Zen and Ecodharma Talks by Kritee Kanko

Ryonen Scars Her Face — Hidden Lamp 31

Why did the 17th century Zen practitioner Ryonen Genso burn her face to enter a Zen temple? What is this path worth? In this talk, Sensei Kanko challenges us to think what is possible when we move past healing alone and ask the most fundamental spiritual question: who am I? Naming the shadow of patriarchy in Buddhism but refusing to let Ryonen's story end there, she asks what burning question made this Japanese woman willing to scar herself. Using an infinity symbol, Kanko distinguishes the Western project of building a "healthy ego" from the non-dual path of dropping ego altogether — and points beyond both to Mu, the ground of being, asking what we are willing to let go of to touch that source. Sensei Kanko gave this talk on the second-to-last day of a Zen retreat in May 2026. 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.

Goso's Buffalo Passes Through the Moon Gate — Mumonkan 38

How can you become fully enlightened like a Buddha? If you were a Buffalo, how can you be enlightened from head to tail? Or is that a delusional goal? In this talk, Sensei Kanko (Dr. Kritee) explores the koan of a buffalo passing through the window ( or a in Chinese architecture). In the koan, Buffalo’s head, horns, and four legs all make it through the window, but the tail cannot. What is this stubborn little tail that nags at us after years, even decades, of practice, therapy, and healing? Which patterns of unlovability, shame or inadequacy do we keep circling around or trying to hide from others? Drawing on personal stories — her arrival in the U.S. a week before 9/11, her early depression, and a recent health scare with her mother — Sensei Kanko offers a trauma-informed reading of this koan. She suggests we replace the word "ego" with "trauma," and invites us to hold the tail with tenderness rather than trying to eliminate it. She also gestures toward a deeper, absolute dimension of the koan, where the distinction between tail and enlightenment begins to dissolve — pointing, as Dogen did, to how the very sense that "something is missing" can itself be a mark of Dharma filling body and mind. Sensei Kanko gave this talk during a recent half-day sit (Zazenkai) in April 2026. If this talk speaks to you, consider joining Sensei Kanko and Imtiaz Rangwala for the upcoming Zen sesshin at Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center from May 11–17, 2026, which includes a "Solo" day of practice in nature. Details and registration are available at www.boundlessinmotion.org [http://www.boundlessinmotion.org]. 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 [http://www.kriteekanko.com].

Mailey Scott Meets Loneliness - Hidden Lamp 39

Why might cuddling, hugging and belonging be important in our spiritual paths? In this talk, Sensei Kanko explores the tension between the koan's spiritual teaching on an “absolute” or “ultimate” plane, i.e., nothing in life is out of place, and what she sees as a deeper historical truth: that loneliness is out of place. We are mammals. Mammals experience safety, learning, and healing through touch, play, and physical closeness. Yet the epidemic of loneliness in modern life has severed us from ways to meet this basic evolutionary need. Drawing on stories from her own life and from a powerful experiment in one of her community "pods," Sensei Kanko makes the case that spiritual practice alone cannot substitute for what we need as mammals. While emphasizing the importance of developing ways to feel safe and to heal the wound of loneliness, she also explores the “absolute” spiritual truth: from the perspective of emptiness (called Shunyata or Mu in Asian languages), no wave in the ocean is out of place — not loneliness, not fear, not even death. The worst, she reminds us, is already baked into every human life. How do we relax into that impossible truth while also honoring our mammalian need to be held?  Sensei Kanko gave this talk during a half-day sit (Zazenkai) in late March 2026.  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

My Return from Pilgrimage in Indian Forests – Emperor Wu Asked Bodhidharma, Hekiganroku Case 1

Sensei Kanko ventured into Indian forests frequently visited by predators such as leopards, tigers, sloth bears, venomous snakes, and wild elephants. Why did she do this? What does fear held in trust look like? And why does she feel more hopeful and alive now than she has ever felt in her life?  In this talk, Sensei Kanko shares what motivated her to make this trip to India and reconnect with her ancient ancestral roots and ecosystems in India. She shared what happened during one part of her 2.5 month long journey. And she describes how does this journey relates to the first koan of the legendary Hekiganroku (Blue Cliff Record), in which Bodhidharma — the teacher who carried Buddhism from the Indian subcontinent to China — answered an emperor's questions about morality and goodness with "Emptiness, No Holiness" and "Not Knowing". Sensei doesn't give any direct answers but offers hints and examples of what it might mean to follow a path uniquely meant for you.  Sensei Kanko gave this talk upon her return from India in early 2026.  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 [http://www.kriteekanko.com]

Chen's Mountain Flowers - Hidden Lamp 13

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