Summary: Series Description: In our imperiled world, the call of peace and compassion becomes more important with the unfolding of each year. Father John Dear, a visionary Jesuit peacemaker, and Roshi Joan Halifax, Founding Abbot of Upaya Zen Center, explore in a dynamic process, peacemaking and nonviolence, based on the life and teachings of Gandhi and the vision of the Bodhisattvas and Christ. This weekend is part retreat and renewal for people of all faiths and all hearts. It is as well a deep exploration for old and young, chaplains and clinicians, for all of us, of the path of peacemaking in our lives, institutions, and the world. Episode Description: Roshi introduces the retreat by offering an explanation of the title: "Lotus in a Sea of Fire." Vividly describing the imagery and meaning inherent in the lotus plant. One really important aspect is that "the lotus plant plunges its roots into the mud, into the waste, into our suffering and feeds off our suffering." To awaken we must work with and confront our own hatred, greed and delusion. "At the same time we are in a field of suffering, social suffering, global suffering that is causing our seas to burn." Roshi continues by describing the imagery of the Bodhisattva Manjusri holding a blue lotus flower. Father John then offers his own interpretation of the title. That we are called to be a person of peace and nonviolence, living in a world of total war and violence. "That the person who can go perfectly deep into peace disarms and heals a million people." Father John then frames challenge that we face by noting all of the war, the extent of climate damage, and the extreme poverty in this sea of fire. The retreat then breaks into small groups to discuss a number of topics and concludes with participants sharing their thoughts and questions. John Dear is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. A Jesuit priest, pastor, peacemaker, organizer, lecturer, and retreat leader, he is the author/editor of 30 books, including his autobiography, “Persistent Peace.” In 2008, John was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A longtime practitioner and teacher of nonviolence, John has written hundreds of articles and given thousands of talks on nonviolence. His many books include, among others: “Lazarus, Come Forth!”; “Living Peace”; “The Sacrament of Civil Disobedience”; “Seeds of Nonviolence”; “Our God Is Nonviolent”; and “Oscar Romero and the Nonviolent Struggle for Justice.” Joan Halifax Roshi is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and author. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She received her Ph.D in medical anthropology in 1973. She has lectured on the subject of death and dying at many academic institutions, including Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Medical School, Georgetown Medical School, University of Virginia Medical School, Duke University Medical School, University of Connecticut Medical School, among many others. She received a National Science Foundation Fellowship in Visual Anthropology, and was an Honorary Research Fellow in Medical Ethnobotany at Harvard University. From 1972-1975, she worked with psychiatrist Stanislav Grof at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center on pioneering work with dying cancer patients, using LSD as an adjunct to psychotherapy. After the LSD project, she has continued to work with dying people and their families and to teach health care professionals as well as lay individuals on compassionate care of the dying. She is Director of the Project on Being with Dying and Founder and Director of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners. For the past twenty-five years, she has been active in environmental work. She studied for a decade with Zen Teacher Seung Sahn and was a teacher in the Kwan Um Zen School. She received the Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh,
