Episode Description: In this talk, Sensei Hozan Senauke and Petra Zenryū Hubbeling discuss the teachings surrounding Suzuki Roshi’s famous phrase, “Not always so” and apply it to both Zen practice as well as to social engagement. Sensei Senauke begins by first unpacking Suzuki Roshi’s words, and asks us to consider what it means to go through the world “without being caught by it” and “without ignoring it.” Zenryū then discusses socially engaged practice and how “not knowing” along with “bearing witness” has guided her actions when facing difficult situations.

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Episode Description: In this session, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and Linda Hess discuss the paths that led them to translating poetry in their respective traditions. Poems with themes of mind, delusion, satire, and humor are also discussed at length.

For Series description, please visit Part 1.

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Poetry of Awakening from China, Japan, and India

Series Description: Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and Stanford scholar Linda Hess recite and creatively engage with Buddhist poets—Hanshan, Dogen, Hakuin, Ryokan from the 7th to 19th centuries—and with Kabir, a 15th century Indian mystic.

Hinduism, Buddhism, and yogic meditation all emerged from ancient India. In the Buddha’s time, these streams intermingled. Over millennia and across cultures, traditions evolved and were defined in different ways. Their common roots include a conviction that liberation from ignorance and suffering is possible through self-knowledge, discipline, right understanding, and practice.

Plunging into the poems, Linda and Kaz relate intimately with their words, forms, and ways of unfolding. Questions of translation and reflections on the poetry’s relevance to our own practice is discussed at length. Recordings of classical and Indian folk singers interpreting Kabir’s poems are also played and discussed.

Episode Description: In our first session, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and Linda Hess recite the poems of Dogen, Ryokan, Cold Mountain, and Kabir as they start a discussion on their striking similarities. Opening the floor to the audience, Linda and Kaz then unpack some of the major themes that embody these poets’ respective traditions.

Click here to download the Kabir handout pdf from Linda Hess.

Click here to download the Zen Poems handout pdf from Sensei Kaz.

To access the entire series, please click on the link below:

Poetry of Awakening from China, Japan, and India

Episode Description: In this talk, Natalie Goldberg discusses the Buddhist practice of “watching the mind” and how this process can awaken the writer within. Natalie tells us, “the better you know the mind, the better you can work with it,” and invites us to follow the mind as she tells a series of stories. Natalie also reflects on the lessons she learned from her experience with cancer, as discussed in her new memoir, Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home. “Forget about all these bucket lists,” Natalie says. “Moment by moment inhabit your life!”

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Episode Description: Nannette Monshin Overley begins this talk with the question, “How do I use my awakeness in a moment to actually consider a complicated situation?” Reflecting on a friend’s life-altering circumstances, Nannette considers how “meeting the moment” as it is and “stepping out onto uncertain ground” can bring clarity and insight into our lives. “We possess the wisdom from which compassionate action arises,” Nannette says, “but our fear and rigidity reject it.” Nannette also considers the insights from both Buddhist teachers and from her peers in the Upaya Chaplaincy Training Program.

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Episode Description: In session eight, Sharon Salzberg and Roshi Joan Halifax wrap up the seminar with a final discussion on what it means to be on the path of freedom. Sharon emphasizes the role that meditation plays in cultivating wholesome qualities and how we should avoid using meditation as only a place to find rest and comfort. Roshi Joan discusses the essential role that compassion plays in the transformation of the world and ourselves.

To help keep these podcasts freely available, we hope you will consider making a suggested donation of $25 to our Dharma Podcast Fund.

For Series description, please visit Part 1.

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REAL FREEDOM: A Meditation Retreat on Courage, Love, and Compassion

Episode Description: In this session, Sharon Salzberg begins by leading us in Lovingkindness meditation.  Roshi Joan discusses the fruits of embodying the virtues we see in others while being aware of the dangers of projecting ourselves onto them.

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For Series description, please visit Part 1.

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REAL FREEDOM: A Meditation Retreat on Courage, Love, and Compassion

Episode Description: Sensei Kaz Tanahashi begins this talk by asking us to consider the opening questions from his new book, Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crises, “How do we bring about a large-scale transformation? How do we reverse the direction of the human race towards a collective suicide? How do we respond to systematic violence, non-violently?” Considering the states of crises that we are facing today, Kaz discusses the lessons he learned from his own life, both from his childhood during World War II, and as a peace activist during the Cold War. “Whatever we were doing,” Kaz reflects, “seemed to not be working at all. But retrospectively, everything that we were doing was a breakthrough!” Kaz ends the talk by asserting, “It’s all up to you to make a world without war realistic or unrealistic. Great peace is in your hands!”

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Episode Description: In this session, Sharon Salzberg gives an in-depth examination of how meditation practice can transform the way we pay attention in our daily lives. Sharon also discusses the benefits of lovingkindness practice before leading us in a guided meditation.

To help keep these podcasts freely available, we hope you will consider making a suggested donation of $25 to our Dharma Podcast Fund.

For Series description, please visit Part 1.

To access the entire series, please click on the link below:

REAL FREEDOM: A Meditation Retreat on Courage, Love, and Compassion

Episode Description: In this session, Roshi Joan and Sharon Salzberg discuss the relationship between fear and freedom. Roshi Joan discusses her experiences bearing witness in refugee camps and watching the role that fear plays in inhibiting freedom on a global scale.

To help keep these podcasts freely available, we hope you will consider making a suggested donation of $25 to our Dharma Podcast Fund.

For Series description, please visit Part 1.

To access the entire series, please click on the link below:

REAL FREEDOM: A Meditation Retreat on Courage, Love, and Compassion