Joe Hall is the Tanto (practice leader) at Jikoji Zen Center. His energy is enthusiastically focused on the nexus between Lay Practice and the Monastic world and he is fascinated by the ways in which we interpret the world and the means by which physical motion trains the mind. He wakes up in the morning excited to witness the ongoing birth of American Zen. His favorite words are Sublime, Exquisite, and Ravissant.
Renshin Bunce received priest ordination from Zenkei Blanche Hartman in 2003, and dharma transmission from the late Myogen Steve Stucky in 2013. She teaches sewing at San Francisco Zen Center and has a weekly sitting group in San Mateo. She lives on the peninsula where she works as a hospice chaplain.
Ian Hakuryu Forsberg began zazen practice in his teens and was ordained by Kobun at Haiku Zendo in 1977. Ian practiced with Kobun and the Sangha in California at Haiku Zendo, Hidden Villa Ranch and later at Jikoji. In 1987 he went to Taos for three months to help build Hokoji Zen Center and never did leave. Ian is now the Resident Teacher at Hokoji and builds homes in Taos.
Onryu Patrick Teverbaugh, Practice Leader, was ordained as a priest in 1999 and received Dharma Transmission from Katherine Thanas in January, 2011. He organizes activities for Santa Cruz Zen Center's Global Sangha, those interested in practicing with social and environmental issues.
These activities include a weekly lunch for a local homeless shelter, a weekly recovery group, and marching in the local LGBT parade. Patrick also helps coordinate Contributing Memberships, fundraising events, and shares the role of Ino, managing zendo roles and activities.
Junsei Jana Drakka runs a 'street ministry' - popularly known as 'The Zendo Without Walls'- taking the Dharma teachings of loving kindness and total acceptance out of the temples and into the streets. Teaching in shelters, hospices and low-income hotels offers the possibility of peace of mind to all without exception. Junsei travels widely sharing 'Harm Reduction Meditation' in universities, zen centers, hospitals and shelters.
Joseph W Hall is Tanto (practice leader) at Jikoji Zen Center. His energy is enthusiastically focused on the nexus between Lay Practice and the Monastic world and he is fascinated by the ways in which we interpret the world and the means by which physical motion trains the mind. He wakes up in the morning excited to witness the ongoing birth of American Zen. His favorite words are Sublime, Exquisite, and Ravissant.
Shoho Michael Newhall was ordained and transmitted by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi. Prior to his installation as Jikoji’s Resident Teacher, he taught art and Buddhism at Naropa University, the Art Institute of Chicago, and other universities in the midwest. He leads sesshins and meditation workshops at Zen centers in the U.S. and Europe. Shoho has also practiced and studied with Keibun Otogawa in Japan, Dainin Katagiri Roshi, and Tenshin Reb Anderson.
Ron Jones, Ph.D. is a Spiritual Counselor and workshop leader in San Jose, CA. He has spent most of his adult life focused upon attempting to understand life's secrets. As a young man in his twenties, he reached out to meditation teachers and experienced what he later learned was a spiritual awakening. Since then, he has followed the paths that beckoned him, ending up on a yoga meditation path for 40 years that has intensely deepened his experience of "The Light". As an ordained Spiritual Counselor of AIWP*, he counsels, teaches and trains seekers of any path to also deepen their contact with the light within themselves. With counseling sessions and workshops he guides seekers through the challenges they face in expanding into their inner light.
Imam Abdul Johnson began his career with the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) as a Muslim Chaplain in 2010. For 2 years, he volunteered at various institutions across the state of California and was hired as a fulltime Chaplain in 2012. Imam Johnson is the President of Associated Chaplains in California State Service (ACCSS) which is the professional association for all State Chaplains in California and also the Vice President of Muslim American Chaplains Association (MACA), the professional association for all Muslim Chaplains in California state service.
As a Chaplain, Imam Johnson focuses on reforming the soul and rehabilitating the mind by utilizing a holistic approach. To aid in this effort, last year he launched the U.N.I.T.Y. (U’r Not In This Yourself) Lecture Series. This program has brought guest speakers from all over California to impart words of advice and inspiration to hundreds of incarcerated men. Topics ranged from “Financial literacy” to “Science, Astronomy and Zen”. Imam Abdul Johnson credits his approach to reformation to his teacher, the late, world renowned leader of the American Muslim Community, Imam W. Deen Muhammed.
Imam Johnson currently resides in Fresno, CA with his wife Courtney and is the proud father of 5 children.
