Speakers’ DharmaTalks

Note: All recorded Dharma Talks are included chronologically in Jikoji’s Audio Recordings. See also talks and notes by or about Jikoji’s Founding Teacher:

Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi

Speakers in alphabetical order by last name.

Speakers who have recently given several Dharma talks at Jikoji are listed below, in alphabetical order by last name. Up to 10 talks of each speaker’s talks are linked following their biographical paragraph.

Meido Barbara Anderson

Meido Barbara Anderson is the resident teacher and priest at O-An Zendo, one of Jikoji’s sister temples, in Central Pennsylvania. Retired from Penn State University, where she founded and served as the first Director of the Center for Sustainability, she taught courses in multidisciplinary studies in Science, Technology and Society and Green Design. She also served as the Director of Peace Studies. After more than 30 years of practice, Meido will be receiving Transmission from Shoho Michael Newhall this winter. Her prior talks at Jikoji include:

PAMELA CHOBUN NENZEN BROWN

Pamela Chobun Nenzen Brown was introduced to sitting meditation practice in 1976. Forty years later, as her father was declining with a neurodegenerative disease, she decided to stay seated. Pamela was ordained in Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi's lineage by Shoho Michael Newhall in 2020 and received dharma transmission from Jakko Eso Vanja Palmers at Felsentor, Switzerland in 2022. Nenzen serves and teaches at Santa Barbara Zen Center and its affiliate temple in Los Olivos.

Beata Chapman

Beata Chapman has practiced Zen with chronic nerve pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for 23 years. She studied with Katherine Thanas at Santa Cruz Zen Center and with Darlene Cohen, and received Dharma transmission from Tony Patchell in 2013. Beata continues running the Suffering & Delight groups for people with chronic pain founded by Darlene, and also teaches an online S&D group. Beata is an organizational consultant, does corporate leadership training, and assists health care organizations develop compliance systems. Her prior talks at Jikoji include:

Ben Connelly

Ben Connelly is a Soto Zen teacher and Dharma heir in the Katagiri lineage, and is based at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. He teaches mindfulness in a wide variety of secular contexts including police and corporate training, correctional facilities, and addiction recovery and wellness groups. Ben travels to teach across the United States. His most recent book is "Mindfulness & Intimacy"

Carolyn Dille

Carolyn Dille has been practicing Buddhist and other meditative forms for over 30 years and teaches dharma in the Vipassana Insight and Soto Zen traditions. She holds dharma transmission from Angie Enjo Boissevain and is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s CDL program. As a poet and writer she has facilitated creativity retreats. Carolyn is the founding editor of Leaping Clear, an online journal for artists who practice contemplation. Her prior talks at Jikoji include:

Kokyo Henkel

Kokyo has been practicing Zen Buddhism since 1990 in residence at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, and No Abode Hermitage - all in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi - and a year at Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan (with Harada Tangen Roshi). After living in these monastic communities for almost two decades, Kokyo was then teacher at Santa Cruz Zen Center from 2010-2020, and has been studying and practicing with no fixed abode along with his wife, Rev. Shoho Kuebast, beginning in 2020. His talks at Jikoji include:

Doug Jacobson

Doug Jacobson has served as a Guiding Teacher and assists prisoners with Buddhist practice. He received Dharma transmission from Shoho Michael Newhall in 2015.  In his professional life, he was a civil/tunnel engineer.  He has led many sesshins, and has initiated and led monthly zazenkais and periodic seasonal nature sesshins, as well as weekly dharma discussion groups. His recent talks at Jikoji include:

Oshin Jennings

Guiding Teacher at Jikoji Zen Center. R. Liam Jennings, No Barriers Zendo, Mukanji. (nobarrierszen.org). Oshin’s center is in the DC area with an on-line sangha throughout the country, and focuses on inclusion of persons with disabilities (Oshin himself is deaf). He also regularly teaches at Jikoji. Oshin’s email: oshinjennings@gmail.com.

Paula Jones

Paula Jones is a guiding teacher at Jikoji. She was an early student of Jikoji founder Kobun, and decades later was ordained and given dharma transmission by Angie Boissevain. She is a co-founder and teacher of Floating Zendo San Diego. After years teaching writing and literature in colleges and universities, Paula continues to write poems, create hand-bound chapbooks of her work, and lead poetry workshops. Her prior talks at Jikoji are generally on poetry and zend, and include:

