Sit, Breathe, Bow

If you give up, then what?

Dr. Catherine Anraku Hondorp Sensei is a Soto Zen Buddhist Priest and an authorized Zen teacher in the White Plum lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Anraku Sensei is co-founder, with her spouse Ryūmon Hilda Baldoquín Sensei, of Two Streams Zen, a dedicated practice space for People of Color, in Westhampton, Massachusetts, United States. Anraku Sensei’s passion for social justice arose from growing up White in a northeastern U.S. urban Black community. Born to a Dutch Reformed Church minister father, and an Early Childhood educator mother in a multiracial family during the times of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, racial inequities were painfully apparent. Anraku Sensei began her Zen studies with John Daido Loori Roshi at Zen Mountain Monastery in 1987. In 1996 she began studying with Enkyo O’Hara Roshi. Anraku Sensei received dharma transmission from Enkyo Roshi in 2009. Anraku Sensei is co-founder, with her spouse Ryūmon Hilda Baldoquín Sensei, of Two Streams Zen, a dedicated practice space for People of Color, in Westhampton, Massachusetts, United States. You can find out more by visiting the website for Two Streams Zen. https://twostreamszen.org/ Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher. https://www.theseekerstable.com/ Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org

Haemin Sunim was born in South Korea, but after high school he moved to the U.S. to study film at U.C. Berkeley. Dissatisfied with the reality of film making he switched to religious studies and went on to complete a masters at Harvard, a doctorate at Princeton, and taught Asian religions at Hampshire College in Massachusetts for 7 years. At 25, Haemin decided to become a monk and did his formal monastic training from Haein monastery in South Korea. His first book Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down has been translated into over 35 different languages and sold over four million copies. His second book, Love for Imperfect Things was the number one bestseller of the year in South Korea in 2016 and became available in multiple languages in 2019. Haemin Sunim is the founding teacher of the School of Broken Hearts in Seoul, South Korea. And you can also follow him on Twitter with a million other people who seek out his daily reflections. You can find out more by visiting his website at https://www.haeminsunim.com/ He is very active on Twitter and offers a lot of teaching there. https://twitter.com/haeminsunim His books are available on his website or by following these links: Love for Imperfect Things https://amzn.to/3eGBYEt The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down https://amzn.to/30ygHb2

Shinge Sherry Chayat, Roshi began formal Zen practice at the Zen Studies Society in 1967. She served as co-director of the first residential community at Dai Bosatsu Zendo from 1974 until 1976, when she moved to Syracuse and began leading the Zen Center there. She received lay ordination from Maurine Stuart Roshi in 1985, and full ordination from Eido Shimano Roshi in 1991. She was installed as abbot of the Zen Center of Syracuse in 1996; received Dharma Transmission from Eido Roshi in 1998; and in 2008 was authorized as a roshi, or Zen Master, and given the name Shinge, meaning “heart-mind flowering.” In addition to her work as a Zen teacher, the Shinge Roshi is an award-winning writer and editor of several books and her articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications You can find out more by visiting: Zen Studies Society https://zenstudies.org Zen Center of Syracuse https://zencenterofsyracuse.org Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher https://www.theseekerstable.com Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org

Zen Master Hae Kwang, Stanley Lombardo, first started to practice with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1978, receiving inka from him in 1992 and transmission in 1998. An emeritus classics professor at the University of Kansas he is known for his translations of the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and the Divine Comedy, and has also co-authored a translation of the Tao Te Ching. He is the editor and/or co-editor of three of Zen Master Seung Sahn's books, Bone of Space, Only Don't Know, and the Ten Gates; and he has co-edited A Zen Sourcebook, an anthology of many of the traditional documents from China, Korea, and Japan that shaped the Zen tradition. He is a founding member of the Kansas Zen Center in Lawrence, Kansas, where he teaches along with his wife Zen Master Bon Hae (Judy Roitman). You can find out more by visiting the website for the Kansas Zen Center at https://kansaszencenter.org/ You can find many of his translations here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AStanley+Lombardo&s=relevancerank&text=Stanley+Lombardo&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1 Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher. https://www.theseekerstable.com/ Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org