Tersar Tulku Yingrik Drubpa was born into the Khangsar tribe of Golok, a pastoral, nomadic society in eastern Tibet. His Dharma name is Padma Thubten Rigdzin. From a young age, he received instruction in the precious Buddhist scriptures and sacred essential heart-essence teachings from many Lamas and Tulkus. He was recognized by Gomma Khanpo Lotsul as the reincarnation of Tulku Dordra. Lama Tashi Phuntsok predicted that Tersar would promote Buddhism around the world.
Junsei Jana Drakka runs a 'street ministry' - popularly known as 'The Zendo Without Walls'- taking the Dharma teachings of loving kindness and total acceptance out of the temples and into the streets. Teaching in shelters, hospices and low-income hotels offers the possibility of peace of mind to all without exception. Junsei travels widely sharing 'Harm Reduction Meditation' in universities, zen centers, hospitals and shelters.
Born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she began her meditation practice in the Insight tradition of Spirit Rock. She is a founding member of the Buddhists of Color in 1998. Her Soto Zen training began at Tassajara monastery where she lived from 2002-2005; after which, she practiced monastically in Japan and Vietnam. Is a Dharma Heir of Zenkei Blanche Hartman in the tradition of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.
While she has placed her trust and faith in Soto Zen, she continues to enjoy the deep silence of Insight practices and has completed retreats in America and Thailand. Drawing from her monastic experiences, she endeavors to share ways in which the deep settledness of traditional practices can be brought into everyday life.
Shoho Michael Newhall was ordained and transmitted by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi. Prior to his installation as Jikoji’s Resident Teacher, he taught art and Buddhism at Naropa University, the Art Institute of Chicago, and other universities in the midwest. He leads sesshins and meditation workshops at Zen centers in the U.S. and Europe. Shoho has also practiced and studied with Keibun Otogawa in Japan, Dainin Katagiri Roshi, and Tenshin Reb Anderson.
Val Szymanski is the founding teacher of Bamboo in the Wind, a Zen practice group that meets in Sunnyvale. She was ordained by Diane Martin in the Danin Katagiri Roshi lineage. Reverend Val is an esteemed calligrapher and offers calligraphy workshops, as well as dharma studies. For more information about Bamboo in the Wind, go to: www.bamboointhewind.org.
Andy is a Jikoji Resident and student of Chinese medicine and Zen. In this "Way Seeking Mind" talk he will describe his practice, how he uses his background to care for the body when sitting Zazen/Shikantaza, and what led him (and continues to lead him) to Zen. After being raised Catholic & having an amicable "break-up" with theism in his late teens, he began studying Taoism & Qigong in 1997 & Buddhist meditation in 2000 with both Sokuzan Bob Brown & Mike Dosho Port. He has studied and practiced intensively in the Shambhala, Tibetan Kagyu, & Zen lineages. Andy moved from Minneapolis to Boulder, Colorado in 2002 to attend Naropa University, where he studied transpersonal psychology, religious studies, somatics, writing, & music- graduating with a BA in 2005. After a period at Jikoji five years ago, he returned to the midwest and practiced again with Sokuzan Bob Brown at Sokukoji in Michigan, & Dosho Port at Wild Fox Zen Center near Minneapolis. He has recently returned to California & Jikoji, resuming his studies at Five Branches University in San Jose and Zen training here at Jikoji with Shoho Mike Newhall.
Camille began mindfulness practice in 2001 when one of her high school teachers gave her basic instruction and a copy of the book “Nothing Happens Next.” Since then, mindfulness has helped her find more ease, peacefulness, and clarity as well as greater compassion for herself and others. She took Jukkai in December 2013 with Shido Nyogen Roshi at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. Camille is finishing her PhD in Education at Stanford and works as Director of Research for Mindful Schools, a nonprofit that teaches mindfulness to educators and teaches them how to teach mindfulness to students. She is a co-leader of the Stanford Zen Society.
Shoho Michael Newhall was ordained and transmitted by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi. Prior to his installation as Jikoji’s Resident Teacher, he taught art and Buddhism at Naropa University, the Art Institute of Chicago, and other universities in the midwest. He leads sesshins and meditation workshops at Zen centers in the U.S. and Europe. Shoho has also practiced and studied with Keibun Otogawa in Japan, Dainin Katagiri Roshi, and Tenshin Reb Anderson.
In 1976, Misha Merrill graduated from college, showed her work in small galleries and earned her living as a graphic designer. In 1988 she ordained as a Zen priest with Les Kaye Roshi, went to the monastery and became a librarian. She received Dharma Transmission in 1998 and became the Primary Teacher for Zen Heart Sangha in Menlo Park/ Woodside. Misha has been teaching tea to others (including children) for over 15 years. As Misha says it, art, gardening, teaching, tea, and her husband and animals are the crucial pieces of her 'pie'--meditation is her 'pie plate'!
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