John Fraser is the principal teacher of the Glasgow Zen Group and received Shiho or dharma transmission from Michael Eido Luetchford in 2006. John is also a somatic sex therapist & sex coach, working in Edinburgh, Scotland, with individuals and couples.

The Glasgow Zen Group was established in 1990 within the auspices of the International Zen Association, and has operated as an independent fellowship of practitioners since 2000, practicing within the broad Soto Zen tradition.

For more information about John and the Glasgow Zen Group, please visit the following links:

https://www.loveandsexcoaching.co.uk/

https://glasgowzengroup.com/

We discussed:

*Dharma transmission as the freedom to be your full self as a teacher

*First happening upon Zen in a ski chalet and the origins of the Glasgow Zen Group

*Authenticity, sexuality, dance, and embodiment

*And the importance of finding a practice that makes the most sense for you and that it’s not about being remembered, it’s about being useful

Euna is a multicultural, unaffiliated renunciate dedicating their life to the Dhamma (Laws of Nature) as taught by Buddha. Cave yogi-poet who loves exploring diverse, inclusive, and fun routes to awakening. Enthusiastic about ascetic training in caves and wilderness, nervous system theory, and Brahma-Vihara practices. Primary focus is on Cittanupassana and Hwadu. Formally trained in Vipassana & Samatha meditation (Myanmar Theravada and Korean Seon lineages), and monasticism at Mahapajapati Monastery. Completed BA in Ethnic Studies: Race, Gender, and Power at Mills College. Currently, board secretary at Mahapajapati Foundation, resident steward at Mahapajapati Monastery, and Registered Behavior Technician. Learn more about their adventures at scoby.substack.com.

For other resources mentioned in the episode, please visit the following links:

https://mahapajapatiinfo.wordpress.com/

https://dharmatreasure.org/

We talked about:

*Recovery Dharma at San Francisco Zen Center and developing a meditation practice

*Daehaeng Sunim, Mahapajapati Monastery, and dharma in the wilderness

*Cave meditation, renunciation, and learning what feels good and what doesn't

*Cooking at a Korean monastery, identity, and poetry

*Leading meditation and the excitement and fulfillment of facilitating queer retreats

*And the importance studying your role models and safely jumping into your practice.

Ananda Mahinkanda is an accomplished Accounting and Finance professional and Business Administrator with a Doctorate in Humanity. His life journey has taken him across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and North America, giving him a rich multicultural perspective and a deep appreciation for the diversity of human experience.

A lifelong animal lover, Ananda is deeply committed to ahimsa and to promoting compassion toward all beings. He actively advocates for a plant-based lifestyle, recognizing its profound benefits for animal welfare, human health, and the protection of the environment.

Ananda is also a serious meditation and Dhamma practitioner. His spiritual path includes a period of temporary ordination, and he continues to maintain a dedicated practice grounded in mindfulness, insight, and ethical living.He is the founder of Samahitha Nature Foundation, USA, and serves as the International Advisor to the Sri Lanka Non-Violence Society.

For more information about Ananda and the Samahitha Nature Foundation, please visit the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/@Samahithanaturefundation

We talked about:

*Mahinda, growing up Buddhist in Sri Lanka, and right action

*Meditation and receiving temporary ordination in Burma

*Mindfulness and the joy of interconnection

*No-self, ahimsa, and the benefits of a plant-based diet

*And the importance of observing your mind and taking time to think about how you want to live your life

Assaf Katz is an activist and Buddhist teacher in Israel who opposes the Israeli governments’ devastating military action and long occupation in Palestine, and is dedicated to finding a path to peace. He has been practicing meditation and the path of the Dharma since 2007, mostly from the Vipassana tradition and also from Non-Duality traditions, and has practiced for long periods in Israel and abroad. Since 2016, he has been living in Clil and taking part of the staff of Meshiv Nefesh, a center and home for spiritual practice in the spirit of Buddhism.

Assaf's focus mostly deals with bringing the practice to everyday life and strengthening the wide vision of the Dharma as a whole spiritual path which includes the development of wisdom, moral conduct and development of the mind.

Assaf sees much importance in developing and creating communities which practice the Dharma, as a way for personal and collective liberation. Assaf is also active in social, environmental and political issues.

