How is an enlightened compassion the essence of our “impossible" suffering? In this profound talk, Dr. Kritee explores case 21 of the Mumonkan, where a student asks Zen Master Yunmen "What is the essence of Buddhism?" and the master answers: "Kanshiketsu"—toilet stick. Through personal stories about extremely hard (impossible) life situations and sitting with a friend facing breast cancer, Sensei Kanko illustrates how the most challenging suffering can get transmuted on our spiritual path. She o...
Jul 26, 2025•45 min
How do we cultivate deeper trust in life when everything seems to be falling apart? What does it mean to "proceed on from the top of a hundred-foot pole" - to let go just when we think we've learned to control some aspects of life. In this powerful talk on the last day of silent May 2025 Zen retreat, Sensei Kanko explores the profound teaching of trusting the universe and releasing our grip on comfort and control. Drawing on inspiring examples - from Dipa Ma who could sit for seven days without ...
Jun 28, 2025•49 min
Using the example of the Babemba tribe’s harm resolution ceremony, Sensei Kritee explores “What if a wise response to our current times is to expand our vision and perception beyond the limits of a single human lifetime?” Babemba tribe has unlimited belief in the fundamental goodness of all human beings. Where does such deep belief come from? They don’t start lashing out in fear and anger at people who cause harm. They actually remind people of their goodness when individuals end up causing harm...
May 31, 2025•50 min
How can we make wholesome decisions in the face of impossible dilemmas that life throws at us? How do we face impossible choices when hanging between life and death? In this talk, Dr. Kritee Kanko reflects on a strange Zen story where someone finds themselves in an impossible situation: hanging by their mouth from a tree branch over a cliff, he must either answer a spiritual question and fall to his death, or remain silent and fail to fulfil his vow to help all beings. Is the koan presenting us ...
Apr 19, 2025•48 min
How can we cultivate fearlessness in these turbulent times? Can developing our ability to grieve, trust, and surrender help us access our inner vastness and fearlessness? Is our practice supporting communion between analytical and intuitive aspects of our mind? In this talk, Sensei Kritee Kanko explores an incident from 20th century India about Dipa Ma, who held a frightened student's hand during an extreme airplane turbulence episode and whispered, "The daughters of the Buddha are fearless." Th...
Mar 22, 2025•41 min
How can we respond with loving clarity and topple brothers like Trump or Musk who are stuck in toxic patterns of power and control? In this profound Dharma talk, Sensei Kritee Kanko explores a koan about an eighth-century Chinese Zen master who stubbornly dies standing on his head—only to have his sister, a bearer of gentle, loving wisdom, topple his final display of ego. Through personal stories and reflections on leaders like brothers Trump and Musk, who inspire others to be “brave in their cr...
Feb 15, 2025•46 min
How can a soiled toilet paper which you have used to wipe your ass be Buddha? How can the things we “hate” about life be “sacred”? How can the worst kinds of physical and emotional pain experienced during meditation be a pathway to a deeper realization, equanimity and courage? In this talk, Zen teacher Kanko talks about a classic Koan and discusses how we can best relate to pain during a meditation session. Everyone feels pain. Life consists of physical and mental suffering. That is the first fu...
Jan 18, 2025•47 min
What is the mental state from which we can take action during these times of uncertainty, fear and grief? How can we access such a “prized” mental state? In this talk Sensei Kritee Kanko (Ph.D.) shares, with examples and stories, a modern trauma-informed way to access equanimity and courage to take action for the benefit of all beings. In these times of polycrisis, it is ordinary to feel busy, distracted and stressed all the time. But were we born to be like this? Usually when humans have experi...
Dec 21, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Get drunk on Mu and strategize. This talk addresses how “masculine” Rinzai Zen and feminine ancient Indian path of bhakti can come together. And what we can do after we have drunk the finest wine called Mu. Mu is a Buddhist word for fundamental zeroness and absolute mind. Can the importance of societal change, divine feminine, and respect for multicultural spiritual traditions find a place even in the most rigorous Zen retreats, where people meditate day and night to achieve enlightenment? What ...
Nov 30, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 12
What is inner spiritual liberation? What happens when outer social-political liberation is not possible in these times of polycrisis? In this talk, Dr. Kritee explores the path of inner liberation in the midst of overwhelming planetary grief and oppression. It is important that we keep going with our actions for peace at political level, climate sanity, and social justice. But is it wise to cling to our physical wellbeing and derive meaning of life only based on the material and political result...
Sep 21, 2024•40 min
Can the deepest personal, societal and ecological challenges we face lead our way to the "great bliss"? If the most vulnerable species and innocent children are being killed every hour, is it okay for us to sit in this great bliss? In this teisho (Zen talk), Dr. Kritee explores the deep challenge of staying sane in the difficult times using personal anecdotes and stories and myths from ancient China and India. The times we live in are heartbreaking and bewildering, and there is genuine and deep ...
Aug 10, 2024•46 min
Is a widespread climate chaos or collapse inevitable? Can we face this impending chaos through the frameworks promoted by late stage capitalism: the ones driven by quarterly or annual financial returns? Is it time to stop accepting that we are lonely, sinful, inadequate and isolated from our more-than-human kins? How can we create a “Beloved community” and move away from a sense of shame and inadequacy? Dr. Kritee explores these questions in a talk given on the second last of a six day residenti...
Jul 13, 2024•44 min
Can there be grievous suffering even in the midst of an expansive, vast and clear “blue sky” mind? In Buddhism, the practice of meditation helps us access what some teachers call “the blue sky mind”, a state that relieves a sense of insufficiency in our lives and brings clarity, spaciousness and joy. But is this the deepest level of intimacy with “reality-as-it-is” we can reach in our spiritual practice? In this talk, Sensei Kanko explores this question from a modern, polycrisis-informed perspec...
Jun 08, 2024•47 min
Is Mu enough? In this talk, Sensei Kanko dives into some details of the Rinzai Zen path, discussing the all-encompassing nature of the Mu Koan and its relationship to breathing from the hara (lower belly) and accessing concentrated awareness. She invites listeners to balance the masculine Zen approach with emotional healing. Acknowledging Zen's limitations with respect to dealing with societal inequalities, she also advocates for devotional approaches as part of spiritual practice. The talk offe...
May 04, 2024•53 min
Kisagotami's Mustard Seed - Hidden Lamp 49 Will Western Buddhism lead us to selfish acts and an egoistic pursuit of enlightenment if we do not reintroduce the original communal aspects of Buddhism as they were present at the time of the Buddha? In this Zen Talk, Sensei Kanko delves into the profound intersection of Buddhism and the universal experience of grief. She shares her journey from India to the United States, weaving in the poignant story of Kisagotami, Buddha, and the mustard seed to hi...
May 04, 2024•40 min
How to access your spiritual power amidst overwhelming grief and shame? How can a sword made of paper help you when you are being attacked? How can we fight oppression when we feel powerless? How can we begin to see why the universe brought us alive as a human in this exact time and place? In this talk given on the last day of Feb 2024 Zen retreat, Sensei Kanko powerfully shows us a clear path to access our spiritual power against all the odds and make a difference. How is it possible that almos...
Mar 02, 2024•46 min
How can we bridge the gap between serene meditation experiences and our world’s ongoing climate and social crisis? In this thought-provoking talk given on the last day of a Zen retreat, Sensei Kanko (Dr. Kritee) invites us to consider life beyond the retreat. She emphasizes the necessity of grounded compassion and encourages a broader understanding of Zen beyond the usual Western interpretations. She illustrates the importance of carrying the fruits of our meditation practice into our day-to-day...
Jan 27, 2024•54 min
How is giving birth or merging with a lover a Buddhist act? Familiar encounters in novel ways. In this radical talk, Sensei Kanko explores the contours of a Zen life and experience in a warm and novel way. She encourages listeners to think beyond standard masculine ways of understanding Zen with metaphors and stories that have a taste of impermeable sweetness. How can the experience of Mu be like giving birth or merging with a lover? How to see through obsessive spirituality, clinging, and spiri...
Jan 01, 2024•43 min
Can we find the most important teaching in Zen (Mu) in indigenous cultures? In this talk, Sensei Kanko talks about the most important Koan: Joshu's Mu, and discusses how it is related to wisdom and teachings in indigenous cultures. When we start practicing Zen, we often crave appreciation, healing, and community. These needs are particularly strong due to the complex traumas and goal-oriented mindset inflicted on our minds by modern society. This is okay and so human. However, there is also some...
Nov 28, 2023•45 min
What trickery makes a Zen student or a skeleton baby of slaves free? This episode takes us on a journey through the Zen koan "Nansen draws a circle," exploring liberation in unexpected places like slave ships to the middle of COVID-19 pandemic. Join us as we uncover how Zen teachings can offer tools for resilience and hope in our shared journey while acknowledging our layers of trauma and the need for larger socio-political change. Sensei Kanko gave this talk during the Fall 2022 Zen retreat (se...
Feb 13, 2022•44 min