Zen Master Jok Um (Ken Kessel) began studying with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1975, received inka, or permission to teach, in 1996, and transmission in 2017. Zen Master Jok Um is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a psychotherapist specializing in infant and early childhood mental health. He is guiding teacher for the New Haven Zen Center, Hwa Um Sa-Orlando Zen Center, Gateless Gate Zen Center (Gainesville) and Cypress Tree Zen Group (Tallahassee), Ten Directions Zen Community in Chicago and the Hermitage of Beneficence in McHenry, IL. He also teaches at the Chogye International Zen Center of New York. http://www.newhavenzen.org/ https://orlandozen.com/ http://gatelessgate.org/ http://webdharma.com/ctzg/ https://tendirectionszen.org/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Religious-Center/Ja-Gak-Am-Hermitage-of-Beneficence-108781357157949/ http://www.chogyezencenter.org/ Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher. https://www.theseekerstable.com/ Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org

Zen Master Dae Kwan studied Buddhism at the Kwok Kwong Buddhist College in Hong Kong in the 1970’s and ordained as a nun at Ajahn Chaa's International Forest Monastery in Thailand in 1981. She practiced in Chiangmai for a decade including two years of intensive solo retreat in Tu Boo Cave. As a Theravada nun she visited for the first time Korea in 1992 and met Zen Master Seung Sahn during a three-month winter kyol che. Following the retreat she asked her teacher for permission to help establish a Zen Center in Hong Kong, which became Su Bong Zen Monastery. In 1995, she received inka, or permission to teach, from Zen Master Seung Sahn and in April 2001, she received Dharma transmission from him. Today Zen Master Dae Kwan serves as abbot and guiding teacher of Su Bong Zen Monastery in Hong Kong. She has translated several of Zen Master Seung Sahn's books into Chinese including "Dropping Ashes on the Buddha," "Only Don't Know," and "The Whole World is a Single Flower." You can find out more by visiting the website for Su Bong Monastery https://www.subong.org.hk/en Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher. https://www.theseekerstable.com/ Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org

Zen Master Bon Soeng, Jeff Kitzes, began practicing Zen in 1975 and became a student of Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1979. He received inka, or permission to teach in 1992 and was given dharma transmission by Zen Master Seung Sahn in 2001. Zen Master Bon Soeng is also a licensed psychotherapist in private practice integrating Zen, Buddhism, and Western Psychotherapy. He has served as the guiding teacher of Empty Gate Zen Center in Berkeley, California since 1992. To find out more visit Empty Gate Zen Center. http://emptygatezen.com/ They also curate a very active YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/emptygatezen Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher. https://www.theseekerstable.com/ Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org

Reirin Alheidis Gumbel was born in Germany and moved to the United States in 1981. She began practicing Zen in 1990 and received lay ordination from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1993. Reirin became a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center in 2003 and lived at Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara for nearly 12 years. She ordained as a Soto Zen Priest in 2007 and in May of 2019 Reirin received shiho (Dharma transmission) from Furyu Nancy Schroeder at Green Dragon Temple of San Francisco Zen Center. Currently, Reirin is the resident priest of the Milwaukee Zen Center. You can find out more by visiting the website for the Milwaukee Zen Center: http://mkzen.org Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher. https://www.theseekerstable.com Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org

Abby Mushin Terris first began studying Zen in 1976 after practicing Transcendental Meditation for several years. She met Robert Aitken Roshi in 1976 when he visited the Seattle Zen group she sat with. Recognizing him from a significant dream she had had, she attended a period of residential training at his Maui Zendo the following winter and sat several more retreats with Aitken Roshi before settling in with practice Genki Roshi, who had moved to Seattle. Mushin began studying with Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi in 1987. Mushin was named a Dharma Holder by Chozen Bays, Roshi in 2004 and received Sangha Transmission from her in the White Plum lineage of Soto Zen in 2013, becoming her first lay successor. She is on the teacher panel at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie Oregon and co-leads regular retreats there. She also is a visiting teacher at Zen West in Eugene Oregon. Mushin founded the Corvallis Zen Circle in 1992 and remains the sangha’s guiding teacher. They have recently completed building the Sangha Jewel Zen Center, the first dedicated center for study and practice of the Way in Corvallis, Oregon. You can find out more by visiting: https://corvalliszencircle.com Sit, Breathe, Bow is hosted by Ian White Maher. https://www.theseekerstable.com Sit, Breathe, Bow is sponsored by the Online Sangha of the International Kwan Um School of Zen https://kwanumzenonline.org