Hozan Alan Senauke: Turning Words

“Can we care? Can we find the joy in that?” Sensei Alan Senauke shares words from teachers throughout his life that turned, or awakened, him. These teachers include his father, his first teacher at Berkeley Zen Center, Sojun Roshi, Roshi Joan Halifax, and Suzuki Roshi. These stories are detailed in his new book Turning Words: Transformative Encounters with Buddhist Teachers. He reminds us that it is our action that turns the world; the world does not just happen to us as we sit passively by. He closes with his beautiful rendition of Bernice Johnson Reagon’s “They Are Falling All Around Me” and then a Q&A.