When we normally look at the present, it is often defined by the past, but it’s better if the present can be defined exclusively by the present itself. That’s what we end up calling “suchness” in Buddhism.

Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi (1981 CE-), Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi is the Abbot of the international non-profit organization Dharma Sangha and its two Zen practice centers: the Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Colorado, USA, and the Zen Buddhist Center in the Black Forest, Germany. Nicole is a Dharma Successor of Zentatsu Baker Roshi in the Soto Zen lineage. She has been practicing Zen since 2001 and received Dharma Transmission in 2017.