Ep. 15 (Part 2 of 2) | Zen teacher Diane Musho Hamilton brings us home to the simple essence of Zen: to practice as one, without reference to past or future. This heartfelt conversation covers many topics: waking up to our true nature, grief and practices that help us work through it, the tension of “difference,” healing the rift between female and male, the role of ayahuasca and peyote, the ever more subtle process of purification, and a beautiful recitation of 14th century Sufi poet Hafiz’s poem, “I Have Learned So Much.” Allow yourself to be reminded how simple things can get if you let them and how, as Diane says, “We’re all just growing up together.” Recorded on September 13, 2021.

Diane Musho Hamilton is an award-winning professional mediator, author, and teacher of Zen meditation. She has been a practitioner of meditation for more than 30 years and is a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. As the first Director of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Utah Judiciary, Diane established mediation programs throughout the court system and won several prestigious awards for her work in this area. She is the Executive Director of Two Arrows Zen, a practice in Utah, and offers training programs oriented to personal development and advanced facilitator skills. Diane is the author of Everything Is Workable and The Zen of You and Me. Her latest book is Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored with Gabriel Wilson and Kimberly Loh.

“What does it mean to be human?”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

• Grief: being present with it and practicing with it (01:01)
• How shamanic practice can let us see pure radiance in others (07:46)
• The power of ritual in times of grief (08:48)
• Grief and integral practice (12:20)
• What is the role of a specifically female contemplative teacher? (19:03)
• Confronting the feminine shadow (22:59)
• The neverending, ever more subtle practice of purification (aka Ken Wilber’s “cleaning up”) (25:32)
• What do women want from men? (30:11)
• And what do men want from women? (34:40)
• Peyote, forgiveness, and healing the rift (38:04)

Resources & References – Part 2

• Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism*
• Hafiz, The Gift, translated by Daniel Landinsky*
• Dan Brown, meditation master and teacher 
• Dogen Zenji, One Continuous Mistake (Shoshaku Jushaku) in Dōgen
• Ram Dass quotes
• Don Quixote
• W.E.B. Du Bois, sociologist, author, activist
• Carlos Castaneda, A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan*
• Diane Hamilton, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart*
• Diane Hamilton, Everything is Workable*
• Diane Hamilton, The Zen of You and Me*
• Two Arrows Zen, Salt Lake City Artspace Zendo
• Two Arrows Zen, Torrey, Utah

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell