Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

By Joan Halifax | Zen Buddhist Teacher Upaya Abbot

Society & Culture Education Philosophy Religion & Spirituality Buddhism

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

The Upaya Dharma Podcast features Wednesday evening Dharma Talks and recordings from Upaya’s diverse array of programs. Our podcasts exemplify Upaya’s focus on socially engaged Buddhism, including prison work, end-of-life care, serving the homeless, training in socially engaged practices, peace & nonviolence, compassionate care training, and delivering healthcare in the Himalayas.

4.4

143 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Rebecca Solnit: Hope Is a D...

09.25.2023

In her talk, Rebecca Solnit explores the concept of hope and activism in the face of uncertainty, particularly relating to climate change. She discusses how even so-called “failed” actions can have lasting, transformative impacts, changing the conversation and laying the ...

Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast episodes:

09.25.2023 Rebecca Solnit: Hope Is a Discipline – On Being Present and Committing to the Future In her talk, Rebecca Solnit explores the concept of hope and activism in the face of uncertainty, particularly relating to climate change. She discusses how even so-called “failed” actions can have lasting, transformative impacts, changing the conversation and laying the ...
09.18.2023 Ben Connelly: Imagination, Interdependence, and Liberation Practicing Yogacara Buddhism with Vasubandhu’s Three Natures “Good news! Everything is of complete, realized nature.” In this energized dharma talk, author and teacher Ben Connelly beautifully articulates Vasubandhu’s teachings of “The Three Natures” – that all things are of imaginary nature, dependent nature, and complete, realized nature. ...
09.11.2023 Alcio Braz: Making Peace with our Ancestors In this compassionate talk, Sensei Alcio Braz calls in his ancestors to sit with him and invites us to call in ours, too. This explicit invitation runs counter to the norm in neoliberal culture which is to deny ancestry. Alcio ...
09.04.2023 Natalie Goldberg: The Mind of Writing “There’s an integrity to mind if you watch it.” In this fresh talk, Natalie Goldberg shares about giving space to her grief, about her high school friend Phyllis, about time, about watching Katagiri Roshi’s mind, about teaching teachers in North ...
08.28.2023 Frank Ostaseski: Surrendering to Death “Stay close and do nothing.” Frank Ostaseski shares from his deep personal experience walking along so many people in the dying process about what it means to surrender to death. He draws parallels between dharma practice and dying. He tells ...
08.21.2023 Zenshin Florence Caplow: She Who Hears the Cries of the World, Stories of Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion Rev. Zenshin Florence Caplow shares intimate accounts and stories of Kannon or Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion. She shares the story of Julie Pryde, the public health administrator of her town Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, who worked tirelessly to protect her district ...
08.14.2023 Jonathan S. Watts: Using the Four Noble Truths as a Framework for Buddhist Chaplaincy in Japan Jonathan Watts shares a framework of an iceberg, in which direct violence (the 1st Noble Truth), on the tip of the iceberg, is masked by structural and cultural violence (the 2nd Noble Truth) beneath the iceberg. He shares some of ...
08.07.2023 Monshin Nannette Overley: It’s all alive; It’s all intelligent; It’s all connected; It’s all YOU In this heartfelt talk, Sensei Monshin Nannette Overley examines the Buddha’s foundational teaching of dependent co-arising in light of our deep responsibility towards our beautiful and fragile earth, and our fellow human beings. The essential question she takes up is ...
07.31.2023 Henry Shukman: The Cart Track: what an obscure early Chan document can teach us about the path of practice In this delightfully human talk, Henry Shukman allows us to see how his heart was opened by zen practice. He reflects on the Sattipatthana Sutta and Soko Morinaga’s book “An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity” in ...
07.24.2023 Peter Levitt: Yin Mountain: The Immortal Poetry of Three Daoist Women Peter Levitt loves what he does. That is so clear from the way he shares the stories and works of Li Ye, Xue Tao, and Yu Xuanji, three Daoist women poets of the Tang Dynasty, whose writing he and Rebecca ...
07.17.2023 Edoardo (Shoryu) Eusepi: Taking Time to Transition Edoardo Eusepi, who is affectionately known around Upaya by his dharma name “Shoryu,” reflects on his transition back into the “marketplace” after four years of residency at Upaya. He reminds us of the rights of passages (zazen, sesshin, jukai) that ...
07.10.2023 Hozan Alan Senauke: Turning Words “Can we care? Can we find the joy in that?” Sensei Alan Senauke shares words from teachers throughout his life that turned, or awakened, him. These teachers include his father, his first teacher at Berkeley Zen Center, Sojun Roshi, Roshi ...
07.03.2023 Monshin Nannette Overley: Agency, Karma, and the Four Noble Truths In this honest and courageous talk, Sensei Monshin Nannette Overley investigates the relationship between recalling our intention and where we delegate our attention, especially in lay practice. How do we divide up our lives into trivial and sacred, difficult and ...
06.26.2023 Stepping into the Turbulence: Our Walk with Fear On the summer solstice, James Fushin Bristol encourages us to shine light on those fears we carry everyday, to see what is underneath them, to see what comes alongside them. He shares vivid stories from his own life of the ...
06.19.2023 Beginner’s Mind; Continuous Practice On the first day of the Young Adult sesshin at Upaya, Sensei Matthew Kozan Palevsky explores each of the Four Great Bodhisattva vows. He helps us understand what is meant by “creations,” and crowdsources examples of “delusions,” as well as ...
06.12.2023 Tim Burkett: Enlightenment is an Accident “Looking. Seeing. Peace.” Tim Burkett discusses the contents of his new book Enlightenment is an Accident in this richly informative and encouraging talk. Tim walks us through the three phases of practice — settling in, stumbling, and falling away — ...
06.05.2023 Keido Troy Fernandez: How Will You Plant Your Life: What Could it Mean? “And when you go to harvest all that surely will grow, give it away.” Hoshi Keido Troy Fernandez weaves together past and present, questions and stories, dialogue and teachings as he considers “What could my cultural/ancestral lens have to do ...
05.29.2023 Something’s Happening Here and We Don’t Know What It Is In light of the Varela Symposium and his travels, Sensei Matthew Kozan Palevsky is interested in study and knowledge and different ways of knowing. He considers the pitfalls of knowing—how we can become separated from what we seek to know ...
05.22.2023 Rev. Issho Fujita: Zazen as a Way of Harmonizing the Self In this photo-worthy and delightfully diagram-aided talk, Rev. Issho Fujita shares his personal story and perspective on zen practice, with an emphasis on the somatic. Issho talks about how zazen is different from human-made meditation, which tends to be goal-oriented ...
05.15.2023 Bhante Sanathavihari: On the Wings of Awakening Bhante Sanathavihari enthusiastically and joyfully shares the Ummaggasutta as a way of considering that the Buddhist metaphor of a bird, with one wing of compassion and one wing of wisdom, might be more like a UFO, compassion and wisdom being ...
05.08.2023 Frank Ostaseski: Grief – A Path to Wholeness How do we move towards the light of absolute truth while accepting and honoring our very human nature?” In this vulnerable, raw talk, Frank Ostaseski shares his heart with us following his brother’s death ten days prior. He talks about ...
05.01.2023 Singing the River’s Song Back to the River Part 2 “The practice was literally saving my life.” In Part 2 of her way seeking mind talk, Sensei Amie Diller recounts heart-filled stories about her time as a resident at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the 1980s, working with trauma during ...
04.24.2023 Kathie Fischer: Reflecting on the Way of Ling Zhao and her Mother In this timely dharma talk in our final days of Spring Sesshin, Sensei Kathie Fischer shares teachings from three wise women who offer a powerful dharmic lesson when faced with marginalization and disrespect. Each encounters monks who are likely blinded ...
