Zen training is long. Demanding. But according to Jay Rinsen Weik Roshi, there is a far more difficult path: spending an entire lifetime sleepwalking, pushed and pulled by fear and desire, never realizing your true nature.
Rinsen Roshi strips away spirituality as self-improvement, intellectual gymnastics, or feel-good emotionality. Instead, he presents authentic Zen as an embodied path of transformation—a lifelong discipline of scraping away the "barnacles of bullsh*t" that obscure our true nature.
Drawing on nearly four decades of Zen practice, alongside a lifetime devoted to Aikido and jazz, Rinsen Roshi reveals what these seemingly different disciplines share: wholehearted presence, disciplined spontaneity, and the freedom to meet the imperative of each moment.
Together we explore koan training, the deepening of awakening, "dragon nature," the cultivation of Qi (Ki)—a vital dimension of Zen training he believes has largely been neglected in American Zen—, and why Zen is not about escaping ordinary life, but entering it more fully, more creatively, and more courageously than ever before.
About the Guest:
Jay Rinsen Weik Roshi is the Founding Abbot and Guiding Teacher, alongside his wife, Karen Do'on Weik Roshi, at the Buddhist Temple of Toledo. He began formal Zen training in 1987 under John Daido Loori Roshi at Zen Mountain Monastery and later received both Denbo (Sōtō Zen Dharma transmission) and Inka Shōmei (Rinzai kōan transmission) from James Myoun Ford Roshi. Rinsen Roshi also founded Shobu Aikido of Ohio and holds the rank of 6th Dan (Rokudan). He is a jazz musician and scholar and teaches music and guitar at the University of Toledo.
Buddhist Temple of Toledo Website: https://www.buddhisttempleoftoledo.org/
Rinsen Roshi's YouTube Channel Featuring Buddhist Neigong Series: https://www.youtube.com/@jayrinsenweik3960
Timestamps
00:10 Crash Course on Compassion: Zen Mind and PhysicalAdversity
06:16 "I am here for Zen"/ "Clean theDishes"
09:47 Meeting the Imperative of Your Life: The Importance ofZen Training
15:04 The Heart of Zen Training: Opening the Dharma Eye
24:14 Clear Sight, Skillful Actions
30:38 Spontaneous Samadhi, Jazz, and Aikido Lead to Zen
40:57 Commuter Zen: Bringing the Temple Home
46:04 Individual Awakening and Communal Practice
50:06 Seeing from the Same Eye: Dharma Transmission
52:27 Koan Training: Using Language to Break Free fromLanguage
01:10:38 "You get to live an authentic, true life. And it's f***** great."
01:20:24 Father Kevin Hunt: A Trappist Monk and Zen Roshi
01:25:41 Transmitting Teacher: "Our Steps FellTogether"
01:30:33 Buddhist Temple of Toledo: A Global Sangha
01:38:08 Zen and Aikido: "The mind leads, the Qifollows, and the body gets dragged along."
01:48:23 The Aiki Principle: "Complementaryantagonistic spiraling"
01:55:31 Holistic Cultivation: Using All of Life to Awaken
01:59:50 Family Life Wrapped Around Dharma Practice
02:04:49 Noble Friends and the Preciousness of Human Life
Intro and Outro Music by Benjaim Bigelow
