Keika: Sitting for Young Seekers

"Listen seekers, the world has gone insane." 

--Kabir, Indian mystic and poet, as cited in "The Mind Has A Hundred Thousand Gates" recently produced in Minneapolis by Pangea World Theater (April 2026)

Who I am: By way of introduction, I am a novice priest at Clouds in Water Zen Center.  I was lay ordained in October 2020 and priest ordained in March 2024 by Rev. Sōsan Flynn, our Guiding Teacher. I currently serve as head of the Tenzo Ryo (a stupendous team of cooks and bakers) and as co-facilitator of the Teen Practice (with Prof. Jake Nagasawa--pictured with me below). Teen Practice has become an important anchor point for my training as a zen priest.

I notice that young people, especially Teenagers, are often treated as spiritual blank slates, or worse, spiritual problems. Yet in our experience they show the opposite: the young heart is a vast and vibrant spiritual field full of awe, wonder, fear, joy, loose ends, silliness, and curiosity. 

I wish for Teenagers a world of more support and appreciation. And I wish the same for all those who care and guide Teens, because they also need support and appreciation! 

This year--with a nod to the wisdom of Kabir--I will be sitting for seekers, especially younger ones. 

Inherently, it seems, a Teenager is a Seeker. One thing I really love about the heart of the Teenage Seeker is the amazing combination of tenderness, stubbornness, illegibility, longing, and spontaneity. It takes energy to be in healthy relationship with anyone, Teenagers included, and when I am able to direct healthy energy toward a Teenager, I have always received a bounty of spiritual wisdom. I will vigorously direct my attention, prayers, well wishes, and gratitude to Young Seekers during this Sit-a-Thon.

This year I will not only sit for Teens, I will literally sit WITH them. Since September 2022 through this month, April 2026, we have had anywhere from two to eleven Teens join us for Sunday Teen Practice sessions at Clouds in Water Zen Center. We have invited these Teenagers to join me on on the morning of Saturday May 30th and we will enter the zendo together to sit for a period determined by their age. In other words, the 14-year-old will sit for 14 minutes, the 16-year-old for 16 minutes, and so on. Since I am a post-Teen and committing to TEN HOURS total over Saturday and Sunday, I will consider the time sitting with the Teens as 1/4 hour. After the eldest Teen has completed their sitting, we will have a little snack in the community room and reflect on the experience together. 

Family and friends are welcome to join us!

Maybe these numbers will inspire your donation! $10, $14, $16 are all excellent places to start and if adding a ZERO or two is feasible for you, please do it: $100, $140, $160...$1000, $1400, $1600...small or big, it's all a WOW!

I will also sit for other Young Seekers I know, but who will not physically join me. I will sit for the many young adults who are my blood relatives (children of my first cousins), students and alumni from classes at Macalester College (where I am Professor and Chair of American Studies), and the nine astounding Posse Scholars whom I mentored and who will graduate this May 2026! yay! 

I will direct my gratitude and well wishes to all of these Young Seekers.

There are many Young Seekers I don't know who have died tragically due to war, domestic violence, incarceration, or preventable hunger and illness. Greed, anger, and ignorance--usually in massive doses--have caused their deaths. I will direct my heart to their memory and to those who have survived them. 

This year, all gifts (up to $500) will be matched by an anonymous donor: $10 will magically jump to $20, and $499 will become $998 on our ledger! Please find an amount that is both meaningful and comfortable to you.

About Teen Practice at Clouds in Water Zen Center: Our goal is to provide a fun and welcoming space for Teens to gather. We help them to experience facets of Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice in a light-hearted way, including: lighting incense, bowing, ringing bells, sitting zazen, walking kinhin, participating in ceremony, exploring gathas and verses, and exploring Buddhist content (precepts, vows, virtues) and questions: Is Buddha a god? Is Buddhism a religion? What makes someone "Buddhist"? We end every session with frozen confections such as mochi ice cream and chocolate covered cones, which makes it not like school and guarantees happiness!

My personal goal for the 2026 Sit-a-Thon is to sit for TEN HOURS on Saturday May 30. In case you are wondering, this time does include getting up from the cushion for bio breaks, stretching, and small meals. I do intend to be mindfully present for all ten hours LOL--and just in case, please pray for me!

Note of thanks: The photo on top shows me with Lili and Ronan, longtime participants in Teen Practice. It was February 2023 and we were enjoying fresh air and a blue sky in Western Sculpture Park, just around the corner from Clouds.