Dharma talks from Clouds In Water Zen Center

Date: 2026/06/21. Speaker: Rev. Kattō Laura Phillips. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Kattō started practicing Zen at Clouds in Water in 1997. When she moved to Stillwater, MN to focus on family life she joined a meditation community there called Zen Bridge. She later returned to Clouds for study, practice, and training on the path to becoming a priest and in 2022 received ordination from Sosan Fly...

Date: 2026/07/14. Speaker: Rev. Keika Karín Aguilar- San Juan. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Keika came to Clouds in Water Zen Center in 2005 and served on the Board for more than a decade before being ordained as a novice priest by Sosan Flynn in 2024. Areas of interest include Buddhist liberation theology; Buddhist pedagogy; and the Daoist roots of Chan. One favorite thing about Teen Practice i...

Date: 2026/07/07. Speaker: Rev. Myoshin Diane Benjamin. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Myoshin began practicing Buddhism in 1996 and received Dharma Transmission as a lay Dharma teacher in 2022 from Sosan Flynn. She received priest ordination in 2026. Myoshin is enthusiastic about the myriad ways that the Dharma informs our everyday lives as human beings in a complex world. She taught for over a d...

Date: 2026/05/24. Speakers: Joanna Hill and Rev. Dr. Rin LaJoy. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Joanna Hill is from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota. My clan is the Bullhead (Wawaazisii) which is one of the five original clans of the Anishinaabe People. The Wawaazisii clan people are mediators, teachers, scholars and healers. My Ojibwe name is Kiizhibaayaanimadookwe, which means Whirlwind...

Date: 2026/05/17. Speaker: Guiding Teacher Sosan Theresa Flynn. Clouds in Water Zen Center. Sōsan has studied and practiced Sōto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sōsan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. She has a m...

Date: 2026/05/10. Speaker: Rev. Fukutoku Ann Morishita. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Fukutoku is a Sōto Zen priest in training at Clouds in Water Zen Center. She has practiced Soto Zen Buddhism for the past 15 years. In May of 2021, Fukutoku took home leaving vows with Rev. Sojun, Diane Martin of Udumbara Sangha in IL. Sojun was transmitted by Rev. Sekijun Karen Sunna. In 2022, Fukutoku began Ze...

Date: 2026/05/03. Speaker: Rev. MyoOn Susan Hagler. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. MyoOn began her Zen practice in 1980 at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center (MZMC). She was ordained in 2003 by Tim Burkett and received Dharma transmission from Dokai Georgesen in 2018. She has had the opportunity to practice at all the MN Zen centers as well as Green Gulch in CA, with Hokyoji Zen Practice Community be...

Date: 2026/04/26. Speaker: Guiding Teacher Sosan Theresa Flynn. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Sōsan has studied and practiced Sōtō Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sōsan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sōsan wa...

Date: 2026/04/19. Speaker: Rev. Jūken Zach Fehst. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. After first encountering the Dharma and studying meditation while living in South Korea in 2006, Jūken entered the path of formal practice in 2014 as a member of the Brooklyn Zen Center, and was ordained a priest by Sōsan Flynn at Clouds in Water in 2025. He is a chaplain on-call with M Health Fairview hospitals, and...

Date: 2026/04/12. Speaker: Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Myo-O is a fully ordained Sōtō Zen priest, having received transmission in 2012 from Dokai Georgesen. She began Zen practice in 1975 with Katagiri Roshi, who was her root teacher, and studied with him until his death in 1990. She also studied and practiced in the Vipassana tradition for twelve years. She is the or...

Date: 2026/04/05. Speaker: Rev. Shodo Spring. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Shodo Spring has belonged to the natural world for as long as she can remember. She grew up running half-wild in the fields and woods of northeastern Ohio, with early mornings on the shore of Lake Erie and long days outdoors alone in the woods and creeks. Civilized human society was more difficult. She studied physics hop...

Date: 2026/03/29. Speaker: Dr. Anita MacDonald. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Anita MacDonald is a daughter of a Filipino immigrant, professor of Women's studies, and a Marxist professor of philosophy with mixed European ancestry. She was raised essentially as an atheist, though briefly converted to Catholicism in high school. She learned about Buddhism through her husband, Angus, who has been a...

