Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

By Joan Halifax | Zen Buddhist Teacher Upaya Abbot

What's Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast about?

A Santa Fe, NM Zen center and community with retreats, daily meditation, weekly Dharma talks on Buddhist teachings

4.4

143 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Norman Fischer: When You Gr...

12.02.2021

In part 3 of this daylong with Roshi Norman Fischer, he takes on questions from the audience.

Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast episodes:

12.02.2021 Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow (Part 3 of 4) In part 3 of this daylong with Roshi Norman Fischer, he takes on questions from the audience.
12.01.2021 Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow (Part 2 of 4) In the second part of the morning session, Roshi Norman asks us to speak with a partner about our sense-experience of time. For this shorter session, there is a discussion with the audience.
11.30.2021 Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow (Part 1 of 4) When you Greet Me I Bow, Roshi Norman Fischer’s latest book came about differently from his past writing endeavors. For Norman, and his editor, the past four decades of writing can be condensed into four main themes: A) Relationships; B) ...
11.29.2021 Ruth Ozeki: The Book of Form and Emptiness Ruth Ozeki introduces us to her new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness” based on the question and her own investigation “Do insentient beings speak the Dharma?” She reads to us from the beginning of her novel and invites ...
11.26.2021 Rhonda V. Magee: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 4 of 4) Renowned professor of law and mindfulness teacher, Rhonda Magee, speaks to our task today to heal all separations. ‘The separation from our body to this planet, the separation from each other, elitism, borders, fascism, etc.’ We need to heal ourselves ...
11.25.2021 Kritee Kanko: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 3 of 4) In this powerful talk, Sensei and Climate Scientist Kritee Kanko begins by underscoring the importance of addressing trauma for activism. To hear each other we need to be in our comfort zones. ‘Our communities need to have the skills to ...
11.23.2021 Dekila Chungyalpa: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 2 of 4) In the second talk of the morning session, Dekila Chungyalpa, Director of the Loka Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, differentiates between eco-anxiety, and solastalgia. She speaks about her work in the Loka Initiative, empowering faith leaders from around the ...
11.22.2021 Heather McTeer Toney: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 1 of 4) The first talk of the Social & Environmental Justice day long at Upaya, ‘recovering politician’ Heather Mcteer Toney, points to the critical role of identity in climate solutions. Because of this nation’s history, Communities’ of Color’s mistrust has left them ...
11.15.2021 John Dunne: Self Compassion & Going Forth Self-hate is a particularly modern, western phenomenon. Buddhist literature up until the 21st century lacks any notion of self-compassion. Why is that? Compassion garners a large role with the advent of the Mahayana movement, in its capacity to liberate us ...
11.08.2021 Richard C. Schwartz: Compassion for All Outer Beings is Difficult Without Compassion for All Inner Beings In this Wednesday night Dharma Talk, Dr. Richard Schwartz starts us off by orienting the audience with the fundamentals of Internal Family Systems. He further expands, by suggesting that we can only be compassionate with others if we learn how ...
11.08.2021 Stephanie Kaza: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 4 of 4) Here, Stephanie Kaza braids all the previous talks to present a conceptual lens in showcasing how farming, gardening, and ecology are fundamentally issues of justice. What is the role of an awakened action? How do justice and culture regenerate the ...
11.07.2021 Konda Mason: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 3 of 4) In this beautiful and eye-opening presentation, Konda Mason speaks about her work with Jubilee Justice in addressing wealth and inequality because of black land loss. To remedy the exploitation and loss of black land, Jubilee Justice’s work focuses on three ...
11.07.2021 Wendy Johnson: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 2 of 4) Wendy Johnson begins by reminding us of the previous day’s planting of the three sisters in the Upaya garden. The ancient sisters of squash, beans, and corn. In such difficult times, gardening as a practice allows us to not look ...
11.06.2021 Roxanne Swentzell: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 1 of 4) In the first talk of the day, renowned artist, sculptress, and Tewa leader, Roxanne Swentzell, speaks to the incredible journey of re-establishing the pre-European Tewa diet. Through the process of re-encountering mother-salt, re-learning the ancient methods of processing and storing ...
11.01.2021 Kigaku Noah Roen: Blue Cliff Record, Case 80 – A Newborn Baby ‘First, we braid grasses and play tug of war; then we take turns singing and keeping a kickball in the air. I kick the ball and they sing, they kick and I sing, time is forgotten the hours fly. People ...
10.25.2021 Kathie Fischer: Vimalakirti’s Silence Sensei Kathie Fischer explores the core tenets of Mahayana Buddhism, inviting us into deeper dialogue regarding the principles of non-duality, form, emptiness, and self. She brings us into the depth of Vilmalakirti’s thunderous silence, reminding us that it penetrates our ...
10.18.2021 Wendy Johnson: Awakening from the Illusion of Separateness Wendy Johnson discusses the Vimalakirti sutra and connects this text and its teachings with the living teacher Thích Nhất Hạnh. She explains that Vimalakirti is a wounded healer boddhisatva, “dangerous to settled life in every way and alive with the ...
10.18.2021 Monshin Nannette Overley: Gifts of the Saha World Monshin Nannette Overley weaves together the talks we’ve heard during the Fall Practice Period on emptiness and compassion, while exploring the difference between sentimental compassion and true compassion. She calls us to remember the true gift of having a practice, ...
10.17.2021 Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Vimalakirti Chapter 5: Bondage and Liberation Matthew Kozan Palevsky delves into Chapter 5 of the Vimalakirti sutra. He begins by reminding us how sickness can open up the possibility for connection and healing, saying “In illness we can feel uniquely undefended, unpretentious, unmitigated, unquestioning, undone. At ...
10.11.2021 Reigetsu Susan Moon: Encouragements of the Goddess Reigetsu Susan Moon reviews chapter 7 of Vimalakirti, The Goddess. She shares the story of the Goddess and Shariputra and illuminates insights from the sutra involving non-duality, opposites being necessary and complementary, gender as a social construct, and body as ...
10.04.2021 Robert Thurman: The Bodhisattva Way of Vimalakirti Robert Thurman reads from his translation of The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, summarizing this sutra as a text of discovering inconceivable liberation through direct realization of the interconnectedness of all beings. He reminds us that to understand this text is ...
09.27.2021 Shinzan Palma: The Great Way of a Bodhisattva Sensei Shinzan Palma speaks to us of the importance of practice to wake up. He teaches us that whether we are monastic or lay practitioners, the dharma is available to us in every aspect of our lives. He reminds us ...
09.20.2021 Zenshin Florence Caplow & Reigetsu Susan Moon: The Wisdom of Zen Crones Zenshin Florence Caplow and Reigetsu Sue Moon offer us the wisdom of Zen Crones through storytelling and reference of their collaboration The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women. They encourage Zen practice and teaching as medicine for ...
09.13.2021 Heather McTeer Toney: Environmental Injustice: Understanding the Cost of Inaction Heather McTeer Toney speaks on recovery from climate disasters as a pathway to building resilient communities. She reminds us that people of color know this pathway well and have been engaged in the fight for climate justice long before today. ...
09.07.2021 Ven. Dr. Pannavati: Equanimity is Established Upon Boundless Generosity In this classic Dharma Talk with Venerable Pannavati Bikkhuni from the Heartwood Refuge in North Carolina, we are reminded of the deep interconnectedness of generosity and gratitude, and ultimately, equanimity, and how this timeless practice of meditation and ethics can ...
08.30.2021 Frank Ostaseski: Coming Home to the Body Frank Ostaseski invites us back into the body to experience the fullness of life, in order to lean into the mystery of life and death. He invites us to look at life and death through the lens of the elements, ...
08.23.2021 Jisho Sara Siebert: Living Buddhist Practice in Social Change Sensei Sara Jisho Siebert shares her journey as a Zen practitioner and the ways she has learned from the experiences in her life to stay with the unpleasant feelings and suffering that can arise in order to expand our capacity ...
08.16.2021 William DeBuys: A Report from (and about) The Trail to Kanjiroba William deBuys writes about his 2016 and 2018 medical expeditions in Upper Dolpo while participating in the Nomad’s Clinic through Upaya. He shares three excerpts from the soon-to-be-released book titled The Trail to Kanjiroba.
08.10.2021 Zenju Earthlyn Manuel: The Shamanic Bones of Zen Osho Zenju Earthlyn Manuel and Roshi Joan Halifax engage in a dialogue to discuss the shamanic practice that is zen. She invites us into seeing za zen as a daily ceremony, a ceremonial elixir that is devoid of the clutter ...
08.02.2021 Rhonda V. Magee: Beginning Again: The Four Establishments of Mindfulness as Antidote to Identity-Based Suffering In this wholly contemporary talk that is also deeply rooted in the Buddhist contemplative tradition, Rhonda Magee brings us into the classic practice of Satipatthana – mindfulness of body, feeling, thought, and phenomena, to help work with identity-based suffering. She ...
07.26.2021 Enkyo O'Hara: What’s time got to do with it? In her timely talk, Roshi Enkyo O’Hara invites us to sing along with Tina Turner, “What’s Time Got To Do With It?” and explores the process of overwhelm overwhelming overwhelm in Dogen’s fascicle Time-Being. Roshi Enkyo translates Dogen into modern ...
07.19.2021 Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow: Notes and Reflections from a Life in Zen When you Greet Me I Bow, Roshi Norman Fischer’s latest book came about differently from his past writing endeavors. For Norman, and his editor, the past four decades of writing can be condensed into four main themes: A) Relationships; B) ...
07.12.2021 Rhonda V. Magee & Kritee Kanko: Deconstructing Race, Liberating the Racist Mind: Practice-Based Insights from Contemplating the Elements Rhonda Myozan V Magee leads us in the inquiry of how the racist mind takes seed in all of us. She reminds us that we need to turn towards the legacy of racism and colonization in order to face the ...
07.05.2021 Stephanie Kaza: What is Moral Injury? In today’s talk Stephanie Kaza explores moral injury: We can be morally injured by the damage done to the environment. The moral injury leaves us feeling ashamed, guilty, and helpless, and ‘…threatens our belief in our society.’ Looking at other ...
06.29.2021 Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Jubilee: Exploring Radical Freedom Hoshi Kozan Palevsky asks us: What has this pandemic given you and what has it allowed you to let go of? He asks us to look at this upheaval through the lens of a Jubilee, the Biblical practice of letting ...
06.23.2021 Wendy Johnson: Planting Life, Growing Justice Episode Description: Sensei Wendy Johnson begins by reminding us of the previous day’s planting of the Three Sisters in the Upaya garden. The ancient sisters of squash, beans, and corn. In such difficult times gardening as a practice allows us ...
06.21.2021 Fushin James Bristol: The Poetry of Awareness on an Ordinary Day In The Poetry of Awareness on an Ordinary Day, Fushin James Bristol explores the profound practice of awareness in our day to day life–“…doing what I’m supposed to be doing now.” Awareness arises from the tangled thoughts during Zazen and ...
06.07.2021 Wendy Johnson: Elemental Zen Gardening in Challenging Times Episode Description: Sensei Wendy Johnson begins her talk by drawing our attention to the many challenges confronting us today: the extreme climate swings around the world, the death and despair from the global pandemic, the 100 year anniversary of the ...
05.31.2021 Breeshia Wade: The Cost of Losing Privilege: Addressing Grief and Fear of Loss In this powerful talk, Breeshia Wade, author of the recently released Grieving While Black, explores how the underlying truth of impermanence relates to states of grief and loss, and that if we wish to bring about change in an unjust ...
05.24.2021 Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Dogen Sesshin: Using The Sky To Stand Up As a prelude to the resident sesshin on Dogen which started later that night, Matthew Kozan Palevsky delves into Dogen’s language of suchness, and how we can “micro-dose” moments of meditation to realize the heart of Dogen’s teaching.
05.17.2021 Evan Thompson: Enacting Hope Episode Description: In his talk on Enacting Hope, the philosopher Evan Thompson reviews Gabriel Marcel’s view on Hope through his differentiation between a conditioned, and an unconditioned hope. Given our historic situation, unconditioned hope acts as an antidote to despair ...
05.10.2021 Larry Ward: Embracing and Healing America’s Racial Karma Episode Description: In this Wednesday night, and SEBT Dharma Talk, Dr. Larry Ward speaks on sorrow and grief. Trauma, Dr. Ward points out, is a normal human occurrence rooted in the biology of the human being. Being inundated by trauma ...
05.03.2021 Lama Rod Owens: The Path of Grief, Justice, and Liberation In this Wednesday night Dharma Talk, Lama Rod Owens speaks on the importance of recognizing and being intimate with one’s own grief. This is how we can bloom to be lotuses, and serve others. Nevertheless, blossoming from mud to lotus ...
05.01.2021 Kathie Fischer: SESSHIN: The Perfection of Wisdom & Dedication (Part 6 of 6) In the final Dharma Talk of the Spring Practice Period, and Sesshin, Sensei Kathie Fischer speaks on the last two chapters of the Bodhicaryavatara: Wisdom and Dedication. Sensei brings up notions of beginner’s mind, interdependent co-arising, and buddha-nature. She ends ...
04.30.2021 Kigaku Noah Roen & Matthew Kozan Palevsky: SESSHIN: The Perfection of Wisdom (Part 5) On this day 5 of the Spring Sesshin, Hoshi’s Kigaku Noah Rossetter and Matthew Kozan Palevsky tag team to speak on Prajna Paramita, or the Perfection of Wisdom in the Bodhicaryavatara. Kigaku does an ‘unprecedented’ slide show, depicting how concepts ...
04.26.2021 Zenshin Florence Caplow: SESSHIN: On Shantideva’s the Perfection of Meditation (Part 4) In this dharma talk, Zenshin Florence Caplow highlights the value and depth found with lay practice. She points to Shantideva’s sparse attention given to meditation in his chapter, The Perfection of Meditation, and asks us to inquire, what has Shantideva ...
04.23.2021 Al Kaszniak: SESSHIN: The Perfection of Meditation (Part 3) On day three of the Spring 2021 sesshin, Sensei Al Kaszniak presents his views on chapter 8 of the Bodhicaryavatara, the Perfection of Meditation. He brings in parallels from Dogen’s Fukanzazengi, Bendowa, and the Genjokoan, in the importance of stabilizing ...
04.22.2021 Irène Kaigetsu Bakker: SESSHIN: Finding Wholesome Joy (Part 2) In this Dharma Talk, Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker explores chapter 7 of the Bodhicaryavatara, the Perfection of Zeal. She tracks Shantideva’s progression from a fear-based warning against unwholesome deeds to an insight-based joy that arises from wholesome deeds. It is ...
04.21.2021 Shinzan Palma: SESSHIN: Patience (Part 1) In this day one Sesshin Dharma Talk, Sensei Jose Shinzan De Palma speaks on Chapter 6 of the Bodhicaryavatara, The Perfection of Patience. He points out how Shantideva doesn’t directly speak about Patience, or its cultivation but rather emphasizes its ...
04.19.2021 Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Shantideva Ch 5: Guarding the Mind from its Most Subtle and Ubiquitous Thief In this Dharma talk, Hoshi Matthew Kozan Palevsky looks at Chapter 5 of the Bodhicaryavatara through a contemporary problematic. Shantideva warns and implore’s us to maintain the mind’s awareness for it is the basis of all other vows and practices. ...

Older episodes

Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

What's Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast episodes:

Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow (Part 3 of 4)

Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow (Part 2 of 4)

Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow (Part 1 of 4)

Ruth Ozeki: The Book of Form and Emptiness

Rhonda V. Magee: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 4 of 4)

Kritee Kanko: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 3 of 4)

Dekila Chungyalpa: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 2 of 4)

Heather McTeer Toney: Social and Environmental Justice (Part 1 of 4)

John Dunne: Self Compassion & Going Forth

Richard C. Schwartz: Compassion for All Outer Beings is Difficult Without Compassion for All Inner Beings

Stephanie Kaza: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 4 of 4)

Konda Mason: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 3 of 4)

Wendy Johnson: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 2 of 4)

Roxanne Swentzell: Planting Life, Growing Justice (Part 1 of 4)

Kigaku Noah Roen: Blue Cliff Record, Case 80 – A Newborn Baby

Kathie Fischer: Vimalakirti’s Silence

Wendy Johnson: Awakening from the Illusion of Separateness

Monshin Nannette Overley: Gifts of the Saha World

Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Vimalakirti Chapter 5: Bondage and Liberation

Reigetsu Susan Moon: Encouragements of the Goddess

Robert Thurman: The Bodhisattva Way of Vimalakirti

Shinzan Palma: The Great Way of a Bodhisattva

Zenshin Florence Caplow & Reigetsu Susan Moon: The Wisdom of Zen Crones

Heather McTeer Toney: Environmental Injustice: Understanding the Cost of Inaction

Ven. Dr. Pannavati: Equanimity is Established Upon Boundless Generosity

Frank Ostaseski: Coming Home to the Body

Jisho Sara Siebert: Living Buddhist Practice in Social Change

William DeBuys: A Report from (and about) The Trail to Kanjiroba

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel: The Shamanic Bones of Zen

Rhonda V. Magee: Beginning Again: The Four Establishments of Mindfulness as Antidote to Identity-Based Suffering

Enkyo O'Hara: What’s time got to do with it?

Norman Fischer: When You Greet Me I Bow: Notes and Reflections from a Life in Zen

Rhonda V. Magee & Kritee Kanko: Deconstructing Race, Liberating the Racist Mind: Practice-Based Insights from Contemplating the Elements

Stephanie Kaza: What is Moral Injury?

Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Jubilee: Exploring Radical Freedom

Wendy Johnson: Planting Life, Growing Justice

Fushin James Bristol: The Poetry of Awareness on an Ordinary Day

Wendy Johnson: Elemental Zen Gardening in Challenging Times

Breeshia Wade: The Cost of Losing Privilege: Addressing Grief and Fear of Loss

Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Dogen Sesshin: Using The Sky To Stand Up

Evan Thompson: Enacting Hope

Larry Ward: Embracing and Healing America’s Racial Karma

Lama Rod Owens: The Path of Grief, Justice, and Liberation

Kathie Fischer: SESSHIN: The Perfection of Wisdom & Dedication (Part 6 of 6)

Kigaku Noah Roen & Matthew Kozan Palevsky: SESSHIN: The Perfection of Wisdom (Part 5)

Zenshin Florence Caplow: SESSHIN: On Shantideva’s the Perfection of Meditation (Part 4)

Al Kaszniak: SESSHIN: The Perfection of Meditation (Part 3)

Irène Kaigetsu Bakker: SESSHIN: Finding Wholesome Joy (Part 2)

Shinzan Palma: SESSHIN: Patience (Part 1)

Matthew Kozan Palevsky: Shantideva Ch 5: Guarding the Mind from its Most Subtle and Ubiquitous Thief

Other shows like Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast: