Dharma talks from Clouds In Water Zen Center

Date: 2025/12/21. Speaker: Rev. Shozoku Yoko Nomura. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Note: The discussion between members was edited out. Shozoku came to the US to study at a college and is now a proud Minnesotan. In 2008, she started learning mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh’s books, and coming to Clouds in Water. Challenges like chronic illness, being a parent, working as a civil engineer, and fa...

Date: 2025/12/14. Speaker: Guiding Teacher 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. Sos...

Date: 2025/12/07. Speaker: Lay Teacher Myoshin Diane Benjamin. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Myoshin 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. Myoshin began practicing Buddhism in 1996 and received Dharma transmission in 2022 from Sosan Fl...

Date: 2025/11/30. Speaker: Rev. Keika Karín 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–which they...

Date: 2025/11/23. Speaker: Guiding Teacher 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 wa...

Date: 2025/11/16. Speaker: Rev. Koji Acquaviva. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Koji Acquaviva began practicing Zen at the age of twenty at the San Francisco Zen Center where they were a resident student for ten years. Before moving to the Twin Cities, they served as resident priest of Mid City Zen Center in New Orleans and at the Austin Zen Center in Texas. They are the current Tanto (director of...

Date: 2025/11/09. 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. In 2021 Myo-O...

Date: 2025/11/02. 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, teacher, and Communications and Marketing Director at Clouds. Jinzu believes that Sōtō Zen p...

Date: 2025/10/26. Speaker: Myoshin Diane Benjamin. Location: Clouds in Water Zen Center. Myoshin 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. Myoshin began practicing Buddhism in 1996 and received Dharma transmission in 2022 from Sosan Flynn....

Date: 2025/10/19. Speaker: Rev. Fukutoku Ann Morishita. Location: Clouds in Water Zen Center. Fukutoku is a Soto Zen priest in training with Rev. MyoOn as her teacher. She has practiced Soto Zen Buddhism for the past 18 years. In May of 2021, Fukutoku took home leaving vows, priest ordination, with Rev. Sojun Diane Martin of Udumbara Sangha in IL. She retired from hospice nursing in Dec., 2024. Sh...

Date: 2025-10-12. Speaker: Rev. Kikan Michael Howard. At Clouds in Water Zen Center. Kikan Michael Howard started practicing at Clouds in Water Zen Center in the late 1990s and was ordained by Sosan in 2018. He is an associate 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 dhar...

Date: 2025-10-05. Speaker: Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn. Location: Clouds in Water Zen Center, Saint Paul, MN 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 justic...

Date: 2025-09-28. Speaker: Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn. Location: 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 ra...

This talk was given on September 21, 2025 by 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. He h...

This talk was given on September 14, 2025 by Rev. Myo On 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....

This talk was given on September 7, 2025 by Rev. Chiemi Renshin Onikura Bly and Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn at Clouds in Water Zen Center. Raised in a Jodo Shinshu temple family in Fukuoka Japan, Chiemi graduated from a Jodo Shinshu high school and college. She moved to the United States in 2000. Chiemi has lived in Minnesota for 20 years. She is ordained in the Jodo Shinshu Nishi Hongwanji tradition...

This talk was given on August 31, 2025 by rev. seigen johnson at Clouds in Water Zen Center. rev. seigen is a budding public theologian, Sōto Zen Buddhist priest, dialogue facilitator, and spiritual leadership consultant. She is most passionate about the growing interest in interfaith formation in higher education and finding opportunities to share insight from liberation and womanist theology wit...

This talk was given on August 24, 2025 by Rev. Jinzu Minna Jain and Rev. Keika Karin San Juan at Clouds in Water Zen Center. Rev. Jinzu Minna Jain (they/them) 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 years and is a novice priest at Clouds in Water Zen Cen...

This talk was given on August 10, 2025 by guest teacher Marcus Young at Clouds in Water Zen Center. Marcus Young 楊墨 makes art in the unexpected, to show that art can be everything and anywhere. His work expands the range of everyday human awareness and expressive behavior. He is a behavioral artist making work within mindfulness and learning communities, as well as for the stage, museums, govern...

This talk was given by Kikan Mike Howard on August 3, 2025 at Clouds in Water Zen Center. Kikan Michael Howard started practicing at Clouds in Water Zen Center in the late 1990s and was ordained by Sosan in 2018. He is an associate 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...

This talk was given on July 27, 2025 by Guiding Teacher Sosan Teresa Flynn. 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. She has officiated at many...

This is a talk by Guiding Teacher Sosan Teresa Flynn given on July 20, 2025 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 justi...

This talk was given on July 6, 2025 by Taizan Alford at Clouds in Water Zen Center. Taizan (he/him) 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. In 199...

This talk was given on July 20, 2025 at Clouds in Water Zen Center by guiding teacher, Sosan Teresa Flynn. Sosan (she/her) 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 ra...

This dharma talk was given on July 7, 2025 at Clouds in Water Zen Center by Myoshin Diane Benjamin. 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. Myoshin began practicing Buddhism in 1996 and received dharma tra...