Best Joan Halifax | Zen Buddhist Teacher Upaya Abbot Podcasts (2026)

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Open Dharma: Peaceful Dwelling 45:18

1h ago45:18

45:18

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Roshi Joan Halifax is joined by Senseis Kodo, Dainin, and longtime Upaya friend and master Zen gardener Sensei Wendy Johnson to set the roots of the month-long Winter Ango (peaceful dwelling). Roshi traces Ango’s history to ancient traditions of seasonal retreat and offers careful instruction not to trample what…

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Rohatsu 2025: Day 6 – Full and Seamlessness 47:53

11h ago47:53

47:53

On the final day of Rohatsu sesshin, the faculty turn toward presence as the heart of the bodhisattva way. Sensei Kaz Tanahashi reflects on the final full day not as a rush toward the end, but as an invitation to be more fully present with each moment, as practice settles into quiet confidence and seamless activity. Roshi Joan Halifax deepens this …

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Rohatsu 2025: Day 5 – Indra’s Net and One Body Practice 46:06

1h ago46:06

46:06

On the fifth day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi explores Indra’s Net—jewels “reflecting one another forever” in “inter-illumination”—showing how Buddhist teachings illustrate the reality of interconnected actions and outcomes. Kaz assures us that every humble action contributes to breakthrough. Reflecting on his anti-nuclear activism in t…

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Rohatsu 2025: Day 4 – Ethics and the Awakened Heart 42:55

2h ago42:55

42:55

On the fourth day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi reflects on the previous evening’s full moon atonement ceremony, revealing that “I think to be ethical is … life with ease and joy. You don’t have to hide anything. You don’t have to fear.” Kaz references the teaching to “thoroughly engage in each activity” to transform the world. He refram…

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Rohatsu 2025: Day 3 – The Circle of the Way 42:41

1h ago42:41

42:41

On the third full day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi illuminates the radical teaching at the heart of Zen practice: we begin with enlightenment itself. Tracing the tension between seventh-century China’s scholarly Huayan school—requiring lifetimes of gradual study—and Huineng’s “illiterate school” of sudden enlightenment, Kaz reveals how …

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Rohatsu 2025: Day 2 – Vow, Liturgy, and Becoming One Body 34:49

1h ago34:49

34:49

On the second full day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi explores the Avatamsaka Sutra’s vision of Shakyamuni Buddha as Vairocana—the Dharmakaya itself—and the bodhisattva path through its metaphoric landscape. Kaz teaches that bodhisattvas become bridges, letting beings cross the ocean of life and death. He offers practical guidance for wor…

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Gratefulness & Generosity 2025 1:32:57

18h ago1:32:57

1:32:57

In this year’s Gratefulness and Generosity program Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski explore gratefulness and generosity as essential Buddhist practices for navigating “the pressure of the time we’re in.” Roshi Joan situates generosity as the first paramita—a boundless state of mind—and invites participants to hold both sorrow and beauty, ackn…

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Awareness In Action: Going Forth with Joan Halifax, Noah Kodo Roen, & Wendy Lau (Part 16 – December) 1:31:21

7d ago1:31:21

1:31:21

In this penultimate session of Awareness in Action (2025), Roshi Joan Halifax gathers with Sharon Salzberg and Frank Ostaseski to explore love as the foundation for engaged Buddhism, acknowledging the collective “upwelling of perturbation” many feel about the body politic. Roshi describes how spiritual community calls us back into love, noting the …

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Awareness In Action: Love with Frank Ostaseski & Sharon Salzberg (Part 15 – December) 1:30:18

18h ago1:30:18

1:30:18

In this penultimate session of Awareness in Action (2025), Roshi Joan Halifax gathers with Sharon Salzberg and Frank Ostaseski to explore love as the foundation for engaged Buddhism, acknowledging the collective “upwelling of perturbation” many feel about the body politic. Roshi describes how spiritual community calls us back into love, noting the …

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Eko Hensho – Turning the Light Around: Winter Solstice Talk 36:38

12d ago36:38

36:38

In this Winter Solstice gathering, Roshi Joan Halifax offers a grounded teaching on awareness amid darkness. Speaking during the longest night of the year, she introduces the Zen phrase ekō henshō—“turning the light around”—as the practice of directing awareness toward awareness itself. Through a story from a vinaya gathering in Thailand and a sing…

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No Other Life 51:13

15d ago51:13

51:13

In this Way-Seeking Mind Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, resident Clayton Genryu Dalton charmingly shares his unexpected path to Zen and reflects on meaningful moments and insights from his life. From bathroom graffiti at UT Austin to Alan Watts, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, emergency medicine, and the abrupt end of his marriage, Genryu embodies lif…

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Wandering in the Treasury of Radiant Light 43:03

22d ago43:03

43:03

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Hoshi Senko reflects on Radiant Light as the everyday experience of being alive. Drawing on Dōgen Zenji’s Komyō (Radiant Light) and Koun Ejō’s sole surviving work, Komyōzō Zanmai (The Practice of the Treasury of Radiant Light), Senko traces how the ancestors point to what is closest and most easily missed—summar…

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Rohatsu: Undivided Activity 44:54

29d ago44:54

44:54

On the first full day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax open practice with teachings on non-division and “undivided activity.” Kaz reminds practitioners that Rohatsu marks the Buddha’s awakening—“birth, enlightenment, and passing, celebrated in one day”—and points to the core insight that “all things have absolutely no…

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Awareness In Action: Bridging with Tara Brach (Part 14 – November) 1:30:07

29d ago1:30:07

1:30:07

In this session of Awareness in Action, spiritual teacher, psychologist, and author Tara Brach begins by acknowledging the profound pressures in our society and the importance of building solidarity in these times. She frames her exploration around the question of what it means to “keep choosing love.” Drawing on Father Gregory Boyle’s work with LA…

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Awakened Action: The Warrior’s Heart, Grandmother’s Wisdom, and the Path of Abundant Possibility (Part 7B) 47:07

1M ago47:07

47:07

This is the 2nd half of the closing session of the Awakened Action series begins with Christiana Figueres joining from Costa Rica, fresh from COP30 in Berlin. She shares her striking observation of “three realities” at the climate conference: the scientific urgency, governmental paralysis, and 50,000 activists accelerating change. Christiana emphas…

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Awakened Action: The Warrior’s Heart, Grandmother’s Wisdom, and the Path of Abundant Possibility (Part 7A) 1:12:08

1M ago1:12:08

1:12:08

This is the 1st half of the closing session of the Awakened Action series begins with Christiana Figueres joining from Costa Rica, fresh from COP30 in Berlin. She shares her striking observation of “three realities” at the climate conference: the scientific urgency, governmental paralysis, and 50,000 activists accelerating change. Christiana emphas…

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Awakened Action: Making the Future Now – Presence Under Pressure (Part 6) 57:53

30d ago57:53

57:53

In the sixth session of Awareness in Action, Christiana Figueres discusses Brazil’s Climate Conference, reflecting on our collective anxiety about present conditions and future uncertainties. She emphasizes that “the future is not waiting for us. The future is being shaped right now, every day, in the choices we make.” Drawing on Buddhist teachings…

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Awakened Action: Moral Beauty and The Great Turning (Part 5) 1:10:26

30d ago1:10:26

1:10:26

In the fifth talk of the Awakened Action series, Rebecca Solnit invites participants to name acts of moral beauty—from tribal leaders honoring Japanese American internment survivors to the Rainbow Defense Coalition protecting LGBTQ+ events. Rebecca reflects on falling into depression amid political darkness, emphasizing that the long view of histor…

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Awakened Action: The Divinity Tree and the Practice of Listening (Part 4) 1:03:30

1M ago1:03:30

1:03:30

In the fourth session of the Awakened Action series, Terry Tempest Williams shares the quiet, touching story she “could never write”—the killing of Harvard Divinity School’s beloved 200-year-old red oak in 2019. Sleeping beside the tree the night before its death, she received its transmission: “My absence will be my presence…this is transformation…

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Awakened Action: Liberating Imagination – Making the Future in the Present (Part 3) 1:15:19

30d ago1:15:19

1:15:19

In part three of the Awakened Action series, Roshi Joan Halifax invites participants to imagine the world in 20 years, revealing how we’re often “living in dread” rather than envisioning liberating possibilities. She distinguishes between liberating imagination—”the capacity to be with what is possible, even inside seeming impossibility, and to res…

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Awakened Action: The Charnel Ground – Cultivating Courage and Compassion (Part 2) 1:21:56

1M ago1:21:56

1:21:56

In this second session of Awakened Action, Valerie Brown explores where we encounter the charnel grounds—a Buddhist metaphor for places where deep suffering is present, including in our own minds. Valerie shares her own charnel ground: the dismantling of civil rights in America and invites participants to name their own charnel grounds within and o…

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Awakened Action: Opening Session (Part 1) 1:03:45

1M ago1:03:45

1:03:45

The opening session of Awakened Action lead by Roshi Joan, Rebecca Solnit, Valerie Brown, and Terry Tempest Williams, participants are invited to explore how futures are shaped through attention, relationship, and imagination. The teachers emphasized that “place is so important,” grounding the gathering in the land, labor, and layered histories tha…

1
Open Dharma: The Three Tenets and the Noble Eightfold Path 46:29

1M ago46:29

46:29

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Roshi Joan Halifax, joined by Senseis Kodo and Dainin, reflects on how Thanksgiving is both a time of festivity and a day of mourning for Native peoples. She raises this not to “send us down,” but to remind us not to turn away from the truth of suffering. Roshi moves through stories from her life, gathering us c…

1
Sutra and Suture Have the Same Root 47:11

1M ago47:11

47:11

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Rebecca Solnit explores empathy as an act of imagination—the capacity to feel beyond the boundaries of one’s own body. She begins with Roshi Joan’s distinction between empathy as “feeling into another” and compassion as “[empathy] accompanied by the aspiration to take action.” Rebecca considers how our inner cap…

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May We Be Nourished 36:25

2M ago36:25

36:25

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Monshin explores what it means to be truly nourished. While attending to a full day of cooking chiles rellenos, Monshin opened to how her ingredients might bring health to her body and her practice. In discussing the fifth precept as it relates to spiritual nourishment, Sensei Monshin challenges us to fin…

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Buddha Nature 2.0: Embodying the Four Perfections with Dōgen 50:42

2M ago50:42

50:42

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, delivered under the largest supermoon in two years, Sensei Kodo reflects on fusatsu—the full moon ceremony of vow renewal—his own marriage vows, and the absence of regular ceremony in our lives. He notes how ceremony awakens in us something our culture has largely forgotten: “We hunger for ritual.” Drawing on Ta…

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Inner Sangha: Healing and Transformation with the Life and Teachings of Larry Ward 47:32

2M ago47:32

47:32

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Valerie Brown honors the life and legacy of Dr. Larry Ward, a pioneering African-American Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition. Valerie recounts Larry’s journey from his Baptist roots to his work with Thich Nhat Hanh and his creation of the first BIPOC retreat in North America, and shares his teaching on…

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FPP2025 Sesshin Day 6: Returning Home 45:51

2M ago45:51

45:51

On the closing day of Upaya’s Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Kathy, Hoshi Senko, and Sensei Monshin offer an integrated reflection on continuing practice beyond the zendo. Sensei Kathy grounds us in the body, reminding us that awareness can arise anywhere—and that mind and mood are contingent, not fixed. She encourages returning to simple act…

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FPP2025 Sesshin Day 5: Effort Without Desire 35:07

2M ago35:07

35:07

In this Day five talk during the Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Monshin weaves together stories of generosity, effort, and hummingbirds to explore “effort without desire”—the natural, uncalculated movement of life giving to life. Beginning with the question of “deserving” in the meal chant, she challenges the logic of worthiness and turns us …

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FPP2025 Sesshin Day 3: The Dragon Singing in a Withered Tree 47:18

2M ago47:18

47:18

On Day three of the Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Hoshi Senko begins with Suzuki Roshi’s simple reminder: “Appreciate your life.” Senko describes sesshin as a means for this, saying sesshin is “a kind of resensitizing to our lives, a coming back into that kind of intimate contact with our lived experience.” Through the quiet repetition of meals, si…

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FPP2025 Sesshin Day 2: Practice – Realization 35:24

2M ago35:24

35:24

In Day two of the Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Kathie Fischer likens sesshin to an artist’s colony where each practitioner’s work unfolds through the act of doing itself. “Each of us is unique,” she says, “and therefore we express ourselves in this practice uniquely,” yet we also “fiercely protect the quiet space and resources we share.” Sh…

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Dogen’s Unconstructedness in Stillness 51:06

2M ago51:06

51:06

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk and Day 4 of Upaya’s Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Kathie Fischer brings our attention to resonance—the way one vibration awakens or encourages another. Drawing from physics, poetry, and the words of the ancestors, she invites us to hear the dharma not as explanation but the vibration of practice itself. S…

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FPP2025 Sesshin Day 1: Entering Through the True Gate 46:26

2M ago46:26

46:26

In this morning talk on the first full day of the Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Shinzan draws from Dōgen’s Bendōwa (“The Wholehearted Way”) to remind us that zazen itself is the true gate of the Buddha Dharma. With warmth and humor, he encourages practitioners to release striving and self-judgment, saying, “Sesshin is not for making decision…

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Fall Practice Period 2025: Sesshin Opening 42:05

2M ago42:05

42:05

In this opening session of Upaya’s 2025 Fall Pratice Period Sesshin, four teachers—Sensei Kathie Fischer, Sensei Shinzan (joining remotely from San Diego), Sensei Monshin, and Hoshi Senko—welcome participants into the stillness and rhythm of this week-long meditation retreat. They offer encouragement and practical guidance for entering sesshin as a…

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FPP2025: The Ordinary Profundity of the Present Moment (Part 5) 48:30

2M ago48:30

48:30

In this Zazenkai Day Talk during Fall Practice Period, Chris Senko Perez reflects on Dōgen’s Genjō Kōan through his image of sailing far out to sea, where the ocean appears perfectly round. Dōgen comments on this imagery, “When Dharma fills your whole body and mind. You understand that something is missing.” Senko explores this paradox—how true ful…

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FPP2025: Introduction to the Text: Actualizing the Fundamental Point (Part 3) 1:00:05

3M ago1:00:05

1:00:05

In this Fall Practice Period session, Senseis Kathie, Monshin, and Shinzan, with reflections from Hoshi Senko, open the study of Dogen’s Bendowa and Genjokoan. They invite participants to encounter Dogen not as a distant master to be analyzed but as a living companion in practice. “The zazen of even one person at one moment,” reads Sensei Monshin, …

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FPP2025: Study of The Great Way (Part 2) 39:10

2M ago39:10

39:10

In this Zazenkai Day talk during Upaya’s Fall Practice Period, Sensei Kathie Fischer offers her reflections on the simplicity and depth of Zen practice. She begins by exploring the role of language in understanding Zen, noting that “the purpose of a word is to create a boundary.” Kathie reflects on our intellectual and creative tendency to collect,…

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FPP2025: Actualizing the Fundamental Point – The Heart of Dogen’s Teachings Opening Session 45:31

2M ago45:31

45:31

Senseis Monshin, Kathie Fischer, and Shinzan, together with Hoshi Senko, open Upaya’s Fall Practice Period by welcoming participants from around the world into a month of deep study of Dogen’s Genjokoan. “To study the way is to study the self,” Monshin reminds us, as the teachers reflect on beginning again, letting go of comparison, and trusting th…

