Fifteen members of Roshi June Tanoue’s family were interned at Heart Mountain during World War II. Her father volunteered for the Army at eighteen. She wasn’t born yet — but when she gave a dharma talk about it recently, the trauma was right there, in her voice, in her body. She calls it DNA. In this Zen Followers conversation, she moves from that history through a 9th-century koan about a woman whose house burns down, whose son nearly drowns, who keeps saying “let it be” — until one day she’s frying cakes and the sound of hot oil cracks something open. Jun Roshi has made those two words her own practice. You’ll want to hear why.
This is the third Zen Followers interview. You can find my interview with Shodo Spring Sensei here and another interview with Ken Hillman, a lay practitioner, here. If you have suggestions for interviews or would like to be interviewed, please contact me directly via the Direct Message feature in the Chat tab.
I intend to publish interviews more regularly, every three to four weeks. Of course, I will continue to write about the Dharma as I encounter it.
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