Simplicity Zen Podcast Simplicity Zen Podcast Episode 51 - An Interview with Jiryu Rutschman-Byler (The Zen Lamp Series)
Dec 16, 2022
Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, a Soto Zen priest who trained in the US and Japan and wrote Two Shores of Zen, shares stories of monastic practice, cross-cultural training, and teaching in prisons and Colombia. He talks about intense sesshin experiences, risks of seeking breakthroughs, integrating discipline with compassion, and how deep practice can happen in any life.
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Episode notes
Abiding Abbot vs Central Abbot
- San Francisco Zen Center split leadership so abiding abbots can focus on temple presence while a central abbot handles wider administration.
- The structure aims to keep local practice grounded and reduce leaders being pulled into distant administrative duties.
Latin American Roots And Spanish Dharma
- Jiryu was born in Argentina to missionary children and moved to the U.S. at age three, keeping some Spanish but limited vocabulary.
- He now leads Dharma talks in Spanish and reconnects yearly with a sangha in Medellín, Colombia.
Quaker Silence Prepared Zen Grounding
- Quaker silent worship influenced Jiryu's receptivity to sitting quietly without instruction and openness to spontaneous sharing.
- That early practice primed him for Zen's formal zazen while preserving a sense of simple presence.
