The Buddha said the entirety of his teaching
was about suffering and its end.
Applying this to our lives, we can ask ourselves
before we act, “Will this help or will it harm?”

OMS Guiding Teacher
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard

Zuisei is a writer, lay Zen teacher, and the Guiding Teacher for Ocean Mind Sangha. Zuisei lived and trained full time at Zen Mountain Monastery in Upstate New York from 1995 to 2018, and was a monk for fourteen of those years. In 2018 she received shiho or dharma transmission (empowerment to teach) from Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Roshi, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery. After leaving the monastery Zuisei spent some time in New York City, where she began teaching virtually, then moved to Playa del Cármen in the south of Mexico, and finally to Panama City, where she continues to welcome students for virtual group and private teaching.

Zuisei has served as the Teachings Editor at the Buddhist journal Tricycle, and her dharma writing has been featured there as well as in Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma, and Parabola. Her books include Still Running: The Art of Meditation in Motion and the children’s book Weather Any Storm. 

If you’d like to reach Zuisei directly, please send her an email.

*Banner photo by Kathleen Hinkel