For more information about the resources Assaf mentioned, please see the following links:

https://tovana.org.il/en

https://engagedharma.wordpress.com/

https://www.sanghaseva.org/

https://www.tarabrach.com/

https://plumvillage.org/

We discussed:

*Dharma and being introduced to the teachings of HH Dalai Lama through Assaf’s brother

*Exploring nonduality through Advaita Vedanta at Meshiv Nefesh

*October 7th and listening to Martin Luther King Jr.'s teachings

*Vulnerability and the potential that comes from being with suffering

*And the importance of truly loving this world, all of it, and applying that love and care towards liberation

Bhante Buddharakkhita was born in Uganda to a Christian family in 1966 in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa. He first encountered Buddhism in 1990 while studying in India. He was fully ordained as a Theravada Buddhist monk by the late Most Venerable U Silananda in 2002 at the Tathagata Meditation Centre in San Jose, California. He then spent eight years under the guidance of Bhante Henepola Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society, in West Virginia.

Founder/Abbot of the Uganda Buddhist Centre, Bhante is also the founder of the Buddhist Peace School (Pre-School), Buddhist Peace School (Primary section), and African Buddhist High School in Garuga, Entebbe, Uganda.

Bhante has been teaching mindfulness meditation in Africa, the U.S., Singapore, and worldwide since 2005. He is a Teaching Professor of Theravada Buddhism at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University, New York City, USA.

He is a long-time member of Buddhist Global Reliefs’ advisory council in New Jersey. Bhante is a much-loved teacher in many countries. His book, Planting Dhamma Seeds: The Emergence of Buddhism in Africa, tells the story of his religious and spiritual work in Africa.

For more information about Bhante and the Uganda Buddhist Centre, please visit the following links:

https://ugandabuddhistcenter.org/https://bhantebuddharakkhita.org/

We discussed:

*The Uganda Buddhist Centre's 20th anniversary and Bhante's reflections on it's past, present, and future

*Ordination and repaying his mother through sharing the dharma with her

*Meeting HH The Dalai Lama, international travel, and eventually finding that Buddhism "hit the spot"

*And the importance of meditation and undertaking the fascinating work of observing your own mind

Alexander James O'Neill is a specially appointed assistant professor at the Department of Liberal Arts at Musashino University, Tōkyō. He was previously a research fellow at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto's Department for the Study of Religion.

He has a broad range of interests, including Sanskrit Buddhist texts and manuscripts from South Asia, especially Nepal. He has a passion for Newar Buddhism and the Newar language and culture. In addition, he is interested broadly in Mahāyāna Buddhism, ranging from Sanskrit and Newar literature to Chinese and Japanese Buddhist texts and practices.

For more information about Dr. O'Neill, please see the following links:

https://www.alexanderjoneill.com/

https://www.shingansportal.com/https://www.zonkakuproject.org/

We talked about:

*Zonkaku and creating open source dharma resources

*The Secrets of the Tathāgata and the Buddha meeting us as we are

*Practicing in different traditions and finding Jōdo Shinshū through a connection with Amitabha

*Newar Buddhism, Hiranya Varna Mahavihar, and Buddhist book worship

*And the importance of focused reading and finding a teacher or trusted dharma friend to help guide you along the path

Tseme (they/them) practices in the Himalayan Gelugpa tradition. Their Buddhist Studies degree at UC Berkeley included studying Tibetan and Japanese languages and they are now undertaking a Master of Divinity at Harvard to become a Buddhist Chaplain. Tseme also publishes innovative content about being queer and Buddhist on their Instagram @neo_queer and dreams of starting their own publishing house one day.

For more information about Rainbodhi, please check out the following link:https://rainbodhi.org/

We talked about:

*Mental prostrations and weaving Tibetan Buddhist practices into a busy schedule

*Rainbodhi USA and pursuing chaplaincy to support and facilitate queer communities and spaces

*Buddhist Studies and how to approach “post-post" colonial critique

*Engaged Buddhism and approaching activism through subversive art

*And the importance of remaining curious about your practice

Jhani Randhawa is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar, whose praxis centres the performative uses of literature, archival marginalia, and bodies to illuminate limits of legality, memory, and racially gendered power within the ongoing ecological crises of settler colonialism. Winner of the 2024 California Book Award for their debut poetry collection, Time Regime (Gaudy Boy, 2022), Jhani’s work has appeared in the New Art Gallery Walsall (Walsall, England) and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (Gyeonggi-do, South Korea), as well as publications A Mouth Holds Many Things: A Hybrid Literature Anthology, ASAP/J, 128 Lit, Footnotes, and O BOD, among others. You can learn more about their work at www.jfkrandhawa.com.

