HELLO, I’M KODO
DHARMA TEACHER ・ SOTO ZEN PRIESTA Dharma teacher based in Santa Cruz, grounded in two Buddhist traditions: Insight and Soto Zen. After an introduction to meditation over 20 years ago, I’ve dedicated my time to supporting others to enter into—and mature through—the liberating paths of Buddhist practice.
My Path
My path in Buddhist practice has been shaped by surprises. I didn’t plan to be a meditator. But, at age 20 I received an unexpected and emphatic recommendation from a friend. “Do you meditate?” he asked, seeing that I had my eyes on a meditation book on his bookshelf. “No, I don’t,” I answered. He took hold of the book and slapped it into my chest, “Do it!” This was an encouraging start.
Having since spent most of my adult life living in Buddhist temples, monasteries, and Dharma centers, I’ve witnessed inspiring growth and maturity that’s possible through sincere practice. Seeing this in others—first it was the 100 new mindfulness meditators arriving every two weeks at a Theravāda center where I lived, later the stream of Zen practitioners entering Tassajara Zen Mountain Center—encouraged my confidence in the path and gave me a sense of respect, wonder, and gratitude for the power of practice.
I was ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 2015, into the warm-hearted Zen family of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. From 2015-2023—save for a one-year interim—I lived and practiced in all three temples of San Francisco Zen Center, most of that time under the guidance of my Zen teacher, Shinchi Linda Galijan. All the while, I practiced in the Western Insight tradition of Theravāda Buddhism, and in 2025 was authorized as a Dharma teacher through the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) by Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella after an extensive four-year training.
It was 2017 when I started giving Zen talks at Young Urban Zen, a group for practitioners in their 20s and 30s. These curious young folks kept my teachings practical, relatable, and warm-hearted, while pointing toward the depth of what’s possible in practice. Now, in addition to teaching, I serve on the board of directors of IMC and as the Co-Managing Director of Insight Retreat Center.
My Approach
In Dharma teaching roles, I hold an orientation that Buddhist practice employs all of who we are, nothing left out, incorporating our whole humanity as we walk the path. We can channel our many capacities into specific practice forms: mindfulness meditation, Zazen, silent retreat, ceremony, and community life. I understand Dharma practice as a craft. For me, practice includes clarity and rigor; compassionate presence; and is fit for experimentation, creativity, responsiveness, and surprise.
My own training has been to live in the Dharma, the Dharma as culture. This is something practitioners enter into through practices that come from living Buddhist communities, with their traditional precedents and a creativity based on our best efforts to see and understand suffering and to abandon its causes. What arises when suffering is absent? A wholehearted, luminous life.
In both Zen and Insight practice, I believe that a transformative freedom—Awakening—is not only possible, but also desirable and worthy of the work. More so than, “What is Awakening?” my guiding inquiries might be expressed as: “Is there more to let go of? Am I being honest about this? Can my peers and teachers help me to see delusions and shadows? Can I return, again and again, to an aspiration for thoroughgoing freedom?”
As each tradition I represent—Soto Zen and Insight—is distinct, an important first step in the collaborative work of Dharma practice is to clarify what each practitioner or community is asking for.
Practice Focus: The Three Treasures
One way to organize the practices I emphasize is in terms of the Three Treasures. In both Zen and Insight these three—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—are foundational and outline a profound path for practitioners.
BUDDHA
Meditation
Guidance for establishing and maintaining a daily meditation practice.
Instruction in Zazen or Insight approaches to mindfulness, samādhi, and heart practices (brahmavihāras).
Regular opportunities for retreat: focused periods of meditation, from one day to several weeks, to nourish the conditions for serenity and insight.
DHARMA
Teachings & Study
Talks and class series on Buddhadharma.
Close readings of the traditional, ancient teachings: Pāli suttas, commentaries.
For Zen practitioners, topics in Dōgen, Suzuki Roshi, and teachers & teachings of the lineage.
SANGHA
Community & Ethics
Commitment to the precepts as the basis and fruition of Dharma practice.
Training within community as a working ground for a harmonious, insightful life.
Coherent integration of all aspects of practice.
My Vocation
In the Dharma, I see myself primarily as a practitioner, one who teaches when asked. My commitment is to a twofold aspiration: to become as free as possible in this lifetime, and to support others to do the same.
Find your way around this website for instruction, teachings and talks, information about retreats, and other ways to connect about Zen and Insight practice.
May our shared exploration of the Dharma be a source of wisdom, compassion, and Awakening for all beings.
Kodo Conlin