Simplicity Zen Podcast

 Shozan Jack Haubner is an ordained Rinzai Zen priest and was a student of Kyozan Joshu Sasaki. He has written two memoirs (Zen Confidential,Single White Monk) about his experiences studying with Sasaki and is currently working on a third book. For more about Shozan: - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt9Q74t3o7AUCJ_bKTc5CgA For more about the Simplicity Zen Podcast: - https://simplicityzen.com/ 

 Ben Connelly is a Senior Zen Teacher at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. Ben began Zen practice at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in 2001, was ordained in 2009, and received dharma transmission in 2015. He is currently serving as Program Administrator. He started teaching Introduction to Meditation in 2005, and since then has taught regularly at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and more recently, at Zen centers across the US. He teaches secular mindfulness in a variety of contexts such as police training, addiction recovery groups, and wellness groups. Ben is also a musician by profession: a singer and songwriter, guitar teacher, film composer and multi-instrumentalist. His first book, Inside the Grass Hut, Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem (Wisdom Publications) was published in 2014, and his second Inside Vasubandhu's Yogacara: A Practitioner's Guide, was published by Wisdom in 2016. His latest book, Mindfulness and Intimacy, came out in February 2019 (Wisdom Publications). For more on Ben: https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/ben-connelly/ For more on the Simplicity Zen Podcast: https://simplicityzen.com/ 

 Geoff started to study Zen at the Zen Center of Denver in March of 1991. In November of 1996, he received the rakusu during Jukai--his ordained name is Strongvow. He studied with Danan Henry Roshi until Danan retired in 2009, when he continued he study with one of his heirs, Kenneth Morgareidge, Roshi. Geoff finished formal koan training in 2014 in the Diamond Sangha tradition of the Harada-Yasutani-Aitken-Henry lineage--The Sanbo Kyodan. Geoff continues to work with Ken Roshi on various Dogen fascicles from the Shobogenzo as well as the 300-koans of The True Dharma Eye, and these continue to work on him. in January 2022, Geoff started to give dharma talks and conduct daisan. On May 22, 2022, he will be formally recognized as an assistant teacher at the Zen Center of Denver. For more information about the Simplicity Zen Podcast: https://simplicityzen.com/ 

 Brad Warner was born in Ohio in 1964. In 1983 he met Zen teacher Tim McCarthy and began his study of Zen while he was still the bass player of the hardcore punk band Zero Defex, whose big hit was the eighteen-second masterpiece "Drop the A-Bomb on Me!" In the 1980s he released five albums of psychedelic rock under the band name Dimentia 13 (that's the way he spelled it), though Dimentia 13 was often a one-man band with Brad playing all the instruments. In 1993 he moved to Japan, where he landed a job with Tsuburaya Productions, the company founded by Eiji Tsuburaya, the man who created Godzilla. The following year Brad met Gudo Nishijima Roshi, who ordained him as a Zen monk and made him his dharma heir in 2000. He has written several books and just released a new one titled "The Other Side of Nothing: The Zen Ethics of Time, Space, and Being ". Brad's new book: - https://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Nothing-Ethics-Space/dp/1608688046 For more on the Simplicity Zen Podcast: - https://simplicityzen.com/ 

Teresa Regan Hess practiced for five years under the renowned Rinzai Zen Master Shodo Harada Rōshi at Sogen-ji monastery in Japan.  There she received the Jukai precepts before leaving to raise a family in Washington state.For more information about Simplicity Zen Buddhist Podcast:- https://simplicityzen.com/

Robert  Mutoku Scheafer is a Rinzai Zen priest ordained Rinzan Pechovnik Osho of No Rank Zendo in 2022.   After years of following many spiritual paths, Robert began studying Zen under Rick Kendo Hart in the Mt Baldy Zen Center lineage.  Next he began Zen studies with Konrad Ryushin Marchaj at Zen Mountain Monastery and remained his student for many years.  For the last several years he has been practicing with the Rinzai Zen koan curriculum at No Rank Zendo where he frequently attends sesshin.For more in No Rank Zendo:- https://www.norankzendo.org/More more on Simplicity Zen Buddhist Podcast:- https://simplicityzen.com/

Robert Koho Epstein, Sensei has practiced meditation and a wide range of spiritual practices over the past 40 years. This includes Zen and mindfulness meditation, Yang style T’ai Chi, Iyengar Yoga, and Advaita Vedanta. Robert taught Iyengar Yoga and practiced deep tissue massage for 15 years in New York and was ordained by the New Seminary as an Interfaith Minister. He also started his acting studio and began training actors in Meisner Technique, a moment-to-moment acting method that he still teaches today. Robert received Dharma Transmission from Fusho Roshi in 2022.For more about Robert and Open Mind Zen:-  https://openmindzen.com/Fore more about Simplicity Zen:- https://simplicityzen.com/

Barbara O'brien has been practicing Zen Buddhism since the 1980s. She works as a journalist, reporting primarily on religion in America. She is the author of The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World, Rethinking Religion: Finding a Place for Religion in a Modern, Tolerant, Progressive, Peaceful and Science-affirming World and has written about Buddhism for many outlets including About.com, The Guardian, Tricycle, and Lion’s Roar. She blogs about whatever is on her mind at her personal blog, The Mahablog (mahablog.com). For more information on Simplicity Zen:- https://simplicityzen.com/

Al Fusho Rapaport, Roshi has practiced and taught Zen for almost 50 years. He studied with Kozan Roshi, Maezumi Roshi, and Genpo Roshi until receiving Dharma Transmission from Shuzen Roshi in 2008. As President of Open Mind Productions, Al produced the first Yoga Journal Conferences as well as the Buddhism in America Conferences from 1996 until 2001. He is author of Open Mind Zen: A Guide to Meditation, and currently serves as  Director of Open Mind Zen International and MBSR Florida in Melbourne, Florida. Roshi is a member of the White Plum Asangha, the American Zen Teachers Association and Secretary/Treasurer of the Lay Zen Teachers Association.More from Al Fusho Rapaport, Roshi: - https://openmindzen.com/More about Simplicity Zen:- https://simplicityzen.com/

 Kokan (古観) Genjo (玄成 )Marinello is a Rinzai priest and abbot of Chobo-ji in Seattle. He began his Zen training in 1975 after befriending Rev. Daizen Brian Victoria at UCLA and began practicing zazen under the instruction of Thích Thiên-Ân. Genjo did his first sesshin in the summer of 1977 under the instruction of Soto Zen Priest Hirano Osho-san. Genjo was ordained an unsui (priest in training) in 1980 in Seattle. For parts of 1981 and 1982 he trained for one winter period at Ryutaku-Ji (龍澤寺) in Japan, under Sochu Suzuki Roshi and retired Soen Nakagawa Roshi. For a time both Genjo and Genki trained with Joshu Sasaki. After Genki Takabayashi retired, Genjo trained with the late Eido Shimano, former abbot of DaiBosatsu Monastery in New York, who affirmed Genjo as Dharma Heir on May 21st, 2008. In addition to being our Abbot, Genjo is a psychotherapist in private practice. More about Genjo: - https://choboji.org/ More about Simplicity Zen: - https://simplicityzen.com/