For more information about Sujatha Baliga and Spiritual Fitness, please see the following link:

https://www.sujathabaliga.com/spiritual-fitness

For more information about Annah, Infinite by Khairani Barokka, please see the following link:

https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/annah-infinite

We discussed:

• The relationship between Buddhist practice and art

• Diving deep in community during a retreat at the Upaya Zen Center
• Surabhi (aka Kamadhenu) and early experiences with Sikhism
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and learning to accept your whole self
• And the importance of taking your time with the tensions that come up along the Buddhist path and practicing “looking again”
• Also, think about creating a photo journal!

Muna Shaheen is a Palestinian single mother of three living in Haifa. She is a long-term practitioner, who co-founded “Ihna-Hon,” an open Arabic-speaking mindfulness-meditation space, and later founded “Marsa” a dedicated Arabic-speaking Sangha, in which she teaches Dharma. In addition she is an assistant teacher in an MBSR teacher-training-course.Muna regards mindfulness teaching as her major social activism, while she holds a veterinarian certificate and promotes awareness to animal welfare both as an educational consultant in the Ministries of Agriculture and Education and teaching at university level. She is an environmental activist, co-founder of the “One Climate” movement, and formerly established a Palestinian Sea advocacy community in Haifa. Muna also leads children’s group in nature bonding them to earth.For more information about One Climate, please visit the following link:https://www.facebook.com/climatejustice4all/

To make a donation, Muna recommends the following link:

https://www.every.org/youth-passageways/f/special-projects-donorWe discussed environmental education for children and teaching youths about non-violence through compassion towards animals, belonging to the land and receiving olives as gifts from ancient beings, anxiety and finding a personal Vipassana practice as well as a heart connection to Native American spirituality, developing Palestinian sanghas and viewing practice as social activism, and the importance of knowing that the Buddhist path reveals itself.

Daijaku was ordained in 1988, completed her priest training Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and received Dharma transmission (full authorization as a Soto Zen teacher), in 2004 from Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi (Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center and Abbot of San Francisco Zen Center from 1988- 1997).

After her priest training, Daijaku completed a master’s degree in counseling psychology and a PhD on the teachings and practice of Soto Zen with a focus on effective ways to support a deep engagement with the path of practice.

Daijaku has taught and led retreats in a variety of settings including Gampo Abbey with the Venerable Pema Chodron and at Buddhist temples throughout the U.S. She continues to learn from and incorporate teachings and wisdom from Buddhist traditions beyond Soto Zen, while remaining deeply rooted in the Soto Zen way.

She is a Professor Emerita at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS), a Buddhist seminary and graduate school and member school of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley California, where she founded and directed the Buddhist chaplaincy graduate program, as well as the Certificate in Soto Zen Studies. She continues her involvement at IBS in a less formal way.

Jaku was appointed Kokusaifukyoshi (International Teacher) by the Soto Zen School (Sotoshu) in Tokyo Japan in 2009 and is a board member of the Association of Soto Zen Buddhists, a Sotoshu organization of Kokusaifukyoshi in North America. She is also a full member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, served as a board member of that organization from 2007 – 2013, and is a member of the American Zen Teacher’s Association. She is the author of Trust Realization and the Self in Soto Zen Practice and numerous articles on Buddhism.

For more information, please visit the following link:https://oceangatezen.org/

We talked about preparations for an upcoming Jukai at Ocean Gate Zen Center, beginnings in Zen and the invitation to enter practice “completely as you are," Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and pursuing a degree in counseling, developing the Buddhist chaplaincy program and the Certificate in Soto Zen Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, and the importance of remembering that "discipline is following what you love" and that you can find a way to be in this world as it is.