant who hopes to be a part of the changes that unbind each of us from the systems that limit our momentum toward expressions of joy, love, loss, compassion, and creativity. Peace is the former Director of Programming in Buddhist Studies and of the Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism at Union Theological Seminary. Peace is currently on the board of Lion’s Roar Foundation, and is participating in the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock retreat teacher training program from 2025-2028.

For more information, please check out Peace's website: https://www.peacetwesigye.com/

We discussed developing and practicing within a self-retreat container, connecting and identifying with Thích Nhất Hạnh and his positionality as a political refugee, chamber music and surrendering to something larger than yourself, Engaged Buddhism and practicing for life, and the importance of acknowledging your connections with spiritual friends.

Brook Ziporyn is a scholar of ancient and medieval Chinese religion and philosophy at The University of Chicago Divinity School and College. Professor Ziporyn received his BA in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, and his PhD from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the Divinity School faculty, he has taught Chinese philosophy and religion at the University of Michigan (Department of East Asian Literature and Cultures), Northwestern University (Department of Religion and Department of Philosophy), Harvard University (Department of East Asian Literature and Civilization) and the National University of Singapore (Department of Philosophy). He is the author and translator of several books including his latest work, Experiments in Mystical Atheism: Godless Epiphanies from Daoism to Spinoza and Beyond, which was published by the University of Chicago Press in October of 2024. (A longer list of Ziporyn's work can be found towards the end of this description.)

Please see below for the link to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article mentioned in this podcast episode here:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buddhism-tiantai/

Please also see below for links to Ziporyn's book, Experiments in Mystical Atheism: Godless Epiphanies from Daoism to Spinoza and Beyond, as well as its online appendix (free):

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo230169826.html

https://press.uchicago.edu/sites/ziporyn/index.html

We discussed walking the mandalas of sacred Buddhist sites, approaching Buddhism as both a scholar and practitioner, Tiantai meditation techniques and broken teapots, Dogen and the connections between Tendai and Soto Zen, and the importance of finding the Buddhist path that best suits you.

Ziporyn is also the author of:

-Evil And/Or/As the Good: Omnicentric Holism, Intersubjectivity and Value Paradox in Tiantai Buddhist Thought (Brill, 2000)

-The Penumbra Unbound: The Neo-Taoist Philosophy of Guo Xiang (SUNY Press, 2003)

-Being and Ambiguity: Philosophical Experiments With Tiantai Buddhism (Open Court, 2004)

-Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings with Selections from Traditional Commentaries (Hackett, 2009)

-Ironies of Oneness and Difference: Coherence in Early Chinese Thought; Prolegomena to the Study of Li (SUNY Press, 2012)

-Beyond Oneness and Difference: Li and Coherence in Chinese Buddhist Thought and its Antecedents (SUNY Press, 2013)

-Emptiness and Omnipresence: An Essential Introduction to Tiantai Buddhism (Indiana University Press, 2016)

-Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings (Translator, Hackett 2020)

-Daodejing (Translator, Liveright Books and the Norton Library 2022)

Anusha Enryu Fernando was born in Sri Lanka to a Theravadin Buddhist family. Her grandparents founded the Vipassana Meditation Centre located in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1957. She began practicing Zen Meditation with Hogen and Chozen Roshi in 2007, and became a dharma holder in 2021. She holds a BA in Religious Studies, specializing in Buddhism and Hinduism from McGill University, and a Masters of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia, specializing in Sanskrit. In her dissertation, she translated a Sanskrit poem of the life story of the Buddha, called the Padyacudamani. Enryu has been a teacher and performer of Bharata Natyam, a form of Indian Classical Dance, for the past thirty years and is the founder and Artistic Director of Shakti Dance Society. She has also been the book purchaser at Banyen Books and Sound, Vancouver’s iconic spiritual and metaphysical bookstore, for the past twenty-eight years. She is the mother of an adult daughter and lives with her husband, parents, and multiple furry friends in Vancouver, Canada.

For more information about the Zen Community of Oregon and the Shakti Dance Society, please see the below links:

https://zendust.org/

http://www.shaktidancesociety.com/anusha-fernando/

We talked about the connections between Bharata Natyam and zazen, generosity as an expression of practice, learning Sanskrit and translating the Padyacudamani, Jizo Bodhisattva and the Jizo Garden at Great Vow Zen Monastery, the creative and meaningful challenges of cooking and eating what is given during sesshin, and the importance of remembering the joy of practice.

