Paths of Practice with Rev. Michael Tran, M.Div.

Paths of Practice with Rev. Michael Tran, M.Div.

Author: Vincent Moore October 8, 2025 Duration: 1:18:37

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 University of the West, and completed Clinical Pastoral Education at USC Arcadia Hospital.


Rev. Tran is ordained through the International Order of Buddhist Ministers and currently serves as a hospice chaplain, bereavement coordinator, and spiritual counselor. He is a board member and Chief Operations Officer of the Bodhiyana Buddhist Chaplain Fellowship and serves on the ritual teams of Kuang Min Buddhist Association in La Puente and Quan Yum Temple in Los Angeles Chinatown. His work centers on healing, presence, and service across communities.


For Rev. Michael's blog (The Buddha Wears Glasses), please check out the following link: www.sgvbuddhism.wordpress.com


For more information about the Bodhiyana Buddhist Chaplain Fellowship, please check out the following link: www.bbcf84000.org


We talked about Buddhism in the San Gabriel Valley and “3-in-1 Combo” temples, chaplaincy and applying Pure Land teachings to hospice care clients and meeting their needs, recognizing ancestors as temple tenants and protectors through their lotus seats, The Buddha Wears Glasses blog and highlighting the nuanced Buddhist experience, and the importance of sangha, exploring, and the benefits of engaging with monastics.


Vincent Moore hosts Paths of Practice: Conversations on Journeys into Buddhism, a space where personal stories take center stage. Each episode is built around a simple, profound question: what does it actually look like to live with Buddhist teachings? You’ll hear from people whose lives have been shaped by this path, from long-time monastics and dedicated lay practitioners to those who have just felt a curious pull toward mindfulness and compassion. The conversations avoid dry theory, focusing instead on the messy, human, and often surprising realities of integrating practice into daily life-through family, work, doubt, and discovery. This podcast operates on the belief that there are as many ways to walk this road as there are people walking it, gently exploring that diversity one honest conversation at a time. It’s less about providing answers and more about sharing the map-making process itself, offering companionship and insight for anyone interested in the varied terrain of spiritual life.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Paths of Practice: Conversations on Journeys into Buddhism
Podcast Episodes
Paths of Practice with Arthur Braverman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:19
Arthur Braverman studied at Antaiji temple in Japan under Uchiyama Roshi from 1970 to 1975. He is an author and translator, whose works include Mud and Water: The Collected Teachings of Zen Master Bassui, and the novel,…
Paths of Practice with Zen Master Dae An (Bogumila Malinowska) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:48
Zen Master Dae An (Bogumila Malinowska) is a Guiding Teacher at The London Zen Centre of the Kwan Um School of Zen and currently lives in London. She was born in North-west Poland and met Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1981 on…
Paths of Practice with Shohaku Okumura [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:57
Shohaku Okumura, founder and abbot of Sanshin Zen Community, was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1948. In 1970, he was ordained by the late Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, one of the foremost Zen masters of the twentieth-century. He rece…
Paths of Practice with Arisika Razak [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:53
Arisika Razak is Professor Emerita at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where she also served as the director of the Women’s Spirituality MA and PhD program and as Director of Diversity. She…
Paths of Practice with Žarko Andričević [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:35
Žarko Andričević is the founder of Dharmaloka Chan Buddhist Community and Chan Retreat Centre (Chan centar Hartovski vrh) in Croatia, where he currently lives and teaches. Žarko first encountered Buddhism 1975 and has be…
Paths of Practice with Rev. Devon Matsumoto [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:59
Rev. Devon Matsumoto is a Minister’s Assistant at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. Devon grew up in the Jodo Shinshu community and has a deep interest in understanding how his Buddhist teachings can inform social justi…
Paths of Practice with Queer Leather Meditation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:13
The Queer Leather Meditation group is a peer-led meditation group for those who have a meditation practice and are queer and leather/kink-identified. QLM's intention is to create an inclusive space where participants can…
Paths of Practice with Venerable Pedro Kaiten Piquero [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:21
Pedro Kaiten Piquero was born in 1976, exactly 38 years before the death of his master Gudo Wafu Nishijima, of whom he was the last disciple. In 2017, he received Dharma transmission in Japan from Venerable Peter Rodo Ro…
Paths of Practice with Paula Lazarz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:25
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…