Conversations with North American Zen Teachers
Sara Jisho Siebert
Zen Fields, Ames, Iowa – Sara Jisho Siebert is a Soto Zen priest who teaches at Zen Fields in Ames, Iowa. Her back story is striking. “When I was fourteen, a number of people in my life experienced sexual violence and talked to me about it. My mom is a great listener, and I guess…
Thomas Hand
Abridged from Catholicism and Zen – In addition to the Soto missions established for the benefit of the immigrant populations on the West Coast, and the Asian-trained teachers who sought to introduce a new spiritual tradition to the West, there was a third route by which Zen came to North America: Catholic missionaries who returned…
Bodhin Kjolhede
Rochester Zen Center – At one point in the course of our Zoom conversation, Bodhin Kjolhede has to get up from his desk and leave the room. As he comes back, I notice he is wearing a t-shirt with the Latin phrase: Ego Sum Abbas. “My students give me a lot of gag gifts,” he…
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Richard Bryan McDaniel 