Bhante Sanāthāvihārī is a Mexican-American Theravāda monk at the Sarathchandra Buddhist Center in North Hollywood, a Sri Lankan center. He is a student of the late Dr. Bhante Madawela Puññaji, and the founder of Casa De Bhavana–an outreach project to bring the Dhamma to the Spanish-speaking world. He is also the co-author of Buddhism in 10 Steps.For more information about Sanāthāvihārī Bhikkhu and Casa De Bhavana, please see the below links:https://sanathavihari.com/https://casadebhavana.com/We talked about personal expression and creativity while still operating within the Vinaya, serving in the Air Force and co-founding a Buddhist sangha while on base in Afghanistan, Casa de Bhavana and balancing pre-sectarian and non-sectarian Buddhist teachings, and the importance of believing in yourself (and if you can’t do that, knowing that the Buddha believes in you).

Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi began practicing daily meditation in 1976. Since then, he has studied Buddhism extensively—investigating and engaging in Zen, Tibetan, Theravada, and Western non-dual traditions. He was authorized to teach in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in 2007 and the Zen Buddhist schools of Soto and Rinzai in 2022. Mugen is a senior student of Roshi Mark Sando Mininberg and a transmitted teacher in the White Plum Asanga—the body of teachers in the Maezumi-roshi lineage.

Mugen’s resonant and warmhearted teaching style engages students around the globe through in-person and online retreats, as well as one-on-one coaching. He encourages students to turn toward their true nature and, with realization of their true nature, embody their true identity. Mugen is the author of five books, including Liberating the Self, Demystifying Awakening, and Buddha’s Heart. He co-authored Practicing the Jhānas.

For more information about Awakening Dharma, please visit the following link: https://awakeningdharma.org/

For Todd Mushin Lisonbee's interview with Mugen Roshi, please see the following link: https://youtu.be/pscxTP2ckeE?si=bgvZ9n1pyKCpcZbe

We discussed Inka Shomei and the sacred and humbling experience of sharing a dharma eye with a teacher, koan study and working with our bull tails that are sticking out, the Enneagram and being your uniqueness without being your dysfunction, how deeper levels of awakening reveals deeper levels of work that needs to be done, and the importance of making contact with your innate goodness.

Damiano Finizio was born in Italy in 1992. He began practicing traditional Japanese martial arts in 2012, where he met the Buddhist monk Seiun, who transformed his curiosity for Eastern disciplines and philosophies into dedicated practice. In 2014, he officially took refuge in the Dharma at Tenryuzanji Temple, receiving the name Seiryu, symbolizing his deep bond with his teacher and the temple. Since 2020, he has been living and working in Spain as a hostel owner, while also working seasonally in Italy and Croatia as a trip leader during the warmer months. Despite his commitments, he remains an active member of the Tenryuzanji community and continues to participate in its activities whenever possible.

For more information about Tenryuzanji Temple, please see the following link: https://www.tenryuzanji.org/

We talked about finding Buddhism through martial arts and how martial arts training cultivates self-development, foraging for local weeds and keeping a vegan diet at the temple, Tenryuzanji Temple's status as Italy’s only Tendai temple and its warm relationship with the nearby mountain village (Cinte Tesino), how Buddhist practice brings out your inherent compassionate energy, and the importance of finding a teacher and not giving up!

Ordained since the late 1970s, Ven. Robina has worked full time since then for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project, and as a touring teacher of Buddhism. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in the documentary films Chasing Buddha and Key to Freedom.

Here's a link to Chasing Buddha, which is mentioned throughout the episode:https://youtu.be/B3Xx4vSHUyY?si=URaiHqlIAD_G_NSP

We talked about opinions and the impact of negative thoughts, prison chaplaincy and the doors that open when you adjust your attitude, activism and changing the world by exploring your self, the need to abstain in order to perceive the nature of your attachments, and the importance of recognizing your enormous potential.

Sinclair Shinryu Thomson is the abbot of the Village Zendo in New York City. He received Denkai, or full priest ordination, from Enkyo O’Hara Roshi in August 2007, dharma transmission in December 2009, and Inka in January 2021. He has been affiliated with the Village Zendo since 1998. He is a also member of the Phajjsi Qollut Jalsu Zen Center in La Paz, Bolivia, which he co-founded in 1992. Shinryu teaches Latin American History at New York University and is the author of books on Native American politics, colonialism, and revolution in the Andes.

