Zen Studies podcast

This podcast is recorded specifically for podcast listeners, and I want it to be fun and educational at the same time.

I cycle regularly through different kinds of episodes:

Buddhism Today – How Buddhism relates or applies to larger issues we’re facing as a society

Buddhist Teachings – These episodes cover older (pre-Zen) or more general Buddhist teachings (usually not specific to a sect or school)

Buddhist History – These episodes are in a series, starting with ancient India at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha and continuing up until the present day. The series covers all areas where Buddhism has taken a significant hold, including the West, and takes time to explore seminal texts as they appear in the timeline of Buddhist history.

Buddhist Practices – These episodes focus on practices – things Buddhists actually do.

Buddhist Texts – These episodes focus on important Buddhist texts (suttas/sutras, commentaries, shastras, poems, etc.)

Dharma Talks – These episodes are my teachings on various Zen and Buddhist topics

Listener’s Questions – These episodes are responses to questions I’ve received from listeners.

Meditation – These episodes are on meditation – usually focusing on zazen/shikantaza, but many of the things I discuss will be relevant no matter what kind of meditation you do.

Zen Teachings – These episodes present and explain traditional Zen Buddhist teachings (listen to the first episode to learn about how Zen relates to Buddhism as a whole)


Start at the beginning: Listen to all the episodes in order – or read the content instead!
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Browse and see what interests you! See Categories, Recent Posts, Series, look through the Glossary, or type a topic of interest in the search box.

Domyo Burk

Domyo studied and worked as a wildlife biologist before beginning Zen practice at Dharma Rain Zen Center (DRZC) in 1996. She spent five years practicing intensively as a lay person, and then was ordained as a Zen monk in 2001 by Gyokuko Carlson Roshi. The first seven years of Domyo’s monastic training were spent in full-time residential practice at DRZC except for a practice period at Tassajara monastery in California and time practicing at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon.

On 2010, Domyo received Dharma Transmission from Gyokuko. In 2011 she resigned from her staff position at Dharma Rain in order to focus her Dharma work on a temple she founded in a suburb of Portland, Bright Way Zen, where she now serves as Guiding Teacher. Domyo is a member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA) and participated in the SZBA Dharma Heritage Ceremony in October 2012. She was a member of the SZBA Board of Directors from 2007 until 2013, and Administrative Coordinator of the SZBA from 2013 until May 2016.

Domyo regards both Gyokuko Carlson Roshi and Kyogen Carlson Roshi, founders of Dharma Rain Zen Center, as her teachers. Her training at Dharma Rain gave her a profound respect for both lay and priest practice, and a passionate curiosity about how to inspire and support deep Zen practice in the midst of lay life. She currently lives in Cedar Hills (Beaverton, OR) with her husband John Burk, senior announcer at All Classical Portland KQAC. Their lives are enriched and challenged by two African Grey parrots, Isaac and Ursula, Curly, a cockapoo, and Sukha, a one-of-kind terrier mix.