Fusatsu received Jukai in the Soto Zen lineage in 2018.

We discussed Fusatsu’s experience assisting with preparations for a recent abbot transition at the Sanshin Zen Community, the Everyday Zen Foundation, pet sanghas, making virtual dharma connections, the impact of nature practice, and being comfortable outside of your comfort zone.

Angela Lintz Small, PhD, is a Historical & Cultural Studies of Religion PhD Student and Student Trustee at the Graduate Theological Union.

Yoni Ackerman received lay ordination from the Berkeley Zen Center in 2022.

We talk about Yoni’s journey into becoming a physical therapist, growing up in a Reform Jewish household, just being yourself in zazen, the stink of zen, and looking locally to find your sangha.

If you're curious and wish to learn more about practice at the Berkeley Zen Center, feel free to reach out to Yoni through his email: jonathan dot d dot ackerman at gmail dot com.

Rev. JP deGuzman, PhD, is a lecturer in the Asian American Studies Department at UCLA and a Minister's Assistant at the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple.

We discuss improv comedy and Buddhism, lessons given and learned while teaching high school students during the pandemic, the impact of a vitamin C gummy during tokudo, interweaving oneself within the history and architecture of temples through chanting, and allowing gratitude to ripen when it ripens.

Jade Sasser, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Gender & Sexuality Studies Department at University of California, Riverside. Sasser is the author of Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future and host of the podcast, Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question.

We discuss how mindfulness practices may benefit climate anxiety, how writing Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question deepened her Buddhist practice, the role of chanting in daily life, and Soka Gakkai International's work towards nuclear disarmament.

Rev. Kaitlyn Mascher-Mace is a Jōdo Shinshū priest and host of the BuddhistPriestPlays channel on Twitch.

We talk about developing digital Buddhist communities, military and hospital chaplaincy, working as an emergency paramedic, and how everyone is special and welcome under the tent of Jōdo Shinshū.

Ralph H. Craig III, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Whitman College and the author of Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner.

Rev. Melissa Opel serves as the Head/Resident Minister of the Buddhist Church of San Francisco.

We talk about Rev. Opel's journey with and eventual break from evangelical Christianity, struggles with faith and identity, the process of becoming a minister, and understanding Jodo Shinshu as a tradition that invites you to come as you are.

Dave Cuomo is an ordained Zen priest, who serves as the Head of Practice at the Angel City Zen Center in Los Angeles, CA.

We discuss playing "Rainbow Connection" on breaks while training in a monastery, how punk and Buddhism relate to one another, institutional issues within Sotoshu, and the importance of community as practice.

Rev. Myō Denis Lahey is the Abbot of Hartford Street Zen Center Issan-ji in San Francisco and serves as a Guiding Teacher at Valley Streams Zen Sangha in Sacramento.

We discuss Rev. Myō's Catholic upbringing, Zen teachers, the importance of developing an openness towards various faith traditions, the history and significance of the Hartford Street Zen Center, Western esotericism, and ceremonial magic.