Our Teachers

Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, Roshi

On June 12, 1995, Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts received Ordination as a Zen priest from Nicolee Jikyo McMahon, Roshi. Rev. Hoeberichts, Roshi, received Dharma Transmission (made a Zen Teacher) from Nicolee Jikyo McMahon, Roshi, on July 31, 2004, and was thus formally authorized to teach the Dharma. Jikyo Roshi and Hogetsu Roshi are members of the White Plum Asanga, a lineage founded by Maezumi Roshi.

Rev. Hoeberichts is also a full-time psychotherapist with a private practice in Manhattan and Montclair, New Jersey. She has a BA from Cornell University, an MBA from NYU and an MSW from Fordham University. She received post-graduate certifications in Pastoral Psychotherapy and Marriage and Family Therapy from Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute.

Mark Eko Morris, Sensei

Mark Eko Morris is sensei and ordained priest at Heart Circle Sangha where he has been practicing in the Soto Zen tradition for approximately 20 years with Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, Roshi and where he has served, at various times, as sangha President and Secretary. 

Eko is a clinical social worker and psychotherapist licensed in NY and NJ.  He has worked in hospital outpatient settings, non-profit clinics, teaching clinics, and integrative health settings. 

He is also the coordinator of the Prison Dharma program at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center (ADTC) which is the New Jersey Dept. of Corrections facility that houses only violent, recidivist sex offenders.  He is a graduate of the first class of volunteer chaplains from the New York Zen Center for Compassionate Care (NYZCCC) and worked with patients suffering from cancer, dementia, and various infectious diseases at Beth Israel Medical Center. He has served as a volunteer Doula for the Dying with Valley Home Health Care and has served as a volunteer EMT in Ossining, NY. 

Deb Dharma Rain Baretz, Dharma Holder

Deb Dharma Rain Baretz has practiced Zen meditation for 28 years, and studied with Roshi Robert Jinsen Kennedy, SJ at Morning Star Zendo in Jersey City, New Jersey for several years. During that time, Dharma Rain studied for the precepts with Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao who was the preceptor at her jukai ceremony on May 25, 1997 in Montclair, New Jersey. Dharma Rain later became a member of Heart Circle Sangha and a student of Roshi Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, who officiated at Dharma Rain’s priest ordination ceremony on October 19, 2008. Dharma Rain became Dharma Holder to Roshi Joan in her Empowerment Ceremony held on September 26, 2020, and is currently a member of the teaching faculty at Heart Circle Zen, assisting Sensei Mark Eko Morris.

She was one of the founding members of Metro Zen group in Montclair, New Jersey now known as the Clear Mountain Zen Center, and assisted Roshi Ray Cicetti in the early years of the Empty Bowl Zendo in Morristown, New Jersey.

Dharma Rain has a Master of Public Health (Biostatistics) degree from the University of Hawaii and a Master of Arts (Addictions Counseling) degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey with her husband, Bruce, and dog, Sam, and has two grown children. She is an aspiring painter and poet.

Kojin Timothy Wever, Dharma Holder

The spring he was 20, Kojin began sitting zazen at dawn on the banks of Lolo Creek just west of where it joins the Bitterroot River. After many years of intermittent engagement with the teachings of Shunryu Suzuki and others, he began his formal Zen study with Ray Ryuzan Cicetti at Empty Bowl Zendo in Morristown from 2001 - 2015. Kojin began studying Zen Buddhism with Hogetsu, Roshi in 2007, and she remains his teacher today. On October 23, 2021 Kojin took vows and was ordained as a novice priest.