Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

In our first Poetry Series talk, Natalie Goldberg shares stories and poems from the beginning of her writing and Zen practice including a poem called, “Orange Bowl.” She encourages us to give structure to our sitting and writing, and to let it come naturally, from the inside. “One of the best things you can do is sit outside or sit by the window and feel the breeze because when you sit outside you really are sitting with all sentient beings.”

John Paul Lederach, speaking from long experience in conflict mediation, recalls and appreciates the inevitable connectedness of every enemy, as well as the need and willingness for risk when engaging in acts of trust. He expresses a heartfelt reminder to “stay in touch.”

Bringing the program to a close, Roshi Joan Halifax, Natalie Goldberg, Clark Strand, and Sensei Kaz Tanahashi share their reflections and some exceptional work that was made over the weekend. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: The Way of Haiku: Basho In Our Time

Natalie Goldberg introduces haiku’s prosaic partner, haibun. In this style, writers create haiku to accompany a section of prose, or vice versa. Students and teachers share their short work in the form. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: The Way of Haiku: Basho In Our Time

Clark Strand provides biographical and cultural context for the legendary poet, Basho, and speaks to the underrepresentation of women in haiku. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: The Way of Haiku: Basho In Our Time

With inspiration from Thich Nhat Hanh, Pamela Ayo Yetunde speaks to the possibility of national moral reinvention. She asks, “what has Zen done for you lately? Is it providing the courage that I think we need to transform the culture – the society – that we’re in?”

Sensei Kaz Tanahashi elaborates classical Japanese literary language and styles of approach. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: The Way of Haiku: Basho In Our Time

Matsuo Basho has inspired the world of Haiku for over 300 years. In l689, Basho walked Japan’s Northern Interior, recording the essential and transient nature of what he encountered. This path was also a metaphoric trail into the strong desire to wander and the eternal question of human and divine. Like Basho, we bring this practice of awareness into our present day through walking, meditation, and haiku-writing. Basho’s view of the world has reached far and wide—from Hiroshige’s prints in the late 1800s, to the Beat poets of the 1950s, to the online Haiku journals of today. During this well-attended, annual weekend in February of 2020, we took the journey together into the deep north with poets, Zen Buddhists, and writers to guide you: Natalie Goldberg, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi, Clark Strand, and Roshi Joan Halifax. Opening the weekend haiku program, Natalie Goldberg, Clark Strand, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi, and Roshi Joan Halifax share the insight, mystery, and joy of the form. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: The Way of Haiku: Basho In Our Time

Sensei Jose Shinzan Palma talks about the value of adversity in Zen practice. Shinzan shares that making mistakes is a wonderful reminder to practice forgiveness and patience for oneself as well as respect for life as it unfolds.

Stephen Batchelor returns to Upaya to discuss his latest book, The Art of Solitude. Drawing from great Western philosophers such as Michel de Montaigne, Stephen applies his unique Buddhist lens to connect the thread between meditation, philosophy, and creativity.

Today Sensei Shun’E Ulrike Greenway recalls her loving path from Germany and a scientific education to wonder about the unseen impact of the decisions in our lives. To illustrate this point, she shares the story of Senjo’s Separated Soul (as well as some catchy music).

On the final day of sesshin, Matthew Kozan Palevsky opens up about the frayed edges coming apart at the end of this practice period. Wendy Johnson extols the beauty of kelp who cling to the bottom of the ocean, despite the currents, by way of a “holdfast.” She encourages us to do the same in our own practice as we leave the container of sesshin. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series:: Sesshin: Ancestral Heart

During Roshi Joan Halifax’s talk, we find ourselves in a beautiful discussion about integrity, the spaces we live in and how they reflect our very own heart/minds. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series:: Sesshin: Ancestral Heart

It’s day four of sesshin and Kigaku Noah Rossetter leads us on a deep discussion of intimacy. Working with translations, we find that intimacy can also be considered to be “secret”, “dense”, “hidden”, and even, “within.” From there, we explore cases from the Transmission of Light and instances of intimacy throughout. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series:: Sesshin: Ancestral Heart

On day three of sesshin, Matthew Kozan Palevsky cautions us about how much bigger the waves of thought and feeling can be as we become more sensitized to them. As we work with all these experiences and all the stored energy from practice, he points to Hui-Neng who says, “If you don’t take refuge in your own nature, there’s no other place of refuge.” For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series:: Sesshin: Ancestral Heart