Date: 2026/03/22. Speaker: Rev. Sōsan Theresa Flynn. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Sōsan has studied and practiced Sōto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sōsan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. She has a master’s...

Date: 2026/03/15. Speaker: Rev. Sōkyo Jido Chee Xiong. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Sōkyo Chee started practicing at Clouds in Water Zen Center in 2017. In 2021 he received jukai, lay ordination, and in 2025 he was ordained as a Priest-in-Training. He has experience working with Communities of Color towards the planning and updates of public parks, public-serving spaces, and assets. Sōkyo sits o...

Date: 2026/03/08. Speaker: Rev. Jinzu Minna Jain. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Jinzu is an artist, writer, and racial & systemic equity educator. They identify as BIPOC, disabled, queer and trans/nonbinary. Jinzu has been practicing Sōtō Zen Buddhism for over twenty-five years and is a novice priest, member of the teacher-ryo, and Communications and Marketing Director at Clouds. Jinzu believ...

Date: 2026/03/01. Speaker: Rev. Taizan Alford. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Taizan was ordained as a Soto Zen priest by Sosan Flynn in 2016, and completed shuso in 2021. He received Dharma transmission from Sosan in 2024 and has full authority to teach in the Soto Zen tradition. Taizan's journey with meditation began on the yogic path in the early 1980s after getting sober. Taizan’s focus in Sot...

Date: 2026/02/22. Speaker: Eishō Felicia Sy. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Part 1: All We Need Is Love: The Dharma According to John Lennon Part 2: How My Troubled Childhood Made Me Want To Be A Buddhist Part 3: The Dharma of Kikan's Knees Dr. Felicia Washington Sy is a licensed independent clinical social worker, traumatologist, and educator with over 20 years of experience providing mindfulness...

Date: 2026/02/15. Speaker: Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Sosan has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sosan was raised Ca...

Date: 2026/02/08. Speaker: Koji Acquaviva. At Clouds and Water Zen Center. Koji Acquaviva is a Soto Zen priest and teacher. He began practicing Zen at the age of twenty at the San Francisco Zen Center where he was a resident student for ten years. He co-founded the Mid City Zen Center of New Orleans, Louisiana and served regularly as visiting teacher at the Austin Zen Center in Texas. In addition...

Date: 2026/02/01. Speaker: Rev. MyoOn Susan Hagler. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Myo On Susan Hagler began her Zen practice in the autumn of 1980 at MZMC. She went there to find a place to meditate and hit the jackpot when encountering Katagiri-roshi and the MZMC sangha. From then to now Myo On has lived a life filled with the joys and sorrows one encounters on life’s journey. She has been marri...

Date: 2026/01/25. Speakers: Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn, Rev. Jūken Zach Fehst, Rev. Keika Karín San Juan, Rev. Jinzu Minna Jain. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. The panel is preceded by a guided meditation. Sosan has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awaren...

Date: 2026-01-18. Speaker: Rev. Kikan Michael Howard. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Kikan started practicing at Clouds in Water Zen Center in the late 1990s and was ordained by Sosan in 2018. He is a member of the Teacher-Ryo at Clouds. Kikan is an independent app developer, a licensed consultant in Dynamic Emotional Integration®, and he transcribes Katagiri Roshi’s Dharma talks at the Katagiri T...

Date: 2026/01/11. Speaker: Rev. Myoshin Diane Benjamin. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. 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 work...

Date: 2026/01/04. Speaker: Guiding Teacher Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Note: The discussion between members was edited out. Sosan has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving Dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the inte...

Date: 2025/12/28. Speaker: Senior Dharma Teacher Rev. Kyoku Tracey Walen. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Kyoku resides at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community in Eitzen, MN, and spends one week a month in the Twin Cities teaching at Clouds in Water Zen Center and seeing students. Kyoku was ordained as a Soto Zen priest by Byakuren Judith Ragir in 2008 and received Dharma transmission from Byakuren in 20...