Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

Episode Description: In this first segment of the second session, John focuses primarily on chapters 2 and 3 from Shantideva's "The Way of the Bodhisattva." Before entering into the text, however, John touches upon the ideas of "deserving happiness" and "self-compassion." The notion of deserving or not deserving happiness seems ingrained in some western cultures. John views this idea as flawed. If you are happy, the causes and conditions for happiness are in place. If you are unhappy, these causes and conditions are not in place. Happiness has nothing to do with deserving. The task of a bodhisattva is to understand the causes of genuine happiness and to work to help others actualize this happiness. John next discusses self-compassion. Although in his view, this term is incoherent, a good substitute is "renunciation." In this sense, you are compassionate toward yourself if you recognize suffering and renounce it, that is, you sincerely aspire to be free from it. John next explores chapter 2 from Shantideva's text. This chapter focuses importantly on the idea of refuge and on the contemplation of death. Refuge is essentially about seeing that you are not entirely in control of your life and that you "need help." So you take refuge in the Buddha, which is in one sense your own capacity for awakening, in the Dharma, the realization of the teachings and their meaning, and in the Sangha, those who have seen the nature of reality. The contemplation of death is another method (like the contemplation of the "precious human life" from Part 1b of this series) for "turning the mind" toward the Dharma. You see that your time is short, that death is inevitable, and you are motivated to make use of your great opportunity. John finally introduces chapter 3, which is largely about bodhicitta, the "mind of awakening" that aspires to become a Buddha in order to maximally benefit all beings. For Series description and Teacher BIO, please visit Part 1a. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: The Way of a Bodhisattva Series: All 6 Parts

Episode Description: In this second half of the first session, John dives into the first chapter of Shantideva's "The Way of the Bodhisattva." Shantideva sets a context in the first line of the text in which the bodhisattva, or aspiring bodhisattva, is in a community with other bodhisattvas who can and must support one another, and also in which the bodhisattva is endowed with the capacity to attain complete Buddhahood. So this opening line serves as important inspiration. John then discusses the ways in which Shantideva attempts to "turn the mind" of practitioners toward psychological states that are useful on the path. The first of these methods for turning the mind is contemplating our "human life with leisures and endowments." We reflect that this life is extremely difficult to obtain and that we, in our context, are amazing people. To have reasonably healthy bodies and minds, to have an opportunity to practice, to have an interest in practice, and so forth, are incredible conditions. Yet we often act like fools because we don't recognize the rarity and importance of our lives. So this contemplation is meant to turn our minds toward seeing how amazing we are and how precious this opportunity is. John ends this session with a rich discussion of the "self-liberation" of our thoughts and stories in the context of practice. For Series description and Teacher BIO, please visit Part 1a. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: The Way of a Bodhisattva Series: All 6 Parts

Series Description: This three-day seminar, offered during Upaya's winter sesshin, explores the bodhisattva story, one of the hallmarks of Mahayana Buddhism. Using Shantideva's (8th century CE) classic text "The Way of the Bodhisattva" as a guide, we investigate what is distinctive about the bodhisattva story, what kinds of practices a bodhisattva engages in, and how to live the life of a bodhisattva. Episode Description: In this first part of the opening session, John sets the stage for discussing Shantideva's text, "The Way of the Bodhisattva." The text is written as a method for achieving bodhi, "awakening," for attaining "full-blown Buddhahood." This goal of full Buddhahood, beyond the early Buddhist conception of "nirvana" as cessation of suffering separate from "samsara," is a distinctive feature of Mahayana Buddhism. A bodhisattva is a being intent on achieving this full Buddhahood. There are two important aspects of the bodhisattva path toward Buddhahood. One of these is wisdom, a penetrating wisdom that cuts through the ignorance trapping us in samsara. The second aspect of the bodhisattva path is compassion, which is the "method" whereby penetrating wisdom is attained. All the various practices a bodhisattva engages in -- generosity, ethical conduct, patience, effort, meditation, as well as devotion, prayer, ritual, and so forth -- are the compassionate means which generate wisdom. Wisdom is the goal, as only wisdom will cut suffering at its roots. Another way to view the method side of the path is as a story, as a useful narrative or context that brings us to the wisdom to see beyond all stories. Shantideva, in his text, tells us a story. He sets a context for practice in which practice can be fruitful for generating wisdom. With this sense of context in mind, John begins the exploration of the text itself in the next segment, Part 1b. BIOs: John Dunne is an associate professor in the Department of Religion at Emory University, where he is Co-Director of the Encyclopedia of Contemplative Practices and the Emory Collaborative for Contemplative Studies. He was educated at the Amherst College and Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. from the Committee on the Study of Religion in 1999. Before joining Emory’s faculty in 2005, he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and held a research position at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Support from the American Institute of Indian Studies sustained two years of his doctoral research at the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India. 

