Kobun Chino Otogawa came to the U.S. from Japan in 1967 at the invitation of Shunryu Suzuki to help train novice monks at the newly formed Tassajara Zen Mountain Center outside San Francisco. He was later invited by Choygam Trungpa to Boulder, Colorado to help found Naropa University and teach students zazen, oryoki, and calligraphy. Throughout his years of travel, Kobun regularly returned to Colorado to teach and lead sesshin at Naropa and at Shambhala Mountain Center.

Kobun’s gentle spirit and spontaneous teaching style deeply affected those that interacted with him and his spirit is embodied in the Zen centers he helped to found. One of those centers is Hakubai, and it only seems appropriate to launch the Hakubai Podcast with a series of talks given by Kobun at Naropa University over the course of thirteen years. The first of this collection was given 30 years ago today.