Rev. Shinshu Roberts is a Dharma Heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She received her priest training at San Francisco Zen Center and from the North American branch of the Japanese Soto School. She has been appointed Kokusaifukyoshi (International Dharma Teacher) by the Shumucho (Japanese Soto Administration). She co-founded Ocean Gate Zen Center in Capitola, CA with her spouse Jaku Kinst. She is the author of Being-Time: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji and Meeting the Myriad Things A Zen Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Genjokoan (upcoming release on 8/19/2025).

We talked about Ocean Gate Zen Center’s logo and the center's old-growth redwood altar, overthinking and copying the Heart Sutra, finding ‘home’ at SFZC in the 70s, relying on each other as part of our collective and personal practice, and the importance of remembering our shared humanity.