His work focuses on various aspects of Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practice. In Foundations of Dharmakirti’s Philosophy (2004), he examines the most prominent Buddhist theories of perception, language, inference and justification. His current research includes an inquiry into the notion of “mindfulness” in both classical Buddhist and contemporary contexts, and he is also engaged in a study of Candrakirti’s “Prasannapada”, a major Buddhist philosophical work on the metaphysics of “emptiness” and "selflessness." His recently published work includes an essay on neuroscience and meditation co-authored with Richard J. Davidson and Antoine Lutz. He frequently serves as a translator for Tibetan scholars, and as a consultant, he appears on the roster of several ongoing scientific studies of Buddhist contemplative practices. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: The Way of a Bodhisattva Series: All 6 Parts

Episode Description: This joint Dharma talk, offered by John Dunne and Al Kaszniak, touches upon the ideas of transformation, intention, and expectation from contemplative practice, neuroscience, and complex systems points of view. John begins with the...

Series Description: The four brahmaviharas, translated as the four "divine abodes," "inner friends," or "immeasurable minds," are loving kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekha). In this weekend silent meditation retreat, we explore these four qualities of mind in an experiential way, using a mix of guided meditation, group activities, and instruction from the teacher. A mind pervaded by the four brahmaviharas is described by the Buddha as an awakened mind. Can we develop these boundless qualities in our own minds and wake up? Episode Description: In this second and final segment of the retreat, Sensei Irene begins by citing the original Brahmavihara Sutta from the Digha Nikaya, where the Buddha introduces and stresses the four qualities of metta, karuna, mudita, and upekha. She also discusses a story from the life of the Buddha about the importance of metta. Sensei Irene then offers a summary of the four brahmaviharas, what happens when these qualities of mind, these "inner friends," are totally blocked, and what happens when they are obstructed. The aim of practice, indeed the aim of the life of a bodhisattva is to cultivate these brahmaviharas in a free flowing, natural, and boundless way. Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker is a certified zen teacher from the Netherlands, a Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax Roshi. She has been a student of Zen in the White Plum Sangha tradition since the mid-80s. Irene Sensei first met Roshi Joan Halifax in Auschwitz in 1996 and they had a strong connection. Irene Sensei then became involved in Upaya's Zen training and Being with Dying training. In 2004, Roshi Joan asked her to continue her training on death and dying in Europe. Every summer, Sensei assisted teaching at Upaya Zen Center. In Holland Sensei serves as teacher for Zen Spirit which she founded in 2004. As family and systems therapist, she works with people with cancer, end of life care, in psychiatry, and private therapy practice. As a mindfulness trainer she teaches future MBSR trainers at the College / School for Social Work in Utrecht, Netherlands. When receiving Denkai and Denbo in March 2012, Roshi Joan gave her the name Kaigetsu (Ocean Moon) in addition to Kyojo (Jeweled Mirror Samadhi), her Dharma name since Jukai in 1989. For Part 1 (of 2) of this series, please click here.

