Senauke, who was born to a secular Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, arrived in the San Francisco Bay area in 1968 and soon started sitting at the Berkeley Zen Center.

[2][3] That same year he left for California, arriving in the San Francisco Bay area where he began sitting zazen at the Berkeley Zen Center.

In 1998 Senauke received shiho (or, Dharma transmission) from his teacher Sojun Mel Weitsman along with Maylie Scott at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.

[6] Senauke was formerly a board member of Nevada Desert Experience, an organization that holds various retreats, protests and conferences on the subject of nuclear testing.

He was also the founder of the Clear View Project, which focuses on social change and relief efforts in Asia, most recently in Burma (Myanmar).