Paths of Practice: Conversations on Journeys into Buddhism

Rev. Shudo Paula Lazarz is a 6th degree Black Sash in Shaolin Kung Fu and an ordained priest in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. Her over two decades of study in the martial arts and Buddhist practice has been an exploration of the idea of the historical Shaolin Temple, culminating in Warrior’s Path Buddhist Academy. Paula is a co-owner of Energy Fitness, Inc., Head Instructor at HealthKick Kung Fu and a Practice Leader at A...

Mindy Newman, MA, MTS, LMHC, is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice. She has an MA in counseling psychology from Lesley University and an MTS in world religion from Harvard University. She is a graduate of Nalanda Institute’s Contemplative Psychotherapy Program and taught meditation as part of the institute’s Introduction to Meditation series at Tibet House. Newman was recently one of Tricycle’s online dharma t...

Roland sensei was born in Richmond B.C. He attended the Steveston Buddhist temple and the Calgary Buddhist temple when his family moved there in the 1970’s. He is a retired physician who worked in senior’s care (Geriatric Medicine). While an active temple member all his life he started studying Buddhism more seriously in 2016. He received his first level ordination (Tokudo) in Japan in 2019 and his second level ordination (Kyoshi) ...

Rev. Michael Tran is an ordained Buddhist minister with over 30 years of Buddhist study and practice, and more than a decade of experience in spiritual care. His training includes lineages in Chinese Ch’an (Japanese Zen), Pure Land, and Tibetan Nyingma traditions, which inform his compassionate and inter-traditional approach to service. He holds a B.A. in East Asian Cultures from UC Irvine and an M.Div. in Buddhist Chaplaincy from ...

Rev. Tony Truong serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors and Temple Minister at Ming Ya Buddhist Foundation in Los Angeles, where he supports the community’s liturgical life and daily operations. Ordained as a Lay Minister in 2018 through the International Center for Chinese Buddhist Culture and Education, his path has been shaped by his family’s deep ties to Chinese Buddhist Chan and Pure Land practice, as well as his own tr...

Howard Lazzarini holds a degree in Japanese Language and Literature from the University of California at Berkeley. He spent 12 years in Japan and for several years during that time, in the early 1970s, practiced Soto Zen at Antaiji, a small temple that was located in the north Takagamine section of Kyoto. There he met his first teacher, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi and sat in the shikantaza style of Uchiyama Roshi and Dogen. After returnin...

Primož Korelc Hiriko was born in 1985 in Ljubljana (Slovenia), but grew up in Dolenjska. Hiriko spent many years as a Buddhist monk abroad, specifically in Great Britain, New Zealand, Thailand and Sri Lanka. During this period, Hiriko studied Buddhist psychology and developed self-reflection, which gave Hiriko a deeper insight into the mind and psyche. Hiriko's expertise focuses mainly on phenomenological research into the stru...

Peace Twesigye is a musician, meditation teacher and mentor, teacher of BuddhaDharma, and leadership consultant who hopes to be a part of the changes that unbind each of us from the systems that limit our momentum toward expressions of joy, love, loss, compassion, and creativity. Peace is the former Director of Programming in Buddhist Studies and of the Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism at Union Theological Seminary. Pea...

Brook Ziporyn is a scholar of ancient and medieval Chinese religion and philosophy at The University of Chicago Divinity School and College. Professor Ziporyn received his BA in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, and his PhD from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the Divinity School faculty, he has taught Chinese philosophy and religion at the University of Michigan (Department of East...

Anusha Enryu Fernando was born in Sri Lanka to a Theravadin Buddhist family. Her grandparents founded the Vipassana Meditation Centre located in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1957. She began practicing Zen Meditation with Hogen and Chozen Roshi in 2007, and became a dharma holder in 2021. She holds a BA in Religious Studies, specializing in Buddhism and Hinduism from McGill University, and a Masters of Arts in Asian Studies from the Univer...

Bhante Sanāthāvihārī is a Mexican-American Theravāda monk at the Sarathchandra Buddhist Center in North Hollywood, a Sri Lankan center. He is a student of the late Dr. Bhante Madawela Puññaji, and the founder of Casa De Bhavana–an outreach project to bring the Dhamma to the Spanish-speaking world. He is also the co-author of Buddhism in 10 Steps.For more information about Sanāthāvihārī Bhikkhu and Casa De Bhavana, please see the be...

Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi began practicing daily meditation in 1976. Since then, he has studied Buddhism extensively—investigating and engaging in Zen, Tibetan, Theravada, and Western non-dual traditions. He was authorized to teach in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in 2007 and the Zen Buddhist schools of Soto and Rinzai in 2022. Mugen is a senior student of Roshi Mark Sando Mininberg and a transmitted teacher in the White Plum ...

Damiano Finizio was born in Italy in 1992. He began practicing traditional Japanese martial arts in 2012, where he met the Buddhist monk Seiun, who transformed his curiosity for Eastern disciplines and philosophies into dedicated practice. In 2014, he officially took refuge in the Dharma at Tenryuzanji Temple, receiving the name Seiryu, symbolizing his deep bond with his teacher and the temple. Since 2020, he has been living and wo...

Ordained since the late 1970s, Ven. Robina has worked full time since then for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project, and as a touring teacher of Buddhism. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in ...

Sinclair Shinryu Thomson is the abbot of the Village Zendo in New York City. He received Denkai, or full priest ordination, from Enkyo O’Hara Roshi in August 2007, dharma transmission in December 2009, and Inka in January 2021. He has been affiliated with the Village Zendo since 1998. He is a also member of the Phajjsi Qollut Jalsu Zen Center in La Paz, Bolivia, which he co-founded in 1992. Shinryu teaches Latin American History at...

Naomi Matlow is a writer and educator specializing in integrating mindfulness and meditation into the lives of those that struggle with busy minds. She recently published her Mindfulness Studies Masters thesis from Lesley University, “A Thought is Just a Thought: A Buddhist Guide to OCD” which is available on Amazon and naomimatlow.com.

We talked about musical theatre and Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attending an Insight Med...

*Disclaimer: this episode features brief mention of self-harm.

Phoenix Song is a queer, nonbinary Korean American adoptee teacher, performer, writer, and healer featured in SF Magazine’s Best of the Bay for yoga music. Phoenix was initiated on the spiritual path at Plum Village with Thich Nhat Hanh and is a dharma teacher at East Bay Meditation Center and Spirit Rock. They believe that everyone can sing and love to help people free ...

The daughter of Chinese immigrants born and raised in the SF Bay Area, Dr. Vickie Chang first encountered the dharma through the doorway of mindfulness meditation in 2008. She graduated from the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner’s Program and has benefited from extended periods of retreat at Spirit Rock and IMS. She lived in a Taiwanese Guanyin Pusa monastery and worshipped at the feet of Arunachala. Most influential in her practi...

Venerable Clear Grace Dayananda is a Buddhist Monk who received novice ordination in 2018 as Sister True Moon of Clear Grace in the Plum Village Vietnamese Zen tradition headed by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. In 2020, she received higher ordination and carries forward both the Theravada and Mahayana lineages of her preceptor, Venerable Dr. Pannavati Karuna of whom she was transmitted the name Dayananda.

The Dharma has been her...