Series Description: The four brahmaviharas, translated as the four "divine abodes," "inner friends," or "immeasurable minds," are loving kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekha). In this weekend silent meditation retreat, we explore these four qualities of mind in an experiential way, using a mix of guided meditation, group activities, and instruction from the teacher. A mind pervaded by the four brahmaviharas is described by the Buddha as an awakened mind. Can we develop these boundless qualities in our own minds and wake up? Episode Description: In this first segment of the retreat, Sensei Irene introduces the four brahmaviharas as skillful means, or methods, for us to practice and deeply integrate into our lives. The word "vihara" means "abode" and "brahma" means "divine," so the brahmaviharas are four "divine abodes" for our minds. Sensei then discusses the first of these four divine abodes: metta, or loving kindness, which Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says is a "practice" that must begin with ourselves. We must learn to love ourselves unconditionally in order to love others in a way that is not contingent on others being lovable. In metta meditation practice, we begin by extending loving kindness to ourselves, then to loved ones, strangers, and even to those we don't like, in an effort to see all beings as worthy of love. Sensei Irene ends the session with an extensive and beautiful guided metta meditation. Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker is a certified zen teacher from the Netherlands, a Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax Roshi. She has been a student of Zen in the White Plum Sangha tradition since the mid-80s. Irene Sensei first met Roshi Joan Halifax in Auschwitz in 1996 and they had a strong connection. Irene Sensei then became involved in Upaya's Zen training and Being with Dying training. In 2004, Roshi Joan asked her to continue her training on death and dying in Europe. Every summer, Sensei assisted teaching at Upaya Zen Center. In Holland Sensei serves as teacher for Zen Spirit which she founded in 2004. As family and systems therapist, she works with people with cancer, end of life care, in psychiatry, and private therapy practice. As a mindfulness trainer she teaches future MBSR trainers at the College / School for Social Work in Utrecht, Netherlands. When receiving Denkai and Denbo in March 2012, Roshi Joan gave her the name Kaigetsu (Ocean Moon) in addition to Kyojo (Jeweled Mirror Samadhi), her Dharma name since Jukai in 1989. For Part 2 (of 2) of this series, please click here.

Episode Description: In this third public Dharma talk of the Winter Practice Period, The Way of a Bodhisattva, Sensei Irene asks the question, who is a bodhisattva? The characteristics of a bodhisattva, discussed as well in previous Practice Period talks, include a life devoted to freeing other beings from suffering, a commitment to stay in samsara to work for the benefit of others rather than opting for the bliss of nirvana, a realization of the "oneness" of life and thus a fundamental stance of interdependence, of "we," rather than the separateness of "me," and also spontaneous helpful actions, skillful means, enacted out of wisdom and compassion. Bodhisattvas can be anyone -- human beings, animals, any kind of being -- but they are classically depicted as archetypes, or icons, several of which Sensei Irene discusses. Sensei closes the talk by suggesting that these bodhisattva archetypes, these representations of boundless wisdom and compassion, are outer manifestations of qualities inherent in all of us and that they serve to inspire us to live the lifestyle of a bodhisattva without negating our humanness. Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker is a certified zen teacher from the Netherlands, a Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax Roshi. She has been a student of Zen in the White Plum Sangha tradition since the mid-80s. Irene Sensei first met Roshi Joan Halifax in Auschwitz in 1996 and they had a strong connection. Irene Sensei then became involved in Upaya's Zen training and Being with Dying training. In 2004, Roshi Joan asked her to continue her training on death and dying in Europe. Every summer, Sensei assisted teaching at Upaya Zen Center. In Holland Sensei serves as teacher for Zen Spirit which she founded in 2004. As family and systems therapist, she works with people with cancer, end of life care, in psychiatry, and private therapy practice. As a mindfulness trainer she teaches future MBSR trainers at the College / School for Social Work in Utrecht, Netherlands. When receiving Denkai and Denbo in March 2012, Roshi Joan gave her the name Kaigetsu (Ocean Moon) in addition to Kyojo (Jeweled Mirror Samadhi), her Dharma name since Jukai in 1989.

Episode Description: In this Dharma talk, Sensei Irene, from the Netherlands, begins with an overview of the concept of a bodhisattva as well as "bodhicitta," the awakened heart/mind that a bodhisattva cultivates. She then transitions to the main topic of her talk, the six paramitas, or "perfections" of a bodhisattva. These paramitas are methods, or virtues, that bodhisattvas practice and bring to "perfection." They include dana, or generosity, sila, or morality, ksanti, or patience, virya, or energy, dhyana, or meditation, and prajna, or wisdom. Sensei Irene briefly discusses each paramita, explaining that they help us move beyond our cocoon of self-centeredness and separateness. They lead to certain states of mind, or bhumis, that are characteristic of the awakened mind of a bodhisattva. For now, however, we are all "bodhisattvas in training," and must put these paramitas into practice over and over again, aware of when we slip and vowing to continue the work. Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker is a certified zen teacher from the Netherlands, a Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax Roshi. She has been a student of Zen in the White Plum Sangha tradition since the mid-80s. Irene Sensei first met Roshi Joan Halifax in Auschwitz in 1996 and they had a strong connection. Irene Sensei then became involved in Upaya's Zen training and Being with Dying training. In 2004, Roshi Joan asked her to continue her training on death and dying in Europe. Every summer, Sensei assisted teaching at Upaya Zen Center. In Holland Sensei serves as teacher for Zen Spirit which she founded in 2004. As family and systems therapist, she works with people with cancer, end of life care, in psychiatry, and private therapy practice. As a mindfulness trainer she teaches future MBSR trainers at the College / School for Social Work in Utrecht, Netherlands. When receiving Denkai and Denbo in March 2012, Roshi Joan gave her the name Kaigetsu (Ocean Moon) in addition to Kyojo (Jeweled Mirror Samadhi), her Dharma name since Jukai in 1989.