04.17.2023 Zenshin Florence Caplow: The Joys and Pitfalls of Helping: Lingzhao & Layman P’ang Zenshin Florence Caplow’s dharma talk discusses Lingzhao’s helping, a koan from The Sayings of Layman P’ang which has served as our source text for the Spring Practice Period. In this beloved story, Lingzhao demonstrates a form of helping that is ...
04.10.2023 Ordinary Mind: Layman Pang and Maurine Stuart, Roshi In this improvisational jazz duet-style dharma talk, Senseis Amie Diller and Kathie Fischer explore the resonance between one of their shared teachers Maurine Stuart, Roshi, and the 7th Century celebrated lay practitioner Layman Pang, who is the focus of Upaya’s ...
04.03.2023 Monshin Nannette Overley: All Moments Are Equally Precious In this honest and courageous talk, Sensei Monshin Nannette Overley investigates the relationship between recalling our intention and where we delegate our attention, especially in lay practice. How do we divide up our lives into trivial and sacred, difficult and ...
03.27.2023 HAIKU: The Leap “Haiku is about paying attention.” Natalie Goldberg offers a deep dive into the work of Tim Roberts who found haiku after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 49. His haiku in his new book Busted: Reflections of Police Life reveal that ...
03.20.2023 Singing the River’s Song Back to the River In this vulnerable and alive (and hopefully only part one of a multi-part series) Way-Seeking Mind talk, Sensei Amie Diller takes us to the LA parking lot where she had her earliest spiritual memory, to Hebrew school where her rabbi ...
03.13.2023 Engaged Attention: Enhancing Daily Life A talk that came to her in the middle of several nights, Dr. Laurie Leitch offers us a “bedtime story” style dharma talk. She shares five stories about attention ranging from an intimate moment with a stranger on the NYC ...
03.06.2023 Begin Again: Precepts for Everyday Life “How is practicing the precepts like waking up?” In this practical and story-flush talk, on the night of the first of two jukai ceremonies in 2023, Sensei Mathew Kozan Palevsky reflects on continuous practice in our day-to-day life. He draws ...
02.27.2023 Monshin Nannette Overley: I Offer You This Bodhi Mind “Once bodhichitta is awakened in us, it is a treasure that continues to open.” In this beautiful exploration, Monshin Nannette Overley characterizes bodhichitta as “the first impulse or intention towards awakening,” as “a longing for the end of suffering,” and ...
02.20.2023 Zenshin Florence Caplow: On Courage and Practice “It takes so much courage to meet our suffering, to meet our life, raw and unadorned.” In this captivating talk, Zenshin Florence Caplow draws on stories and teachings from encounters with wild animals, from ancient women practitioners of the Way, ...
02.13.2023 Valerie Brown: The Heart of Sangha: Thich Nhat Hanh’s Teachings on Building Beloved Community “We teach what we need to learn the most.” In this humble, participatory, and open-hearted talk, Valerie Brown explores four of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on building beloved community: volition, the art of suffering, the practice of conscious breathing, and ...
02.06.2023 Dancing with Mara: Revisiting the Life of Buddha In this heartfelt talk, Sensei Amie Diller reminds us of the story of Buddha and particularly of Buddha’s relationship with Mara. Even after his enlightenment, Siddhartha was still visited by Mara. Sensei Amie affirms the importance of Buddha’s relationship with ...
01.30.2023 Wendy Johnson: Grass Boundless: Inside the Gate, Outside the Gate On the fourth night of Winter Practice Period sesshin, Sensei Wendy Johnson explores Case 89 of The Book of Serenity, “Dongshan’s “Place of No Grass.””
01.23.2023 Stepping Off A 100 Foot Pole: Case 79 The Book of Serenity “When we all have enough, we can fully let go. When we fully let go, we know what it is to have enough.” In this joyful and moving talk, Sensei Matthew Kozan Palevsky breaks open Case 79 from The Book ...
01.16.2023 The One Who Is Not Trifling With a combination of playfulness and humility, Sensei Noah Kodo Roen presents Case 21 of Book of Serenity, “Yunyan Sweeps the Ground,” and explores the dichotomy of mindfulness and busyness, as well as the connections of Yunyan and Daowu to ...
01.09.2023 On Joy “What are you doing?” a mom asked her young son who she found sitting cross legged, smiling, with eyes closed on the couch. “I’m enjoying my body,” he replied. From power outage induced darkness, Sensei Amie Diller offered us in ...
01.02.2023 Talking on Empty “Many of our friends are no longer alive or we don’t see them anymore. [Writing poetry] is a way we hold them.” Natalie Goldberg reflects on the end of the year and on friendship by looking at the work of ...
12.26.2022 Dekila Chungyalpa: Wisdom of Winter: Rest, Regeneration, and Rebirth “Does your breathing change when you imagine it’s the landscape breathing?” Dekila Chungyalpa invites us to explore different ways of looking at time (as nature and different species view time, time as seasonal) that exist outside of our human tendency ...
12.19.2022 Eloquent Silence In this poetic talk, Fushin James Bristol reflects on the role of silence in zen practice and in our lives. Sharing personal stories, music knowledge, Buddhist history, and other moving anecdotes from a wide array of sources, Fushin elucidates all ...
12.16.2022 Buddhist Visions of Leadership 2022 (Part 4) In Part 4 of this multipart series, John Dunne discusses some more of Nagarjuna’s policies around leadership and considers how they can create personal and world transformation. Roshi Joan Halifax and John take questions from the Zoom participants at the ...
12.15.2022 Buddhist Visions of Leadership 2022 (Part 3) In Part 3 of this multipart series, Joan Dunne delves into ancient Indian Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna’s work The Ratnavali or The Jewel Garland which offers counsel to kings or all who are king-like. Roshi Joan Halifax and John take questions ...
12.12.2022 Joan Halifax: Rohatsu: Green Dharma (Part 1) Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax open the first full day of Rohatsu Green Dharma sesshin with their dharma talk on Indra’s Net and what it means to hold this mindset. Due to technical difficulties, the first part of ...
12.05.2022 Dorotea Mendoza: Show, Don’t Tell: How the Practice of Writing Can Teach us About Engagement and Service In this wonderful talk, Dorotea Mendoza “walks the talk” of showing rather than telling by sharing some of her personal experiences, e.g. how she misses the Philippines, the country of her origin, and how to actualize writing and service from ...
11.28.2022 John Dunne & Joan Halifax: Buddhist Visions of Leadership 2022 (Part 2) In Part 2 of this multi-part series, Roshi Joan Halifax considers the qualities of a leader as modeled and taught by the Buddha. Roshi speaks of the Buddha as a social reformer, being one who disapproved of the caste system, ...
11.25.2022 John Dunne & Joan Halifax: Buddhist Visions of Leadership 2022 (Part 1) Series Description: Upaya’s Abbot and social activist Roshi Joan Halifax and the wonderful Buddhist scholar Dr. John Dunne guide participants through a unique and rich exploration of Buddhist visions of leadership. They draw on classical and contemporary Buddhist perspectives, including ...
11.21.2022 Monshin Nannette Overley: Always Maintain a Joyful Mind Sensei Monshin Nannette Overley explores the provoking Lojong slogan “Always maintain a joyful mind.” She examines perspectives on joy that go beyond our cultural view of “happy happy joy joy.” She considers how joy can manifest as and be born ...
11.14.2022 John Dunne: Bodhisattva Lineage “Without the lineage, we are like people without fire and we’re going to be out of luck.” Professor John Dunne speaks about the importance of the Buddhist lineage and how it can often be discounted in our society steeped in ...
11.07.2022 Wendy Johnson: A Harvest of Dharma and Ecology Sensei Wendy Johnson gives a characteristically energizing, inspiring, and poetic talk on ecology and Dharma practice. She discusses the process and practice of planting and harvesting Upaya’s garden this past year and the relationship she and Upaya have built with ...

Older episodes