Endless Depths of Enlightenment
From my teenage years I had an unquenchable thirst to see beyond the veils that growing up had created in my mind. I tried different avenues of exploration, and soon found my spiritual home in the Zen tradition. After graduating from college, I went straight to Japan and became a Zen monk at the Bukkoku-ji monastery. For over a dozen years I practiced in the monastic context, mostly in Japan and Korea, living a life dedicated fully to this investigation, going through an awakening process, and deepening my realization and embodiment. Later I also explored approaches of other traditions and followed several secular non-traditional teachers. I have spent about 4 years total in silent meditation retreats, and have worked directly in the retreat setting and one-on-one with teachers such as my root monastic teacher, Tangen Harada Roshi, as well as with Jakusho Kwong Roshi, Shodo Harada Roshi, Wu Bong Sunim, Adyashanti and Angelo Dilullo.
Even though the years of meditation and the simplicity of monastic life had a powerful effect, most important on my path were three breakthroughs at age 23, 30 and 37, each stripping down a different layer of illusion and revealing bare truth, without any sense of separation, or any sense of personal nor universal “self.” I have also explored and continue to explore various approaches of somatic work to aid embodiment and the uprooting of habitual tendencies, as I consider myself, and all human beings, a work in progress.
Following my monastic Dharma grandfather (Daiun Harada Roshi)’s example, I vowed to spend all of my twenties and thirties only on my own practice, deepening and embodiment. Now in my forties, I make myself available as a resource to those who seek support in their own process of finding freedom from self-created suffering. Despite my love of the monastic life and the Zen tradition, I have decided to share outside of the confines of those systems. I stay true, however, to the essence and marrow of Zen as defined by Bodhidharma, the Indian monk considered the founder of what we now know as Zen:
“Transmission outside of scriptures
Not dependent upon words and phrases
Directly pointing to each person’s mind
See your nature – become a buddha”
Feel free to reach out if you feel so inclined.
May all beings find liberation!
Website: seeyournature.org
Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group
Interview recorded March 14, 2026
YouTube Video Chapters:
- 00:00:00 Introduction and opening teaching clip
- 00:00:29 What this conversation will cover
- 00:01:20 Kogen’s background and “work in progress” view
- 00:03:10 Growing up in post‑communist Poland and street life
- 00:06:30 First experiments with drugs and early insights
- 00:11:05 Discovering Zen books and first meditation retreats
- 00:16:40 Why strict Zen training appealed despite the hardship
- 00:22:15 Intensive retreats, pain, and facing the mind
- 00:28:40 Moving to Japan and life as a Zen monk
- 00:35:10 Daily monastic schedule and “Navy SEALs” style training
- 00:41:30 First breakthrough: seeing thoughts like a movie on a screen
- 00:47:20 What awakening feels like in real life
- 00:53:00 Working with doubt, fear, and “am I deluding myself?”
- 01:00:15 No‑self, agency, and who is living this life
- 01:06:40 Ethics, power, and integrity on the spiritual path
- 01:13:10 Teachers, transmission, and avoiding blind spots
- 01:19:30 Second and third breakthroughs and endless deepening
- 01:26:10 Trauma, conditioning, and why awakening is not the end
- 01:33:00 Somatic work and grounding realization in the body
- 01:39:20 Relationship, conflict, and mutual awakening
- 01:46:10 Practice after awakening and “ordinary” daily life
- 01:52:40 Serving others, Auschwitz retreat, and bearing witness
- 01:59:06 Small actions, great suffering, and being a benevolent presence
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