Jill Kaplan

Born in Chicago, Jill Kaplan moved to the Bay Area in 1977 where she raised two boys and taught school for many years. Jill discovered Zen practice in 1993 and returned to graduate school in 1995. Working as a psychologist, she trained in Sandplay, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and in Body Soul Rhythms with Jungian analyst Marion Woodman, and studied Zen with Darlene Cohen. Jill recieved dharma transmission from Misha Shungen Merril in 2013. Her talks are informed by her body-focused meditation practice. In This talk, Jill explores the Zen koan "The Old Woman Selling Rice Cakes." Her prior talks at Jikoji include:

Cynthia Kear

Ryotan Cynthia Kear has practiced Soto Zen Buddhism for over 25 years. She received Jukai from Zen Center Abbot Paul Haller in 2004. In 2008 she was given priest ordination by Darlene Cohen, her heart teacher, from whom she also received Dharma Transmission in December 2010. In 2009 Cynthia graduated from the Shogaku Zen Institute. Cynthia has taught Mindfulness and Multi-tasking at the University of Washington as part of a NSF-funded research project based on Darlene’s book, "The One Who Is Not Busy." She leads workshops and gives Dharma talks throughout the Bay Area. Cynthia has 26 years of recovery, and co-leads a sangha for meditation and recovery. As a full-time employee, Cynthia considers the questions of practice in the “marketplace” to be of keen interest. Her prior talks at Jikoji include:

Shoho Kuebast

After meeting Jikoji founder Kobun Chino Roshi in Austria, Shoho received priest ordination in 2000 from Vanja Palmers and traveled to US/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 at Santa Cruz Zen Center. Since then she has trained in the Tibetan Nyingma tradition, which led her to study in Nepal where she finished studies in Buddhism at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, and stayed to assist in recovery efforts after a devastating earthquake. Her recent talks at Jikoji include:

Misha Merrill

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. Her prior talks at Jikoji include:

Michael Newhall

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 lived at Jikoji, serving as the Resident Teacher and chief priest. His recent talks at Jikoji include:

Vanja Palmers

Vanja Palmers is an animal rights activist of many years, and a Dharma heir of the late Jikoji founder Kobun Chino Otogowa Roshi. Vanja spent 10 years as a monk at Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. In 1981 he co-founded Buddhists Concerned for Animals (BCA), which now operates as Humane Farming Association (HFA.) In 1989 he co-founded Puregg, a house of interreligious dialogue, particularly between Christians and Buddhists, where Kobun lead Sesshin for 15 years. In 1998, Vanja founded Stiftung Felsentor in Switzerland, a combined meditation center and animal sanctuary that runs a vegetarian garden restaurant. His prior talks at Jikoji include:

Gerow Reece

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 calligraphy at Jikoji.

Eric Remington

Eric Remington was an early student of Kobun, Jikoji's Founder, in the early 1970s. After years spent studying with Kobun and founding a school for children, Eric was ordained and subsequently trained at Tassajara Monastery for a year. He became a biologist and naturalist before living for several years in the desert, and for several years was a Jikoji resident.

Judy Reyes

Judy began her Zen practice with her first teacher Enji Angie Boissevain at Floating Zendo San Jose and received the Precepts in 2018. She is a regular practitioner at Jikoji and currently serves on their Board of Directors. Judy has dedicated her life to helping others. She works for a local nonprofit agency as a program administrator of two residential care homes and has cared for adults with developmental disabilities for over 40 years. Judy is sewing a rakusu and okesa for priest ordination and studies with Jikoji guiding teacher Paula Jones.

David Shapiro

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. David's talks focus on Mind Training, using Lojong slogans brought to Tibet from India by the sage Atisha in the 9th century. The practice centers on slogans that tease the mind from its usual foundations. His earlier talks at Jikoji include:

Dean Williams

Sensei Dean Williams is the guiding teacher of the Crooked River Zen Center in Cleveland, Ohio. His interest in Zen Buddhism began in the early 70s when he was working on his BA in philosophy. He began formal zen practice in 1997. He was lay ordained in 2000, ordained as a Buddhist chaplain in 2001, and as a priest in 2003, all while studying with Sojun Diane Martin, the resident teacher at Udumbara Zen Center in Evanston, IL. In 2006 he served as shuso during the fall practice period at Udumbara. Dean received dharma transmission in 2014 from Shoho Michael Newhall, the abbot of Jikoji Zen Center in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, making him a dharma holder in the Kobun Chino lineage.

Dan Zigmond

Dan Zigmond was ordained as a Zen priest by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi in 1998 and became one of Jikoji's Guiding Teachers in 2020. He currently serves on the board of both Jikoji and the San Francisco Zen Center. Dan is also a writer, software engineer, data scientist, and father. He has written two books: Buddha's Office: The Ancient Art of Waking Up While Working Well and Buddha’s Diet: the Ancient Art of Losing Weight Without Losing your Mind. His earlier talks at Jikoji include: