Koun Franz was born in Helena, Montana, but has spent a good deal of his adult life in Japan. He was ordained in 2001, then trained at Zuioji and Shogoji monasteries. From 2006 to 2010, he served as resident priest of the Anchorage Zen Community in Alaska. Koun is married to Tracy Franz—they now live with their two kids in Canada (Halifax, Nova Scotia), where he leads practice at Zen Nova Scotia.
A podcast of Koun’s talks with ZNS can be found here.
Nyohō Zen 
Just finished My Year of Dirt and Water…then found koun’s podcasts on the computer…at first I didn’t realize who you were, but was delighted to find you were tracy’s Koun .good to put a face to the name and teachings..loved the book ..More books coming? Thank you both for your teachings.Janet
Thank you, Janet! It’s nice to be in touch. Gassho, -koun
Hello Koun!
I just wanted you to know that I find your offerings refreshing and very helpful. I lead a couple of Vipassana sanghas here in Las Vegas. One is a Buddhism and Recovery group. I have used several of your teachings to illumine our humble sanghas. The latest on Desire without conditions is on POINT!! You explain a sometimes difficult concept for westerners to understand in a very succinct manner. Anyway I thought it would be nice to let you know that your wisdom is helping people way out here in the southwest desert! Also, we would like to make a dana offering for your efforts. Please let me know the best way to do that. All the best to you and your family.
Much Metta,
Greg Pergament
Thank you, Gregory—this means a lot to me. I’m happy to be in touch. I deeply appreciate your offer of dana—there is a PayPal link at thousandharbourszen.com. My very best to you and your sanghas. Gassho, -koun
Somebody said about musicians and practicing music: you must practice over and over until it becomes who you are. My first reaction to that was to think “Well, practice is already who you are.” But put another way, and here I’m curious what you think of my paraphrasing Dogen: “Do not think that you learn the music for the sake of some reward for practicing the music. Just practice the music for the sake of the music. Even if you study a thousand songs and ten thousand lessons on them, or even if you have played until your body is worn out, it is impossible to attain music if this attitude is lacking.”