Summary: Episode Description: This Dharma talk, offered by Upaya's Maia Duerr, is an exploration of the word "practice." What does it mean to practice? How does a formal spiritual practice, such as Zen, relate to our lives "off the cushion?" What does it mean to "practice with" something, such as a person, thought, or reality in the world? Maia investigates these questions first, by suggesting what practice is and is not, second, by discussing the Zen tradition's Three Pure Precepts as they relate to her own personal experiences, and third, by exploring what it means to "practice with imperfection," to practice as an imperfect human being in an imperfect world. Maia closes her talk with a poem by Mary Oliver and extracts a line from this poem to sum up what practice means. Practice, for Maia, is about "being wild with the okay-ness of it all." Bio: Maia was the director of Upaya's Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program from its inception in 2008 until 2014. Maia is an anthropologist, writer, and editor. In 2012, she received lay ordination from Roshi Joan Halifax as a lay Buddhist chaplain. She is also a student in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi, and has lived and practiced at the San Francisco Zen Center, where she received jukai from Victoria Shosan Austin in 2008. From 2004-2008, Maia worked at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship where she served as executive director and editor of Turning Wheel magazine. From 2002-2004, Maia was the research director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she led a study on the use of meditation and other contemplative practices in secular settings. She is the author of a number of articles on this topic, including "The Contemplative Organization," published in the Journal of Organizational Change Management. Maia's writing can be found on her blog, The Liberated Life Project. She is also the author of a blog on socially engaged Buddhism called The Jizo Chronicles
