Beginnings

When I moved to Kansas City in 2022, I continued to practice with a sangha and a teacher in Pennsylvania. I travelled every season to sit sesshin while searching for a practice home closer to Waldo. There are several wonderful Buddhist organizations nearby but none of them practice Soto Zen. While dharma gates are boundless, it is okay to practice in a way that feels “right” to you. None of the local practice opportunities spoke to me in the way I was searching, so I started my own sitting group in my neighborhood.

Waldo Sits, the name I have given the sitting group, is a small, yet committed, group of folks who sit shikantaza – or “just sitting.” For twenty minutes on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday, we sit. Every now and then I share a teaching at the end, but generally I recite the Boddhisattva vows at the conclusion of our sit, we may share a few words with each other and then go on our way. This simple practice keeps me grounded.

In January of 2026, I was priest ordained. A few days before my ordination, I shared on social media: “What will I do as a priest? Answer: I don’t know, whatever is next and hopefully more bike riding this year as it brings me joy.”

2026 has been a peculiar year. (Whenever my mom didn’t like something but also recognized she didn’t quite understand it, she would call whatever it was ‘peculiar’- so I’ll use this term too.) In part, the year has been peculiar because I have not had much time to ride my bike beyond short city rides despite my professed desire to do so. Some of the excuses are that I’ve gotten to travel and the weather this summer has been relentlessly hot. Nevertheless, joy has found its way to me in other ways.

As far as what have I been doing as a priest? Hmm. The short answer is that I am still learning what this role means for me. The long answer involves setting boundaries with people who do not serve me, finding practice opportunities and friends on this path that nourish me, and being open to new ways of practice while also learning traditional forms. I have been fortunate to practice with the Clouds in Water sangha in St. Paul, MN, sit occasionally with No Barriers Zen of Baltimore, MD, attend sesshin at Jikoji Zen Center in Los Gatos, CA, and work on the forms at Ryumonji Zen Monastery in Dorchester, IA. I didn’t get to take my bike with me any of these places, but I do have many tales of my adventures.

My practice continues to unfold, and I am taking action to share my practice in Kansas City in a variety of ways. The first is to give this shared practice a name: Moon in the Fountains

The name pays homage to the teachings of Zen Master Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen, and to the fountain city itself, Kansas City.

The moon, and in particular the full moon, is auspicious in Zen practice. The Buddha was born, enlightened, and died on a full moon. The moon plays a significant part of my practice, including an ongoing holding of the full moon ceremony, fusatsu. The sesshin preceding my Jukai ceremony (receiving of the precepts), was organized to be on the full moon that coincided with the summer solstice. The coming together, or union, of the cycles of the sun and moon represent the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Much more could be written about my personal connection with the solstice and the moon illuminated in the sky. In brief, I feel connected to these rhythms, and they remind me of family. Kansas City, the city of fountains, is also where my family lives. Thus, Moon in the Fountains, is deeply rooted in family and community.

Moon in the Fountains is also a pastiche of Moon in a Dewdrop, the title of a collection of Dogen’s teachings. Dogen reminds us of the truth of impermanence, and that the entire world is found in every mundane, transient moment. Although not found in this collection, I leave you with one of Dogen’s many waka poems:

To what shall

I liken the world?

Moonlight, reflected

In dewdrops,

Shaken from a crane’s bill.

In gassho,

Jiko