Seirin Barbara Kohn Sensei, teacher and head priest at Austin Zen Center, spent 15 years at San Francisco Zen Center where she was ordained as a priest by Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi and received dharma transmission from Zenkei Blanche Hartman Roshi.

She has been guiding the practice at AZC since 2000. She keeps regularly in touch with her teachers and friends at San Francisco Zen Center and meets yearly with other U.S. and Canadian Zen teachers. Seirin regularly offers sittings and talks in other cities and is available to meet with people who want guidance through a Zen perspective, or who want to know more about Zen practice.

Prior to becoming a Zen student in 1985, Barbara spent her time actively involved in politics and social change, dance, theatre, gallery direction, and being a wife and mother. The arts, Gestalt therapy, and dance therapy were strong influences leading her to the Zen path. As so often happens, it was midlife assessment that sent her from reading about Zen to practicing at SFZC.

Shunsen Seirin ( Spring River , Serene Forest) is the name given to Barbara when she was ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest in 1988. Often the first part of the name refers to personality elements already realized and the second to possibilities for the practitioner along the path. Barbara says that she has always understood the changing, rushing, turbulent river of spring, but finding serenity within the myriad details of a forest still unfolds daily for her. Upon receiving transmission, her teacher, Blanche Hartman, suggested that she now use Seirin when referring to herself by her Buddhist name. As she enters the winter of her life, Barbara remarks that she continues to come to terms with letting the rushing river stay in the background as she settles into the winter forest - stark, resting, and awaiting the spring renewal that comes in another manifestation.

Presently, Barbara is married and has 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and many poodles. She and her husband, Jim live on a horse farm near Pace Bend Park . Twice a week she holds informal sittings at the zendo in this country parsonage. She has a Master's Degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Gestalt and dance therapies. Barbara's interests as a Zen priest lie with making practice accessible to a wide group of people while maintaining a strong link to the lineage and traditions to which she is profoundly grateful.

The practice of living, working, and sleeping Zen for 15 years at San Francisco Zen Center , Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center was transformative at a very deep level for Barbara. Having personally experienced what such practice can do as she spent time with her teachers, sat zazen, and worked in various jobs, she is now very grateful to be able to offer some of what she has received to others who are interested in transforming their lives. Ultimately, this transformation can help one learn to do little harm and to love, laugh, and cry with all beings. As the Metta Sutta suggests, Seirin feels that this way of life is the best way there is.