Raphael Olivier — Zen & Music: One Road

"Zen & Music: One Road" runs for a single day — November 23, 2025 — at Santa Barbara Zen Center. The listed components are concrete: zazen (seated meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), and a dharma talk, with music blended into the program across folk, jazz, indie, electro, and classical influences. The title signals the framing — Zen practice and music treated as one road rather than separate offerings. What the listing doesn't specify is how the music actually functions: whether it's live, recorded, or participatory, and how it's sequenced with the sitting periods.

Raphael Olivier is described in the listing as a French-born composer and Buddhist practitioner based at Rinzai-Ji in Los Angeles. Rinzai-Ji's name places it in the Rinzai lineage of Japanese Zen — the school associated with koan practice — though the listing doesn't say whether koans play any part in this event, nor does it describe Olivier's teaching style. Beyond the composer-and-practitioner combination, the listing doesn't go further into his background.

Practical details are thin: no start and end times, no fee, and no statement about who the event is open to or whether any meditation experience is expected. Registration and the full schedule are on the center's event page at santabarbarazencenter.org. For a one-day event, the details that matter most are timing and cost, so contact the center directly if the listing leaves those questions open.