Simplicity Zen Podcast

Buddhist meditation is thousands of years old and has profoundly changed the lives of countless practitioners, but it is only very recently (in the last 4 years or so) have neuroscientists reached a point of understanding why humans experience so much discontentment with life and why and how meditation is the solution to this problem.  We explore this topic from the perspective of Zen Buddhist practice.For more on the Science of Zen, Mindfulness and Meditation:- https://scienceofzen.org/For more about Simplicity Zen Podcast:- https://simplicityzen.com/

Susan Moon is a writer, editor, and lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition.  She is the author of a number of books about Buddhism, including the humor book "The Life and Letters of Tofu Roshi" and "This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity". For many years she was the editor of Turning Wheel, the journal of socially engaged Buddhism.  Her most recent book is "Alive Until You're Dead: Notes on the Home Stretch"For more about Susan:- https://susanmoon.wordpress.com/For more about Simplicity Zen Podcast:- https://simplicityzen.com/

James Ishmael Ford is a Zen teacher and semi-retired Unitarian Universalist minister.  He has dharma transmission from Houn Jiyu Kennett and Inka Shomei from John Nanryu Ji'un-ken Tarrant.  He is the guiding teacher of the Empty Moon Sangha.For more about James:- http://www.jamesishmaelford.com/For more about the Simplicity Zen Podcast:https://simplicityzen.com/

 Kellie Shojaku Garza M.A., LMHC, CST., is a licensed mental health counselor and has been practicing psychotherapy since 2004. A large part of her practice and focus has been on working with trauma survivors. Kellie received Dharma Transmission from Fusho Roshi in 2021. She enjoys integrating psychology with her Zen practice and teaching. For more about Kellie and Open Mind Zen: - https://openmindzen.com/our-teachers/ For more about the Simplicity Zen Podcast: - https://simplicityzen.com/ 

 Rev. Myō Lahey is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson and is the Abbot at Issan-ji as well as Guiding Teacher at Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento, California. He has previously served as the Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and has served leadership roles in the Soto Zen Buddhist Association of North America . For more on Issan-ji: - https://hszc.org/ For more on Simplicity Zen Podcast: - https://simplicityzen.com/ 

 Daniel Terragno, a native of Chile, is a teacher in the koan tradition of the Diamond Sangha, which was founded by Robert Aitken Roshi. Daniel is the dharma heir of John Tarrant Roshi of the Pacific Zen Institute. Daniel started his spiritual practice in 1967 studying the Gurdjieff Work with W.A. Nyland before taking up Zen. Daniel received authorization to teach Zen in 1995, and in 2001 received dharma transmission from Tarrant Roshi. Daniel also teaches and leads sesshin in Ohio with Yellow Springs Dharma Center and Zen on High in Columbus, Ohio; with Grupo Zen Viento del Sur (Southern Wind) in Argentina, based in Buenos Aires, and also in Santiago, Chile. For more about Daniel: - https://rocksandcloudszendo.org/ For more about the Simplicity Zen Podcast: - https://simplicityzen.com/ 

 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/