The Traveling Buddhist Counselor - Nathan's experience helping the Cafe De Monk in Tohoku after 3.11

Sustainable Travel Japan

Travel and volunteer work often goes hand in hand and Nathan Jishin Michon shares his experience of traveling to Tohoku after the tripe disaster of 3/11 and his book collecting stories and insights from other Buddhist voices about crisis care.

I met Nathan recently in Kyoto when I gave a talk on PRIDE at the Creative Mornings event. Nathan's soft-spoken yet engaging communication style really impressed me and once I read his book REFUGE IN THE STORM I was so glad he agreed to talk on the show.

Nathan has been researching and writing and practicing meditation and religious studies in Japan and around the world for many years and has a deep understanding of how Buddhist philosophies and teachings can help in counseling and supporting people in times of crisis.

In this episode, we talk about Nathan's background as well as stories and teachings from his book titled "Refuge in the Storm". A very special part of the talk is when he reads the chapter on going to help with crisis care in Tohoku after the 3.11 disaster at the Cafe de Monk.

About Nathan on his website: http://nathanjishinmichon.com/

Nathan is a bit of a global citizen, having lived in seven countries and in multiple places in the US. Nathan is ordained both as a priest within the Shingon Buddhist tradition (A Japanese branch of Esoteric Buddhism) and as an interfaith minister through the Unity-and-Diversity Word Council

Jishin received his MA in comparative religion, MDiv in Buddhist chaplaincy, and Ph.D. in History and Culture of Religions. He also received a certificate in advanced peace and conflict studies at European Peace University. The characters of their name, Jishin (pronunced jee-sheen), mean “benevolent heart”

Background music thanks to Casey Bean https://caseybean.bandcamp.com/