Paula Jones first became a student of Jikoji founder Kobun Chino when she attended the Santa Cruz Zendo in the mid-seventies. A year or two later she, with her young daughter, moved into the residence with a changing group of caretakers and friends, one of whom she later married. During and after that time she attended sesshins at Hidden Villa with Kobun's students from Los Altos, including Angie Boissevain, who some years later became her teacher.

In the years that followed, she finished her MA in Creative Writing and began teaching poetry, literature and writing in colleges and private workshops in Santa Cruz, the Mojave Dessert and San Diego, where she and Balin now live. She received ordination and transmission from Angie and has since taught at several Jikoji sesshins. She is a teacher at Floating Zendo San Diego and is now one of the teachers at Floating Zendo San Jose.