Advertise on podcast: Dharma talks from Clouds In Water Zen Center

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 awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion. After first encountering the Dharma and beginning to meditate while living in South Korea in 2006, Jūken Zach Fehst entered the path of formal practice in 2014 as a member of Brooklyn Zen Center, and received jukai at Clouds in Water in 2022. He has worked as an actor and writer, and is now a public high school teacher and musical hobbyist. He has an abiding interest in all forms of spirituality and religion, and holds a Master in Theological Studies from Boston University. He is currently exploring the priest path at Clouds. Keika Karín San Juan 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 is when conversations take surprising turns. She and her wife life in St. Paul with a single bonsai tree and a bevy of mismatched tropical plants. 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 Center. They are also the Director of Learning & Development with Real Transformation Today, a racial equity education and consulting group. Jinzu believes that Sōtō Zen teachings and practice help us cultivate the capacity for collective care and liberation. They are curious about how Zen practice can help us be human well, meet ourselves and one another complexly, and enjoy our little lives a little more. They wish to break down barriers to access caused by systems of oppression and provide gateways into Sōtō Zen for anyone who wishes to experience it.

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 Transcripts website, katagiritranscripts.net.

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 worked for many years in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, and is also a musician. Additionally, she is fully certified to teach the Realization Process.

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 intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion.

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 2015. She trained for three years at Great Vow Zen Monastery and also with Thich Nhat Hanh in France.

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 facing racism help her to continue to practice. Shozoku received Jukai in 2020 and was ordained as a priest in 2022 by Teacher Sosan Flynn. Seeing the truth, including seeing oneself as a bodhisattva in action, is a practice she is currently focused on, as a way to truly be kind and love oneself and all beings.

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. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion.

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 Flynn. She is fully certified to teach the Realization Process.

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 co-facilitate–is when conversations take surprising turns. They and their wife live in St. Paul with a single bonsai tree and a bevy of mismatched tropical plants.

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 was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion.

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 practice) at Clouds in Water. As a queer and neurodivergent person, Koji makes their best effort to identify and confront the ways Buddhism is taught which re-inscribe harm for members of marginalized communities.

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 retired after fourteen years as a staff chaplain at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, and is a mom and a grandma to two little boys. She was a professional dancer in her youth and is trained in a number of body-mind practices, including Yoga, Qi Gong and Body Mind Centering™. She is the originator of VoiceWork™, a somatically based voice training.

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 practice can help us cultivate the capacity for collective care and liberation, so that we may meet ourselves, one another, and these harrowing times with stillness and courageous action. They wish to break down barriers to access caused by systems of oppression and provide gateways into Sōtō Zen for anyone who wishes to experience it.

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. 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.

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. She is married to Ray and has a son, Kyle. Prior to becoming a Buddhist, Fukutoku was a member of the Evanston, IL, Quaker Friends' Meeting for ten years.