Episode Description: Sensei Irene opens this talk with an overview of the Winter Practice Period, The Way of a Bodhisattva. She then moves into the main topic of the talk, the four bodhisattva vows. Bodhisattva is a sanskrit word combining sattva, or "being," and bodhi, or "awakened." So, a bodhisattva is someone who is awake, who has seen through the origin of suffering, who has cultivated a great aspiration to help others wake up and be free from suffering, and will sacrifice even their own life to be of benefit to others. The bodhisattva is the centerpiece of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, which combines Tibetan and Zen schools. In the historical Buddha's milieu, the main aim of spiritual practice was one's *own* enlightenment and entering into "nirvana." In the later Mahayana traditions, our own enlightenment came to be seen as "no big deal." It is just a step, and once we reach that step -- that openness, wisdom, and compassion -- the real work begins of devoting our whole life to helping others. The four bodhisattva vows are more than promises but profound longings, heartfelt prayers, and total commitments to not cease practicing and serving until every single being is free from suffering. They represent an impossible, endless, task and yet, a bodhisattva enters into this impossible work wholeheartedly, lifetime after lifetime. In effect, a bodhisattva makes the impossible possible. Sensei Irene shares three different versions of the vows, one a more traditional version, then the version used at Upaya, and the third in her own native Dutch. She says, "the world needs more bodhisattvas," more people who desperately love and want the best for all creations. Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker is a certified zen teacher from the Netherlands, a Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax Roshi. She has been a student of Zen in the White Plum Sangha tradition since the mid-80s. Irene Sensei first met Roshi Joan Halifax in Auschwitz in 1996 and they had a strong connection. Irene Sensei then became involved in Upaya's Zen training and Being with Dying training. In 2004, Roshi Joan asked her to continue her training on death and dying in Europe. Every summer, Sensei assisted teaching at Upaya Zen Center. In Holland Sensei serves as teacher for Zen Spirit which she founded in 2004. As family and systems therapist, she works with people with cancer, end of life care, in psychiatry, and private therapy practice. As a mindfulness trainer she teaches future MBSR trainers at the College / School for Social Work in Utrecht, Netherlands. When receiving Denkai and Denbo in March 2012, Roshi Joan gave her the name Kaigetsu (Ocean Moon) in addition to Kyojo (Jeweled Mirror Samadhi), her Dharma name since Jukai in 1989.

Episode Description: Brian opens Upaya's Winter Practice Period, The Way of a Bodhisattva, with this rich talk centered on Dogen's short essay, The Four Embracing Dharmas or, The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. A bodhisattva is someone who has chosen to deeply explore their life in order to help others deeply explore theirs, and to mutually awaken. Dogen's essay is framed as a set of practices for aspiring bodhisattvas to take up. These four practices are: giving or generosity, kind speech, beneficial action, and identity action. After suggesting that these practices might be viewed as "disruptive technologies" which shake up the status quo and awaken us from our slumber, Brian touches upon each of the four practices, paying particular attention to the practice of giving. He closes the talk with a series of provocative questions: What would you give to yourself and to others if you thought it could change the course of human suffering? What would you say if you knew that what you said would never be forgotten by those who heard it? What would you say if you thought that your speech could change the destiny of a nation? What would you do if you believed in the marrow of your bones that everything you do is an act of oneness, benefiting yourself and others together? How would you walk through this world and through your life if you could let go of everything that separates you from others and feel completely connected? Bio: Joshin Brian Byrnes is a novice priest at Upaya Zen Center and president and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. He worked at the Boston AIDS Action Committee, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and was CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation and Managing Director at Tides Foundation. His nonprofit career spans over twenty years, where he has led complex organizations through profound change processes, organizational growth, and repositioning them for increased social impact, financial sustainability, and organizational learning. Currently, he is involved in a number of national philanthropic projects including being the chair-elect of CFLeads: Community Foundations Leading Change, and is a member of the Community Foundation Leadership Team at the Council on Foundations. His academic background includes undergraduate and graduate work in philosophy at St. Meinrad College, theology at the Aquinas Institute at St. Louis University, early music performance at New England Conservatory of Music, and medieval musicology at New York University. He has also studied and practiced organizational development with Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline), and has been trained in Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching. He is cultivating a “back and forth” practice, moving between the zendo and the larger world of social service, organizational leadership, and social engagement.

