Mixed Japanese and White cis-man with short brown hair and beard smiling widely at the camera, wearing a blue shirt and grey jacket, with a blurred forest background
Growing up in a massive White suburb of Boston I didn’t get to see myself – a queer, bi-racial, bi-cultural, now differently abled, spiritual seeker – reflected in my upbringing. In the late 2000’s, I attended Larry Yang’s LGBTQIA+ dharma group in a small conference room at the Gay & Lesbian Center in San Francisco. I was utterly thrilled that another queer Asian cis-male teacher was at the front of the room, and that I got to connect with him and the Dharma in such deeply personal and healing ways. Unbeknownst to me, meeting Larry and attending these sessions every Wednesday evening opened a path into my own spiritual healing journey.
Larry led me to EMBC, which was in its early hay-day on Broadway Street. I attended the then tiny Alphabet (LGBTQIA+) Sangha, and eventually applied and attended Larry’s year-long training program “Commit To Dharma.” Afterwards I went through Mushim Ikeda’s marvelous training program Practice In Transformation Action (PiTA), and since then, I’ve been living with EBMC’s values on diversity, equity, and shared leadership. I found myself in a new, wonderful spiritual home, spending years attending the POC Sangha, the Alphabet Sangha, Every Body Every Mind Sangha, a men’s BIPOC Deep Refuge Group, and once as a teacher at the Multi-Racial Sangha. Since then, EBMC has been a home where I get to be all of my wonderfully messy evolving spiritual self.
Over the past few years, I’ve stayed involved as a Community Dharma Teacher at the Every Body Every Mind Sangha – a wonderful group that holds a special place in my heart – as it’s one of the most deeply honest Sanghas I’ve ever attended; a place where folx get to support one another in their journey with much love and vulnerability. This really fits with who I am now as a healer, coach, mentor, and Interfaith Spiritual Director – I have EBMC to thank for giving me such a deep spiritual foundation.
I’m here to express my gratitude for EBMC. I hope you will too, and see that as you support EBMC you support a place for everyone in our shared understanding that peace is the path, and that there is a refuge for all of us.
“Our radical imagining is that all beings are free, at peace, and awakened.” – Lama Palden Drolma
With Blessings and Love,
Coach Kenji
