Kogen Czarnik – Endless Depths of Enlightenment

Mar 27, 2026

Kogen Czarnik, a Polish-born Zen practitioner and former monk who trained in Japan and Korea, shares vivid stories from monastic austerity and long silent retreats. He discusses psychedelic openings that led to Zen, three major breakthroughs that stripped layers of illusion, the role of ethical guidance, and how realization meets everyday embodiment and service.

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ANECDOTE

Psychedelics Sparked The Turn Toward Zen

Kogen's psychedelic encounters in youth revealed consciousness' plasticity and steered him from street life toward serious practice.
He read Zen books during a last hallucinogenic trip and decided to pursue meditation seriously thereafter.

ADVICE

Protect The Body During Intense Practice

Respect your body when practicing: use chairs and avoid forcing full lotus if unprepared to prevent injury.
Kogen warns he had four knee surgeries and recommends starting easier rather than damaging joints chasing tradition's posture ideals.

ADVICE

Screen Retreatants And Provide Support

Screen and support retreat participants to avoid crises: require psychological stability and provide wise guides.
Kogen and Rick note some intense retreats (e.g., Goenka style) lack support and can trigger breakdowns without screening.

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From my teenage years I had an unquenchable thirst to see beyond the veils that growing up had created in my mind. I tried different avenues of exploration, and soon found my spiritual home in the Zen tradition. After graduating from college, I went straight to Japan and became a Zen monk at the Bukkoku-ji monastery. For over a dozen years I practiced in the monastic context, mostly in Japan and Korea, living a life dedicated fully to this investigation, going through an awakening process, and deepening my realization and embodiment. Later I also explored approaches of other traditions and followed several secular non-traditional teachers. I have spent about 4 years total in silent meditation retreats, and have worked directly in the retreat setting and one-on-one with teachers such as my root monastic teacher, Tangen Harada Roshi, as well as with Jakusho Kwong Roshi, Shodo Harada Roshi, Wu Bong Sunim, Adyashanti and Angelo Dilullo.

Even though the years of meditation and the simplicity of monastic life had a powerful effect, most important on my path were three breakthroughs at age 23, 30 and 37, each stripping down a different layer of illusion and revealing bare truth, without any sense of separation, or any sense of personal nor universal “self.” I have also explored and continue to explore various approaches of somatic work to aid embodiment and the uprooting of habitual tendencies, as I consider myself, and all human beings, a work in progress.

Following my monastic Dharma grandfather (Daiun Harada Roshi)’s example, I vowed to spend all of my twenties and thirties only on my own practice, deepening and embodiment. Now in my forties, I make myself available as a resource to those who seek support in their own process of finding freedom from self-created suffering. Despite my love of the monastic life and the Zen tradition, I have decided to share outside of the confines of those systems. I stay true, however, to the essence and marrow of Zen as defined by Bodhidharma, the Indian monk considered the founder of what we now know as Zen:

“Transmission outside of scriptures
Not dependent upon words and phrases
Directly pointing to each person’s mind
See your nature – become a buddha”

Feel free to reach out if you feel so inclined.

May all beings find liberation!