ZEN BUDDHISM AND ECODHARMA

Drawing upon over twenty-five years of meditation experience, including rigorous Zen training, her teaching experience of leading ecodharma retreats and trauma healing ceremonies and her ongoing Ecodharma advocacy, Kritee provides spiritual mentorship and traditional Zen training, including koan practice, to people of all backgrounds.

Kritee started meditating in 1997 and began formal study of Zen Buddhism in 2002.  Kritee was ordained in her Zen lineage at a priest ceremony (Suiji-Shiki) and given the dharma name Kanko (Cold Light in Japanese) in 2010. She was publicly authorized to offer Zen koan study in the Rinzai lineage of Cold Mountain as an independent teacher in 2013. Read more here.

In the western world, Zen Buddhism is sometimes portrayed as being too narrowly focused on enlightenment experiences (kensho or satori). In Asia, Zen was understood as a way of life, with meditation at its core, that allowed flow of compassion to all beings. It was a part of the Eightfold Path in the context of residential life embedded in and cradled by a natural ecosystem.

Kritee orients her spiritual coaching towards confronting the root causes of our ongoing polycrisis, healing our collective traumas and embracing the path of reindigenization. She understands that being an inclusive community means that sometimes leaders have to change spiritual frameworks currently popular in the U.S. to undo ways in which systems of oppression (e.g., patriarchy or whiteness) operate in our ancestral spiritual traditions.  

In 2022, Kritee was highlighted as “a faith leader to watch” by Center for American Progress because of her climate advocacy and her climate grief healing initiatives. 

Testimonials

The grief ritual (at the Ecodharma retreat with Kritee) was incredibly profound. I was heard and seen and emotionally held in a way I have never experienced. It solidified my soul's deep need for connection. Some of my deepest fears and traumas were echoed by others and it was eye opening to realize that my perceptions of people didn't change for the worse -- vulnerability actually brought us so much closer together.
–Rande Patterson, Renewable Energy leader, Houston

Most transformational aspects of the Ecodharma retreat (with Kritee) were: Building a solid container of trust and safety, the elaborate and heartfelt rituals and ceremonies (especially the grief ceremony), the kind and thoughtful attention to somatic and metta (loving kindness) practices, amazing food and PLAY TIME.
- Dr. Karthik Kashinath, Climate Scientist, California