We discussed how Shinryu Roshi began a meditation practice after picking up a copy of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind as a teenager, living and researching in Bolivia and founding the Phajjsi Qollut Jalsu Zen Center in La Paz, the richness of zazen in living rooms with small sitting groups, “Manhattan” as practice, and the importance of listening to your self and working with the ingredients that you have.

Naomi Matlow is a writer and educator specializing in integrating mindfulness and meditation into the lives of those that struggle with busy minds. She recently published her Mindfulness Studies Masters thesis from Lesley University, “A Thought is Just a Thought: A Buddhist Guide to OCD” which is available on Amazon and naomimatlow.com.

We talked about musical theatre and Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attending an Insight Meditation retreat in New Mexico and the experience of eating in silence, how clinical OCD therapy methods reflect techniques found in mindfulness practices, doubt and the courage needed to let the thought just happen, and the importance of being kind to yourself.

*Disclaimer: this episode features brief mention of self-harm.

Phoenix Song is a queer, nonbinary Korean American adoptee teacher, performer, writer, and healer featured in SF Magazine’s Best of the Bay for yoga music. Phoenix was initiated on the spiritual path at Plum Village with Thich Nhat Hanh and is a dharma teacher at East Bay Meditation Center and Spirit Rock. They believe that everyone can sing and love to help people free their voices and rhythm in private and group classes. Much of Phoenix’s life has been about exploring identity issues and healing ancestral, racial, sexual, and gender wounds. They offer tools that have helped them by leading ancestral healing, grief, and diversity/solidarity workshops and trainings that use expressive arts and somatic processes. To learn more about their sound healing offerings, classes, and performances, please visit phoenixsongmusic.com

We discussed how breath impacts your speaking voice and your singing voice, their profound experience during an ancestral healing ritual at Plum Village, focusing on voice work after recovering from dengue fever in India, the invitation to ask yourself “what season am I in?”, crafting rituals for others and for yourself, and the importance of taking your time.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants born and raised in the SF Bay Area, Dr. Vickie Chang first encountered the dharma through the doorway of mindfulness meditation in 2008. She graduated from the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner’s Program and has benefited from extended periods of retreat at Spirit Rock and IMS. She lived in a Taiwanese Guanyin Pusa monastery and worshipped at the feet of Arunachala. Most influential in her practice has been her relationship with the land, culture, and people of Tiruvannamalai, India, northern New Mexico, and the Divine Buddha Temple in Taiwan. Her main teacher is the Earth/body and her path is love. She is a psychologist and works in West Oakland and Berkeley.

For more information about Dr. Chang, please visit: https://www.vickiechangphd.com/

We talked about coming across a statue of Guanyin Pusa while working at a horse barn in Montana, learning how to listen deeply to the Earth at Spirit Rock, living at the Divine Buddha Temple in Taiwan and visiting Arunachala in India, racial trauma and facilitating conversations around Asian diaspora in America, and the importance of being open to the mystery and spontaneity of life with support from like-minded people.

Venerable Clear Grace Dayananda is a Buddhist Monk who received novice ordination in 2018 as Sister True Moon of Clear Grace in the Plum Village Vietnamese Zen tradition headed by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. In 2020, she received higher ordination and carries forward both the Theravada and Mahayana lineages of her preceptor, Venerable Dr. Pannavati Karuna of whom she was transmitted the name Dayananda.

The Dharma has been her greatest source of insight and transformation to heal from injustice and suffering of all kinds. She shares these learned truths to help others unlearn deeply embedded beliefs that have kept them away from the liberation of such sufferings in daily life. She shares these integrative skills, understandings, wisdom traditions and worldviews to help alleviate suffering for self and all beings.

For more information about Venerable Dayananda and Sangha House NOLA, please see the links below:

https://travelingnunk.org/https://www.sanghahousenola.org/

We discussed viewing marketing as an opportunity for practice while developing a slogan (or mantra) for Sangha House NOLA, participating in the MAAFA 25th anniversary Commemoration and healing with the Ancestor Tree at Congo Square, traveling around the US in a van called "The Great Aspiration," and the importance of accepting the invitation to “come and see for yourself” and let the dharma work in you.