How does spiritual communication with plants and microbes happen? Are nature kinning practices essential in a spiritual path? Should you treat plants and microbes as equal or more intelligent than you?

In this talk, Sensei Kanko explores a rare koan that directly addresses our relationship with the natural world, in order to inspire and give a rationale for nature kinning practices. Drawing on the ancient Chinese teacher Chen's verse and contemporary herbalist Stephen Buhner's thought provoking teachings, she gives no direct answers but invites us to consider: How can woodcutters with the "spirit of the knife and axe" ever see mountain flowers reflected in water, glorious and red? What does it mean to truly perceive plants and trees? Do only outlaws and troublemakers see plants truly? Can we cultivate the stillness and humbleness needed to hear "the quiet ones, the polite ones" who have been here for 700 million years—long before humans arrived half a million years ago?

The talk offers both scientific insights and spiritual wisdom on balancing the necessary rigor of indoor concentration practice with opening our hearts to the wildness that shaped our very senses.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk on the second day of a Fall 2025 Zen retreat.

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

.Why are both hardship and gentleness invaluable in the spiritual path? Why is it sometimes helpful to be slapped and pushed away by the circumstances and the world around us? And how can it be also pivotal to treat ourselves gently like our best buddy or kind deity like Gyanyin would treat us?

In this tender and powerful talk given on the first day of the Fall 2025 Zen retreat, Sensei Kanko addresses these questions through a classical koan about standing still in the face of life slapping and battering us. Many people our community knows are going through profound changes—breakups, cancer diagnoses, workplace abuse, or maybe deep health crises. The larger world is collapsing around us. How do we not collapse with these challenges? Using the story of Jō Jōza who "stands still" after being seized, slapped, and pushed by his teacher Rinzai, Sensei Kanko reveals the profound gift of Rinzai Zen to the world: the capacity to find your rooted core in the middle of intense storms. But she adds what traditional Zen often misses—a trauma-informed understanding that we must "go soft before we go still." For those whose relationship with breath practices causes them anxiety, for those who have been pushing too hard, the instruction is revolutionary: speak to yourself with profound kindness first. Tell yourself how precious you are, how hard what you've been through has been, how your medicine is needed in this world. Only from this softness can we access the stillness that allows us to belong—to ourselves, to the human community, to our natural ecosystems, and to what Kanko calls invisible realms. This is not about mastering meditation techniques or experiencing enlightenment experiences. This is about cultivating a heart overflowing with love for yourself, so you can watch life's waves from the perspective of the deep still ocean within.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk during the Fall 2025 Zen retreat (sesshin).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com

Is it possible that no one, including our loved human or non-human friends to beings in the warzones, dies at a wrong moment for a wrong reason? Also, how are “We the middle of forever”, with no birth and no death?

Important note: Engaged Buddhist or Ecodharma teachers, including Dr. Kritee, emphasize the importance of compassionate “Bodhisattva” actions for social and environmental change without attachment to results. This is so even for causes where our efforts are inclined to “fail” or when people or groups of people we support will die. We must act in support and healing of all life even if our efforts are not “successful”. So even though, at the “absolute” level, this talk suggests that it is not possible for anyone to die at a wrong moment for a wrong reason, our actions in support of alleviation of suffering in the moment are crucial for anyone on a spiritual path. Our actions, when rooted in wisdom and compassion, create conditions that lead to better outcomes—even if they are only marginally better outcomes as compared to without such actions.

How to stay motivated to undertake compassionate actions is an important question. In addition, if it is not possible for anyone to die at a wrong moment for a wrong reason, how do we hold both human grief and trans-human acceptance? How do we honor the truths of devastating losses and injustices while accessing deep spiritual equanimity?

In this talk, addressed to experienced meditators in the middle of a long residential silent meditation retreat, Dr. Kritee focuses on these profound questions related to death and impermanence. Speaking from a place of authenticity and deeply flowing spontaneity, she explores the classic koan "Hyakujo and a Wild Duck" where a teacher pinches his student's nose to embody that nothing truly flies away. Drawing on personal stories of paralysis, grief around events of October 7th and ongoing violence in Palestine, and teachings from her own spiritual teachers, Sensei Kanko guides practitioners through the territory where everything feels like it's flying away—democracy, health, loved ones, peace of mind. She offers practical guidance on creating altars for grief, differentiating between guilt and shame, and working with the phrase "We are the middle of forever." The talk weaves together themes of impermanence, oceanic consciousness, trauma-informed practice, and the invisible realms that root for us even in our loneliest moments, inviting us to work with one breath at a time while trusting in a wholeness that exists even amidst heartbreak.

Sensei Kanko gave this talk on the fourth day of the Fall 2025 Zen retreat (sesshin).

Thank you for listening to the Boundless in Motion podcast. You can access more information about our programs and retreats by going to www.boundlessinmotion.org or www.kriteekanko.com