Episode Description: This rich talk given by Roshi Musai centers around our usage of language, but touches on many aspects of our lives and practice. Musai opens by mentioning the case of Vasumitra's transmission from the Denkoroku. Wherein Vasumitra describes the truth that can not be discussed, where words and language are not useful. However language is also enormously important in that "there are obviously truths that can be facilitated or realized or promoted through language." So what sort of truth is Vasumitra referring to? If one wants to realize what Buddha realized, if one wants to awaken to one's buddha nature, "language, words and discussion are not going to help." Musai moves on to discuss the nature of self. That "knowing is the realm of the self", while not-knowing is most intimate. The realm of not-knowing is Vasumitra's truth. Musai continues by offering his own experiences hiking both on an off trail as a metaphor for knowing and not-knowing. That one must leave the path to truly be intimate with a place. To practice not-knowing it is crucial that we surrender. The talk concludes with Roshi Musai answering a number of questions from the audience. BIO: Roshi Sidney Musai Walter began Zen Practice in 1970 with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi at San Francisco Zen Center. After living at Tassajara Zen Monastery, then studying with Chogyam Trungpa, Rimpoche, Musai became a student of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, at Zen Center of Los Angeles. He practiced with Maezumi Roshi until that teacher’s death in 1995, when he became a student of Jitsudo Ancheta Sensei, a dharma successor of Maezumi Roshi.In 1996, Jitsudo Sensei and Musai founded Hidden Mountain Zen Center in Albuquerque. In January of 1999, Musai received Dharma Transmission from Jitsudo Sensei. Since 2002, Musai has been studying the Big Mind process with Genpo Roshi, also a dharma successor of Maezumi Roshi. Musai has received denkai transmission (full priest empowerment) and authorization to teach the Big Mind process from Genpo Roshi. In 2008 Musai received inka, the final seal of approval, from Genpo Roshi. Musai is now retired from a career as a psychotherapist and family therapist. He will continue to teach at Prajna Zendo and spend more time wandering through the mountains and canyons of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.

Episode Description: In this sixth and final talk from Rohatsu, each of the three teachers offer their own insights and thoughts on a number of topics. This talk concludes the sesshin, but also serves as an introduction. Inviting us practice within our everyday lives. Sensei Kaz opens the talk by describing what he deems "The Triangle of Way," having sides comprised of conventional wisdom, wisdom beyond wisdom and compassion. Kaz believes that the antithesis of this triangle is violence. That there is so much violence within ourselves and within the world. That we must find a way to end this vicious circle of violence. However, we must not shun it. We must "say hello" to these violent moods and try to understand. Roshi Enkyo then picks up on the theme of violence. Suggesting that the reason that we come together is to look at the serious questions in the world. One of which being violence, that we must ask "what is the violence in us, in our culture and in past societies and cultures? What is the antidote? What might change the world?" Enkyo continues by discussing the story of Joshu's Stone Bridge and "What is the Great Way?" After closing with a gatha about the Morning Star, Enkyo turns the talk over to Roshi Joan. Roshi offers an insightful and inspirational discussion about suffering. The nature of suffering within ourselves, our practice and society. She recites Wu-tsu's "A Buffalo Passes Through a Window." "Wu-tsu said, the buffalo passes through the lattice window. His two horns get through. His head gets through. His front and back legs get through. Why can't it's tail get through?" Just as obstructing thorns flourish everywhere, the little tail of the buffalo is always there. We must learn to ride the waves of suffering without drowning in them. We must also be careful to "not believe our thoughts!" That it is these amazing constructions which are dismantling the world. That we must see how much harm we cause ourselves, society and the environment all in the name of self. Roshi then talks about how the way is ordinary. That realization is not a "pow!" Rather it is the capacity to experience things as they really are in our everyday lives. Roshi finishes by stating Wu-men's verse to the koan of the buffalo. "This tiny little tail. What a wonderful thing it is." For teacher BIOs, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Rohatsu: Morning Star Series: All 6 Parts

Episode Description: Sensei Kaz opens this fifth talk of the Rohatsu sesshin with some further comments on the Heart Sutra. He begins with a fascinating discussion about Chinese and Japanese grammar, explaining that the Japanese version of the Heart Sutra actually uses a Chinese text, read in a Sino-Japanese way. He then speaks about the oldest part of the sutra, the mantra. Roshi Enkyo then discusses the idea of the "one and the many," the "one big thing" and the myriad changing aspects of the world, with a thorough examination of a koan from the Blue Cliff Record entitled Lotus Flower, Lotus Leaves. The idea, as Roshi Enkyo explains, is that we are both the flower, the oneness, as well as the leaves, the many changing things, and that these aspects are inseparable. The flower is our buddha nature and the leaves are the natural spontaneous expression of this nature through our compassion, kindness, and service. For teacher BIOs, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Rohatsu: Morning Star Series: All 6 Parts

Episode Description: Sensei Kaz begins this fourth talk of the sesshin by discussing the Heart Sutra, the most frequently chanted scripture in Mahayana Buddhism. Central to the Heart Sutra is the concept of wisdom beyond wisdom, or a kind of wisdom outside of everyday conventional wisdom. We often get stuck in conventional wisdom and look for freedom from it in spiritual practice. However, we can also become stuck in wisdom beyond wisdom, believing we can do anything we want. For Kaz, conventional wisdom and wisdom beyond wisdom are equally important and in fact, mutually inclusive. In the second part of the talk, Roshi Joan discusses "suffering and the end of suffering," or in her words, "stress and the end of stress," in light of the first three Noble Truths. In Roshi's view, the first Noble Truth is not that "life is suffering," but that our experience of life often entails stress, anxiety, tightness, and "reduced horizons." The second Noble Truth, the source of suffering, refers to our sense of self. This sense of self is one of an inherent "I, me, my, mine," out of which grow fear-based narratives that are extraordinarily damaging. The third Noble Truth is about cultivating deep internal stillness, equanimity, in the face of all the speed and confusion of life. Crucial to cultivating this stillness is attention. Attention is the vehicle, primed by aspiration, which glues us to the present moment and simultaneously frees us from our dispersion and biases. Roshi then discusses four "valences" that are important to cultivate in practice: (1) Physical and mental ease, (2) stillness and coherence of attention, (3) vividness and clarity, and (4) wisdom beyond wisdom. Roshi concludes the talk with a wonderful poem by Jim Harrison and with a quote from the Diamond Sutra: "Let the mind flow freely, without dwelling on anything." For teacher BIOs, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Rohatsu: Morning Star Series: All 6 Parts

Episode Description: In this Dharma talk, Ray invites us to think about God: Why do monotheistic traditions have a concept of God? What do we personally "want" in a God? What does God provide for us? God serves many roles: as a companion, a means to "fill in the blanks" of not knowing, a provider of a moral code, as a creator and purveyor of beauty, as something bigger than our selves to believe in, and more insidiously perhaps, as a means to control people. For different members of the audience, God is seen as a "Great Spirit," as an experiential process accessed through spiritual practice, as "inner knowing" as opposed to something external, and as experiences of what is possible for human beings. Ray concludes the talk with his own view of God: things "exactly as they are; just this." BIO: Ray Olson an internist by training, was a longtime Professor of Medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. He has been a Zen student for over 30 years and received Jukai in 1989. He was ordained as a Novice Priest by Roshi Joan Halifax in 2009 and was made a Dharma Holder at Upaya Zen Center in 2010. Ray serves as coordinator of Upaya's Prison Outreach Program, and in that capacity he corresponds with many inmates in prisons around the country, offering spiritual guidance to the incarcerated. He also makes weekly visits to inmates in the high security units of the local state penitentiary. Ray is long-married to Nancy; they have three grown children and four growing grandchildren.