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Please join Hokyoji each Sunday morning for a talk and discussion on Zoom featuring guest speakers from the Hokyoji community. All are welcome! LINK to join the live talk. Videos of past talks from Hokyoji are available here.
8:30 a.m. CST – Zazen
8:55 – Walking Meditation (Kinhin)
9:00 – Zazen
9:30 to 10:30 – Dharma Talk and Discussion
Feel free to join the program at any point in the schedule. We hope to see you there!
Your generosity sustains Hokyoji’s facilities and programs. We could not do this without you! Please consider making a donation online HERE. Your gift, of any amount, will be a great benefit, and we are deeply grateful for your support.
March 2, 2025 - Rev. Jushin Stephyn Butcher
Rev. Jushin Stephyn Butcher started his Buddhist journey nearly 30 years ago in the Tibetan tradition. He found his way to Hokyoji, where he became a student of Rev. Dokai Georgesen. Jushin received jukai in 2013 and ordination in 2017. He hosts a sitting group on the banks of the Choptank River in Cambridge, Maryland, where he resides with his husband, dog, chickens, and garden. He is currently Hokyoji’s Board President.
March 9, 2025 - Shodo Spring
Shodo Spring has practiced with Dainin Katagiri Roshi, Tenshin Reb Anderson, and received ordination and transmission from Shohaku Okumura. She has trained at Hokyoji, Tassajara, and Sanshinji.
Shodo’s new book, Open Reality: Meeting the Polycrisis Together With All Beings, will be published this fall.
March 16, 2025 - Rev. Kikan Michael Howard
Rev. Kikan Michael Howard started practicing at Clouds in Water Zen Center in the late 1990s. He was ordained there in 2018, and led the Youth Practice program for five years. His interests include Buddhist psychology, emotion dynamics, and data visualization. He produces the website katagiritranscripts.net, where he carefully transcribes the dharma talks of Dainin Katagiri Roshi as an aid to Buddhist study. He is also an independent app developer.
March 23, 2025 - Dozen Alex Lawrence
Alex Lawrence (Dōzen) is cooking, caregiving, learning and mistaking the Way to balance. A “retired” monk, he received the Buddhist vows from Rev. Daigaku Rumme of Confluence Zen Center in St. Louis, and was tenzo for Hokyoji’s kitchen during multiple retreat seasons. He has trained with the International End of Life Doula Association as a deathcare worker (death doula), and is certified on the National Registry as an Advanced EMT. Dz/A and Louellen the dog live in La Crosse, Wisconsin (with proud southern roots!), and commute to Hokyoji as staff. In his spare time he enjoys lifting weights, sauna-ing, reading novels, and volunteering with hospice.
March 30, 2025 - Shodo Spring
Shodo Spring has practiced with Dainin Katagiri Roshi, Tenshin Reb Anderson, and received ordination and transmission from Shohaku Okumura. She has trained at Hokyoji, Tassajara, and Sanshinji.
Shodo’s new book, Open Reality: Meeting the Polycrisis Together With All Beings, will be published this fall.
April 6, 2025 - Myoshin Diane
Myoshin Diane Benjamin (she/her) is a lay dharma teacher, a path that reflects her deep interest and engagement in the ways that Buddhist practice both permeates everyday work and family life, and supports engagement in social change. She brings this perspective to students of all ages, through one-to-one meetings, teaching in the children and youth practice program, and leading classes and other programs. Myoshin began practicing Buddhism in 1996 and received dharma transmission in 2022 from Sosan Flynn. She taught for over a decade in the children’s program at Clouds in Water, and has practiced at Hokyoji and Ryumonji monasteries and attended numerous retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh and his community. She has worked for many years in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, and is also a musician. She lives in Minneapolis with her wife and daughter.
April 13, 2025 - Rev. Myo-O Marilyn Habermas-Scher, Associate Teacher
Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher practiced with Katagiri Roshi from 1975 until his death in 1990; she also trained for twelve years in the Vipassana tradition. She received Dharma transmission in 2012 from Dokai at Hokyoji. Myo-O is a master movement teacher and teaches somatically based vocal training. In 2021 she retired after fourteen years as an interfaith staff chaplain at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, MHealth Fairview. She is also a mom and a grandmother to two little grandsons.
April 20, 2025 - No Talk Today - Happy Easter
No Talk Today.
April 27, 2025 - Rev. Kyoku Tracey Walen, Associate Teacher
Rev. Kyoku Tracey Walen began practicing Buddhism in 1998, was ordained in 2008, and given Dharma transmission by Byakuren Judith Ragir in 2015. She trained from 2008-2010 at Great Vow Zen Monastery. Currently she resides at and supports Hokyoji and also serves as a Zen teacher at Clouds in Waters Zen Center in St. Paul, MN.
