The Zen Teacher: Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi in conversation with neuroscientist Brent A. Field

Author Peter Matthiessen is the featured portrait in this session. He is a three-time National Book Award-winning American novelist, non-fiction writer, and environmental activist who has been a student of Zen Buddhism for more than three decades. In the short film that starts this program, Matthiessen talks about the calming influence of his spiritual practices at his home in Sagaponack, Long Island, where he keeps a zendo, a beautiful space dedicated for meditation. His friend Zen teacher Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi takes the stage after the film to discuss, with Princeton neuroscientist Brent Field, the particular world view of the Zen Buddhist.