How do we live facing the fact of death? Zen Master Bon Hae (Judy Roitman) and her husband Zen Master Hae Kwang (Stan Lombardo) will talk about this question — which is everyone’s question — as illuminated by their Zen practice, and as illuminated by facing serious illness.

Judy began practicing Zen with Zen Master Seung Sahn at the Cambridge Zen Center in 1976. She received inka (full authorization to teach) from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1998 and transmission from Zen Master Dae Kwang in 2013. Stan began practicing Zen with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1978. He received inka and transmission from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1992 and in 1998. Judy and Stan are founders of the Kansas Zen Center in 1972. Judy has a distinguished career as a mathematician working on set theory, topology, Boolean algebras, mathematics education, and as a poet. She is a retired professor in mathematics at the University of Kansas. Stan is an acclaimed classicist, poet, and translator. His translation includes the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Tao Te Ching. He is a retired professor in classics at the University of Kansas.

The moderator of this panel is Minghua Hsiao, who is the curator of the Freedom Crossing Film Festival and founder of the Freedom Crossing Institute. Minghua is the editor-in-chief at Freedom Publisher in Taiwan, which preserved and publicized rare and precious religious texts in Daoism, Confucianism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism and Chinese medicine.