Paths of Practice with Shohaku Okumura

Paths of Practice with Shohaku Okumura

Author: Vincent Moore December 13, 2025 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 received Dharma transmission from his teacher in 1975 and, shortly after, became one of the founding members of Pioneer Valley Zendo in Massachusetts. He returned to Japan in 1981 and began translating the works of Dogen Zenji, Uchiyama Roshi and other Soto masters from Japanese into English. In 1993, he moved back to the United States with his wife, Yuko, and their two children. He has previously served as teacher at the Kyoto Soto Zen Center in Japan and at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, and was Director of the Soto Zen International Center in San Francisco for thirteen years.


Today he is recognized for his unique perspective on the life and teachings of Dogen Zenji derived from his experience as both practitioner and translator, and as a teacher in both Japanese and Western practice communities. He gives frequent lectures on the Shobogenzo and other foundational texts. His translations and commentaries include Dogen’s Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Koroku, Realizing Genjokoan, Living by Vow: A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Texts, and The Mountains and Waters Sutra: A Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s “Sansuikyo”. His lectures have appeared in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Dharma Eye, and Buddhism Now.


For more information, please visit the links below:


Sanshin-ji (Sanshin Zen Community)

https://www.sanshinji.org/


The Dōgen Institute

https://dogeninstitute.wordpress.com/


We discussed Kosho Uchiyama Roshi and early Zen practice at Antaiji, jiko and how understanding the emptiness of the self fosters compassion, the poetry of Dōgen Zenji and Taigu Ryōkan, practicing Zen Buddhism through lectures and translation, Kannon and the sound that perceives the world, and the importance of finding a teacher and sangha.


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 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…
Paths of Practice with Mindy Newman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:00
Mindy Newman, MA, MTS, LMHC, is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice. She has an MA in counseling psychology from Lesley University and an MTS in world religion from Harvard University. She is a gradu…