Date: 2025/11/02. Speaker: Rev. Jinzu Minna Jain. At Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Jinzu is an artist, writer, and racial & systemic equity educator. They identify as BIPOC, disabled, queer and trans/nonbinary. Jinzu has been practicing Sōtō Zen Buddhism for over twenty-five years and is a novice priest, teacher, and Communications and Marketing Director at Clouds. Jinzu believes that Sōtō Zen practice can help us cultivate the capacity for collective care and liberation, so that we may meet ourselves, one another, and these harrowing times with stillness and courageous action. They wish to break down barriers to access caused by systems of oppression and provide gateways into Sōtō Zen for anyone who wishes to experience it.

Date: 2025/10/26. Speaker: Myoshin Diane Benjamin. Location: Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Myoshin is a lay Dharma teacher, a path that reflects her deep interest and engagement in the ways that Buddhist practice both permeates everyday work and family life, and supports engagement in social change. Myoshin began practicing Buddhism in 1996 and received Dharma transmission in 2022 from Sosan Flynn. She taught for over a decade in the children’s program at Clouds in Water, and has practiced at Hokyoji and Ryumonji monasteries and attended numerous retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh and his community.

Date: 2025/10/19. Speaker: Rev. Fukutoku Ann Morishita. Location: Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Fukutoku is a Soto Zen priest in training with Rev. MyoOn as her teacher. She has practiced Soto Zen Buddhism for the past 18 years. In May of 2021, Fukutoku took home leaving vows, priest ordination, with Rev. Sojun Diane Martin of Udumbara Sangha in IL. She retired from hospice nursing in Dec., 2024. She is married to Ray and has a son, Kyle. Prior to becoming a Buddhist, Fukutoku was a member of the Evanston, IL, Quaker Friends' Meeting for ten years.

Date: 2025-10-12. Speaker: Rev. Kikan Michael Howard. At Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Kikan Michael Howard started practicing at Clouds in Water Zen Center in the late 1990s and was ordained by Sosan in 2018. He is an associate member of the Teacher Ryo at Clouds. Kikan is an independent app developer, a licensed consultant in Dynamic Emotional Integration®, and he transcribes Katagiri Roshi’s dharma talks at the Katagiri Transcripts website, katagiritranscripts.net. He lives in Northfield, MN with his wife and cats.

Date: 2025-10-05. Speaker: Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn. Location: Clouds in Water Zen Center, Saint Paul, MN

Sosan has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion. She has a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and has worked in both community mental health and staff training.

Date: 2025-09-28. Speaker: Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn. Location: Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Sosan has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion. She has a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and has worked in both community mental health and staff training.

This talk was given on September 21, 2025 by Rev. Taizan Alford at Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Taizan was ordained as a Soto Zen priest by Sosan Flynn in 2016, and completed shuso in 2021. He received dharma transmission from Sosan in 2024 and has full authority to teach in the Soto Zen tradition. Taizan's journey with meditation began on the yogic path in the early 1980s after getting sober. He has been to India, studied Ayurveda, and taught yoga since 1998. Taizan spent three months as a resident at Zen Mountain Monastery in 2020 Taizan’s focus in Soto Zen Buddhism is on how zazen, taking refuge and loving kindness can heal old wounds and help create less suffering for individuals and their communities. He is a full member of the Teacher Ryo at Clouds. Taizan is committed to long-term recovery from addiction, healing from trauma, and not creating more suffering. Taizan is deeply grateful for his loving and supportive husband Tom.

This talk was given on September 14, 2025 by Rev. Myo On Susan Hagler at Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Myo On Susan Hagler began her Zen practice in the autumn of 1980 at MZMC. She went there to find a place to meditate and hit the jackpot when encountering Katagiri-roshi and the MZMC sangha. From then to now Myo On has lived a life filled with the joys and sorrows one encounters on life’s journey. She has been married since 1986, has 3 adult children and 3 grandkids, who bring her great delight. She was ordained in 2003 by Tim Burkett and received dharma transmission from Dokai Georgesen in 2018. She has had the opportunity to practice at all the MN Zen centers as well as Green Gulch in CA. Attending the first unit of chaplaincy training at Gunderson hospital in LaCrosse informed her both personally and as a Zen teacher. Myo On joined the teacher-ryo at Clouds in early 2019 as a transmitted teacher. For Myo On, life’s experiences and the people she has crossed paths with have been her greatest teachers. The triple treasures of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha have been her greatest resources for aspiring to live life Well.

This talk was given on September 7, 2025 by Rev. Chiemi Renshin Onikura Bly and Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn at Clouds in Water Zen Center.

Raised in a Jodo Shinshu temple family in Fukuoka Japan, Chiemi graduated from a Jodo Shinshu high school and college. She moved to the United States in 2000. Chiemi has lived in Minnesota for 20 years. She is ordained in the Jodo Shinshu Nishi Hongwanji tradition in 2016. She is an Assistant Minister of the Buddhist Church of America, and serves at the Twin Cities Buddhist Association.

Sosan has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion.

At Twin Cities Buddhist Association all are welcome. We’ve been part of the Minnesota community since 1946 when Japanese Americans, having been released from the WWII incarceration camps, settled in Minneapolis. Through their wisdom and guidance we are able to continue sharing and living the teachings of the Buddha.

We live in chaotic times. Everything going on can leave us feeling at odds with the world around us. Jodo Shinshu Buddhism offers a path and community that embraces all and forsakes none. Together our members enrich their lives and find happiness through sharing the Dharma in community. We strive to live a life full of gratitude, inter-connectedness and awakening.

This talk was given on August 31, 2025 by rev. seigen johnson at Clouds in Water Zen Center.

rev. seigen is a budding public theologian, Sōto Zen Buddhist priest, dialogue facilitator, and spiritual leadership consultant. She is most passionate about the growing interest in interfaith formation in higher education and finding opportunities to share insight from liberation and womanist theology with Buddhist practitioners. seigen has been practicing Sōto Zen Buddhism for more than 20 years. She lived in residential practice at San Francisco Zen Center for 7 years after working as a budget and public policy analyst for Santa Clara County in California where she led meditation workshops for families living in emergency housing and emancipated foster youth. seigen remains deeply connected to the spiritual lineage of the A.M.E Church in which she was raised. She's also an outdoor enthusiastic, lifelong learner, and aunt to 6 mesmerizing nieces and nephews.