Whether at home as a Jikoji Resident or working in his day job as a Stanford Astrophysicist, Jonathan exists in the midst of the fundamental questions of the nature of reality wherever he goes.
Toku Ho Cliff Isberg
Cliff Isberg likes to talk about zen practice from the perspectives of science and of western monastic and biblical traditions. At 80, and after almost 50 years of practice, he should know better. Cliff collects and maintains an online archive of the teachings of Jikoji's founder, Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi. He also serves as Jikoji's administration oversight manager (aOM).
Peter Szydlowski
Many years ago, Peter Szydlowski was ordained as a Zen Priest by Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi at Jikoji. On those infrequent occasions when he is due to talk at a Sunday program or sesshin, he tends to focus on zazen, "just sitting", presence, and/or silence. He usually works outdoor kinhin into the schedule--he was, after all, a National Park ranger for 16 years. He is still an avid hiker and traveler, "grampa" of five, and past Jikoji board president.
Yingzhao Liu
At 18, Ying arrived in the U.S from China. Now she leads design efforts for emerging markets at LinkedIn. She’s also a translator and interpreter, and an experiential and outdoor educator. She has traveled to five continents and 30 countries, always affirmed by people's relationship with the environment they live in--their creativity and spirituality in everyday life. At a young age she envisioned a world without borders and is constantly inspired by the next generation of global citizens and their steady movement toward connection.
DT: Junsei Jana Drakka
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.
Shuso Ceremony
Following Tanjo-e sesshin and after Jikoji's winter 2015 Ango practice period, Teachers Ian Forsberg and Michael Newhall will orchestrate a Shuso Ceremony to test the wisdom of Joe Hall, the Shuso. Participants are invited to publicly question the Shuso about the most important dharma issues and problems, as well as the conundrums of daily life and practice.
Tersar Tulku Yingrik Drubpa Rinpoche
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.
Tersar Tulku Yingrik Drubpa Rinpoche
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.
Jana Drakka
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.
Toku Ho Cliff Isberg
After only 40 years of practice, Cliff Isberg, PhD, was ordained by Shoho Michael Newhall as a Soto Zen Buddhist Monk in 2010. A longtime student of Kobun Chino, he sometimes serves as one of Jikoji's oversight managers. Cliff has created and maintains a growing archive of the teachings and life of our founding teacher.
Joe Hall
Joseph W Hall is a resident priest 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.
Listen to his Dharma Talk
Angie Boissevain
Angie studied with Kobun while she was raising three sons, being a wife and writing poetry.He called her the enlightened housewife. During the last thirty-plus years of her practice with him she served as a teacher and director at Jikoji, a retreat center she helped to establish for Kobun in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Her Dharma Talk Sunday February 8
Paula Jones
Paula Jones was an early student of Kobun’s and, decades later, was ordained and given transmission by Angie Boissevain. She is a co-founder and teacher of Floating Zendo San Diego. After years of teaching writing and literature in colleges and universities, she continues to write poems, create hand-bound chapbooks of her work and lead poetry workshops.
To listen to her dharma talk, click HERE
Jana Drakka
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.
Satya Vayu, priest and renunciate
Satyavayu began Zen practice while studying Asian religion in college, and soon after moved to California to pursue practice full time. He first met Kobun in sesshin at Jikoji in the early nineties, while also practicing at Berkeley Zen Center, and at Tassajara. He was ordained a priest by Kobun at Hokoji in Taos, New Mexico, and soon after went to Japan to train at Bukkokuji monastery for most of the next five years. Since 2000, he's lived in the northwest - mostly in Portland Oregon - where he leads a small sangha that focuses on expressing practice through simple, low-impact living and engagement with the natural world. In addition to the core practice of zazen, he incorporates the body practice of taiji and qigong, and the voice practice of Indian raga into the sangha's expression, and he also leads contemplative wilderness retreats. Inspired by the traditions of spiritual renunciation or voluntary siimplicity, he has lived without income or his own house for many years.
Andy Acker
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 back-round 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.
To listen to his dharma talk, click HERE
Jo-Shin Thomas, visiting teacher from Switzerland
Jo-Shin has written a beautiful summary of the experience and intentions of sitting practice, using metaphors and dharma poems. He has just completed his second annual Rohatsu Sesshin at Jikoji, and is a visiting resident for the next few weeks. He will read some of his insights, and describe some of his history and experience that brought him back this year.
To listen to Jo-Shin's Dharma Talk, Click Here
Shoho Michael Newhall
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.
Misha Merrill
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'!
Marco Quarta
Marco moved from Italy to California in 2008. As a scientist, he conducts research at Stanford University exploring the frontiers of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells. From a young age, Marco embraced the path of Martial Arts as part of his personal, integrated view of a body-mind-spiritual Way. His passion for Asian and Western transformative arts, sciences and philosophies, infused with Taoism and Alchemy, has enriched and sustained his exploration of Nature, inside and outside the self, in the never ending quest for the Truth.