Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

In this beautiful Dharma talk on chapter 3 of the Bodhicaryavatara, Sensei Sokaku Kathie Fischer speaks on longing and heartbreak as the opening for connection, for the spirit of awakening. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Spring Practice Period 2021: The Way of the Bodhisattva

Episode Description: Going over the second chapter, The Confession of Sin, of the Bodhicaryvatara, Roshi Enkyo O’Hara looks at the importance and function of confession for the service of all beings. Through atonement, powerful energies of healing are released which cure not only individuals but whole societies as well. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Spring Practice Period 2021: The Way of the Bodhisattva

For this Zazenkai Dharma talk, Kigaku Noah Rossetter speaks on chapter 1 of the Bodhicaryavatara, The Benefit of the Spirit of Awakening. What exactly is Bodhicitta? Why is it important? How do we cultivate it? These are some of the questions addressed in this heartfelt talk. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Spring Practice Period 2021: The Way of the Bodhisattva

In this introduction to the 2021 Upaya Spring Practice Period: The Way of the Bodhisattva, Sensei Shinzan Palma walks us through the A, B, Cs of the what, how and whys of the Bodhisattva ideal, attitude, and life. Importantly, how to bring the Bodhisattva way of being into our ordinary lives. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Spring Practice Period 2021: The Way of the Bodhisattva

Episode Description: In this introduction to Shantideva and his text, the Bodhicharyavatara, Roshi Joan Halifax speaks about Shantideva’s history and thematically reviews each chapter of the text. Weaving neuroscience, philosophy, the wisdom of her practice experience and that of other great masters, she underscores the importance of compassion for the survival of all sentient life. The Bodhicharyavatara is a guidebook for this endeavor. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Spring Practice Period 2021: The Way of the Bodhisattva

In this Wednesday night Dharma Talk Monshin Nannette Overley speaks of the ‘Stonecatcher’ Bodhisattva. A story of a woman spoken about in Bryan Stevenson’s book, ‘Just Mercy’, who lost her grandchild to gun violence and chose to live her life supporting others. She catches the stones people throw at one another. Monshin looks at this story to reveal how we can transform our own personal traumas and suffering in order to support others. Ultimately, the secret of resilience is not to keep the stones, or put them in our bags, but rather, to let them go.

In this Dharma Talk, Cynda and Tony speak to their personal experience as healthcare workers during the COVID pandemic. Dr. Anthony Back mentions the reckoning which the pandemic has brought, and how it has exposed the inherent structural inequities and racism, from the medical system to the White House. He also speaks to the role of practice -the body, and grief. Dr. Cynda Rushton points to the scarcity of the pandemic and the difficult decisions faced around allocation. Decisions ultimately based on structural racism inherent in these institutions. Furthermore, the institutional betrayal and scarring many clinicians underwent. She ends with the importance of moral resilience, and how the recognition of our shared integrity, gives us the power to stand together.

In this Dharma Talk, accomplished peace negotiator and mediator John Paul Lederach shares his haiku on spiders to highlight some of the most important principles in peacebuilding.

Episode Description: In this second afternoon talk on, What is Enlightenment, Michael Sheehy, draws on the work of the 14th century Tibetan scholar Longchenpa, from his ‘The Trilogy of Rest, Volume 3: Finding Rest in Illusion’. To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: What Is Enlightenment?

Episode Description: In this dharma talk, John Dunne speaks about non-dual awareness, Bodhi the Sanskrit term, and what it might mean. In particular, he turns to a special instruction used to adjust us in certain situations. To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: What Is Enlightenment?

In this dharma talk, astrophysicist Adam Frank speaks to us about his life-braiding zen and science. In particular, how ‘Koans aren’t magic, but when they are, they’re SUCH magic!’

In this Wednesday night Dharma Talk, Senator Tom Udall speaks about his last two decades in Congress. The support his meditation practice has provided him and about his values, aims, and goals in public service.  

Episode Description: In this talk on ‘What is Enlightenment’, Anne Klein speaks to the importance of not fetishizing awakening and rooting it in our daily lives. The awakened mind is capacious enough to abide in life’s contradictions. To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: What Is Enlightenment?

Episode Description: In this second-morning session, Enkyo O’Hara Roshi looks at the Buddha’s words upon his enlightenment and the understanding of the simultaneous awakening of all things. To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: What Is Enlightenment?

Series Description: No idea is as ubiquitous across Buddhist traditions as the possibility of enlightenment. To be a buddha is to have awakened or be enlightened. Yet there is little consensus about what enlightenment is. Are there neural correlates of enlightenment in the brain? Is enlightenment fostered by social democracy? Or is enlightenment a myth propagated to keep seekers busy along their path? In dialogue about the immanent and paradoxical, embodied and psychological, social and personal – this daylong immersion brings leading Buddhist contemplatives, scholars, and philosophers together to explore the meaning of enlightenment. Join us. Our faculty will be in radical discussion, explore practices related to the vision of awakening, open facilitated discussion to participants, and possibly discover what enlightenment is and is not. Episode Description: In the first morning session, Evan Thompson highlights the stumbling blocks in even making sense of the notion of Enlightenment. The linguistic discrepancy between the eastern and western notions around the signified concept of ‘enlightenment’. What does naturalizing enlightenment look like? Is ‘enlightenment a brain state? Is the ‘enlightenment’ concept dependent? Why do we have the concept, in the first place? To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: What Is Enlightenment?