How is an enlightened compassion the essence of our “impossible" suffering?

In this profound talk, Dr. Kritee explores case 21 of the Mumonkan, where a student asks Zen Master Yunmen "What is the essence of Buddhism?" and the master answers: "Kanshiketsu"—toilet stick. Through personal stories about extremely hard (impossible) life situations and sitting with a friend facing breast cancer, Sensei Kanko illustrates how the most challenging suffering can get transmuted on our spiritual path. She offers tools for working with life's inevitabilities of old age, sickness, and death—from recognizing the universality of our experience, to finding support in community, to accessing the vast inner space offered by meditation. She goes deeper and asks us to draw from Zen Buddhist, Indigenous, and Tibetan traditions which teach that our deepest spiritual potential lies in facing our greatest suffering to access the great compassion within. Using the touching example of 96-year-old Joanna Macy dying peacefully with playfulness, this talk invites us to discover how the things we desperately want to eliminate might be gateways to the sweetness we are literally made of.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk during a half day meditation in July 2025. 

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

How do we cultivate deeper trust in life when everything seems to be falling apart? What does it mean to "proceed on from the top of a hundred-foot pole" - to let go just when we think we've learned to control some aspects of life.

In this powerful talk on the last day of silent May 2025 Zen retreat, Sensei Kanko explores the profound teaching of trusting the universe and releasing our grip on comfort and control. Drawing on inspiring examples - from Dipa Ma who could sit for seven days without moving to a contemporary practitioner's complete surrender to Kali - she illuminates how limitless trust in life is the essence of enlightenment. Making a crucial distinction between trusting the divine/natural order and accepting injustice and toxicity created by humans, Kanko offers practical wisdom for maintaining both trust and healthy boundaries. Through personal stories and the metaphor of learning to "kin" with nature, she shows how deepening our trust allows us to act with compassion even as we navigate these times of polycrisis.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk on the final day of the May 2025 Zen retreat (sesshin).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

Using the example of the Babemba tribe’s harm resolution ceremony, Sensei Kritee explores “What if a wise response to our current times is to expand our vision and perception beyond the limits of a single human lifetime?”

Babemba tribe has unlimited belief in the fundamental goodness of all human beings. Where does such deep belief come from? They don’t start lashing out in fear and anger at people who cause harm. They actually remind people of their goodness when individuals end up causing harm. How does such a “beloved community” get created? 

The intense times of polycrisis that we are living in are constantly making us contract our awareness and focus only on immediate survival. But what if, instead of listening to these messages from autocratic capitalist systems causing harm to our planet and vulnerable beings, the trust in life would come from expanding our awareness wider and deeper across time and space? What if we are not limited to the short timelines of a single human lifetime and not limited to a human-centric worldview? What if we are limitless in our trust that there are dimensions and beings far beyond what we can see and observe with our human eyes? When we embrace this wider perspective of the universe, we can develop a deep trust in life and have our small human life be a part of the larger process without doing what we can do in this lifetime. 

In this talk, Sensei Kanko explores different approaches to living life that are rooted in Indigenous worldviews and practices that connect humans with the natural world and with “Mu” (Shunyata). These worldviews and practices help us trust the fundamental goodness of all human beings.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk during a May 2025 Zen retreat (Sesshin).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

How can we make wholesome decisions in the face of impossible dilemmas that life throws at us? How do we face impossible choices when hanging between life and death?

In this talk, Dr. Kritee Kanko reflects on a strange Zen story where someone finds themselves in an impossible situation: hanging by their mouth from a tree branch over a cliff, he must either answer a spiritual question and fall to his death, or remain silent and fail to fulfil his vow to help all beings. Is the koan presenting us with a false choice between self-preservation and service to others? 

We all need to make seemingly impossible choices around old age, sickness, and death concerning ourselves, our loved ones, and all living beings. 

Sensei Kanko explains with vivid and vulnerable personal stories related to her own chronic health issues that it's not easy, that it is okay to make mistakes or to feel that we have failed. She explores how we can find profound spiritual depth even while experiencing physical limitation. With tenderness, Sensei Kanko reveals how meditation allows us to transcend black-and-white (i.e., right vs wrong) thinking, embracing both our human vulnerability and spiritual potential simultaneously. She discusses how facing our own mortality can deepen our practice, encouraging us to "die on the cushion" while still fully embracing life. In these times of polycrisis and systemic collapse, she emphasizes the essential role of community in facing our deepest fears and challenges, reminding us that true Buddhism was never meant to be a hyper-individualistic pursuit of enlightenment.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk during the February 2025 Zen retreat (sesshin).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

How can we cultivate fearlessness in these turbulent times? Can developing our ability to grieve, trust, and surrender help us access our inner vastness and fearlessness? Is our practice supporting communion between analytical and intuitive aspects of our mind?

In this talk, Sensei Kritee Kanko explores an incident from 20th century India about Dipa Ma, who held a frightened student's hand during an extreme airplane turbulence episode and whispered, "The daughters of the Buddha are fearless." Through this short story, Dr. Kritee examines how we can face fear in our increasingly chaotic world through grief work, trust, and devotion.

The talk challenges Western Buddhism's hyper-individualistic approach, suggesting we've lost something vital by removing elements of devotion and surrender present in Asian Buddhist lineages. What if instead of living modern lives solely focused on personal happiness or individual impact, we could surrender and devote ourselves to something larger than ourselves—as Indigenous peoples and Tribal Nations have done for millennia? Could this help us become grounded forces amidst the chaos of fascism and environmental destruction unfolding in our world?

Drawing on the Indigenous “Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor," Sensei Kanko presents a vision of healing that integrates the mind-focused "Eagle path" with the heart-centered "Condor path" at this crucial transition period in humanity's journey.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk on the second day of the Winter 2025 Zen retreat (sesshin).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

How can we respond with loving clarity and topple brothers like Trump or Musk who are stuck in toxic patterns of power and control?

In this profound Dharma talk, Sensei Kritee Kanko explores a koan about an eighth-century Chinese Zen master who stubbornly dies standing on his head—only to have his sister, a bearer of gentle, loving wisdom, topple his final display of ego. Through personal stories and reflections on leaders like brothers Trump and Musk, who inspire others to be “brave in their cruelty,” Kanko reveals two ways we all can get stuck: either in the pursuit of power and specialness or in a state of helpless victimhood.

Is it possible to live, love, and be in these times as our ancestors did—those who faced world wars, famines, and destruction alike? We may not control how every event unfolds in the future, but what can we do? What inner qualities can help us dismantle the need for power and specialness—both in ourselves and in the leaders driving chaos and destruction?

Drawing parallels between the nun’s gentle yet effective response to her brother and our current challenges, Kanko illustrates how the feminine qualities of loving care, community support, and persistent gentle action can transform seemingly immovable obstacles. This talk reminds us that in these difficult times, our path forward lies not in hatred or despair but in staying grounded in love while taking continuous action for change.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk during the February 2025 half-day meditation gathering (Zazenkai).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

How can a soiled toilet paper which you have used to wipe your ass be Buddha? How can the things we “hate” about life be “sacred”? How can the worst kinds of physical and emotional pain experienced during meditation be a pathway to a deeper realization, equanimity and courage?

In this talk, Zen teacher Kanko talks about a classic Koan and discusses how we can best relate to pain during a meditation session. Everyone feels pain. Life consists of physical and mental suffering. That is the first fundamental truth in Buddhism.  But during meditation sessions, should we always ignore pain and just focus on our breath or koan like many traditional Zen Buddhist teachers recommend? What is a modern trauma-informed way to deal with pain? How can we embrace both the feminine and the masculine aspects of spiritual life? Can we be both kind to our bodies, which will get physically tired from long periods of sitting and/or internal trauma, and also remain firm in the face of pain? Using personal stories as examples to make her point, Sensei Kanko makes this topic come alive. The talk also explains the basic steps of the meditation path and what it takes to work with koans like the one discussed in the talk.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk during the February 2023 Zen retreat (sesshin).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

What is the mental state from which we can take action during these times of uncertainty, fear and grief? How can we access such a “prized” mental state?

In this talk Sensei Kritee Kanko (Ph.D.) shares, with examples and stories, a modern trauma-informed way to access equanimity and courage to take action for the benefit of all beings. In these times of polycrisis, it is ordinary to feel busy, distracted and stressed all the time. But were we born to be like this? Usually when humans have experienced trauma and stress themselves, they perpetuate trauma to others. Are we destined to just keep passing on trauma? Or does somewhere, beyond all of our challenges, and our fight, flight, freeze and fawn responses to these challenges, lie a natural, ordinary, relaxed, and trusting “infant” mind? What is our collective responsibility in these challenging times which are generated by accumulated trauma? In this talk given on the second day of the December 2019 Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kanko explains how we can access the “ordinary” loving mind and work towards personal and collective healing through meditation and by welcoming/embracing grief on the cushion.

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

What is inner spiritual liberation? What happens when outer social-political liberation is not possible in these times of polycrisis?

In this talk, Dr. Kritee explores the path of inner liberation in the midst of overwhelming planetary grief and oppression. It is important that we keep going with our actions for peace at political level, climate sanity, and social justice. But is it wise to cling to our physical wellbeing and derive meaning of life only based on the material and political results of our actions? In this talk, Dr. Kritee explains, with personal examples and stories from Zen Buddhism and other traditions, how we can access a sense of spaciousness that can help us toward inner peace and enable us to keep going despite the uncertainty we are facing in this world.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk during the July 2024 half-day sit (Zazenkai).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to boundlessinmotion.org or kriteekanko.com