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Awareness In Action: Embodiment with Guo Gu (Part 13 – October) 1:31:39

3M ago1:31:39

1:31:39

In this talk from Upaya’s Awareness and Action series, Dr. Guo Gu, founder of the Tallahassee Chan Center, explores Embodiment and Engaged Practice—how awakening through the body becomes the ground for compassionate action in the world. “This body is what we have to work with,” he says. “It is the tool, it is this moment.” Through guided meditation…

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Finding your place where you are 45:40

3M ago45:40

45:40

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk during Fall Practice Period at Upaya, Sensei Monshin explores the meaning of dharma position. Building from Dogen’s Genjokoan, she explains dharma position as an expression of the inseparability of self and reality—“this intersection of the individual and universal.” Each being, she reminds us, is perfectly situa…

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Monkey Grasping for the Moon 40:24

3M ago40:24

40:24

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk during the Fall Practice Period, Sensei Shinzan turns to Dōgen’s Genjō Kōan, drawing on the image of a monkey grasping at the moon’s reflection to reveal how our search for enlightenment often obscures what is really there. “You want to see who is awake or who is enlightened? Just watch how they live their lives,…

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Way Seeking Mind: Head to Heart 44:17

3M ago44:17

44:17

In this Way-Seeking Mind Dharma Talk, resident Tuck Butsumon Stibich offers a moving reflection on his path from intellectual inquiry to embodied Zen practice. Raised in Dayton, Ohio, in a family grounded in both mathematics and Catholic faith, Stibich’s curiosity about the world was nurtured by moments of wonder in nature and study abroad. His lif…

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Awareness In Action: Discernment with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Part 12 – September) 1:39:06

3M ago1:39:06

1:39:06

In this session of Upaya’s Awareness in Action series, Bhikkhu Bodhi offers a penetrating teaching on discernment as the heart of engaged Buddhism in times of crisis. He reflects on his journey from 1960s activism, through decades of monastic practice in Sri Lanka, and back into the realm of social engagement, emphasizing that “Buddhism must not re…

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Love and Death 2025: Photos at the Threshold (Part 4) 1:07:04

3M ago1:07:04

1:07:04

In Part 4 of Upaya’s Love and Death program, Frank Ostaseski and Roshi Joan invite participants to “bring death into the room” through a mindfulness practice with photographs of people who stepped through the threshold of life. This practice asks us to directly face mortality and how our bodies, hearts, and minds respond to it—what draws us in and …

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Love and Death 2025: The Sovereignty of Solitude (Part 3B) 48:16

3M ago48:16

48:16

This is the 2nd half of … part 3 of Upaya’s Love and Death program, Frank Ostaseski and Roshi Joan Halifax explore the tension between belonging and accommodation. Through personal stories of illness, recovery, and care, they show how dignity in receiving and offering support deepens our understanding of love. Frank distinguishes authentic belongin…

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Love and Death 2025: The Sovereignty of Solitude (Part 3A) 50:38

3M ago50:38

50:38

In Part 3 of Upaya’s Love and Death program, Frank Ostaseski and Roshi Joan Halifax explore the tension between belonging and accommodation. Through personal stories of illness, recovery, and care, they show how dignity in receiving and offering support deepens our understanding of love. Frank distinguishes authentic belonging—our birthright of int…

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Love and Death 2025: Four Flavors of Fearless Love (Part 2B) 1:04:13

3M ago1:04:13

1:04:13

This is the 2nd half of … part two of Upaya’s Love and Death weekend program, Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski deepened the exploration of how personal love can open into universal compassion. Framed by the bodhisattva path, Roshi Joan recounted Thich Nhat Hanh’s story of youthful love for a nun, which he transmuted into service for a sufferi…

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Love and Death 2025: Four Flavors of Fearless Love (Part 2A) 48:40

3M ago48:40

48:40

In part two of Upaya’s Love and Death weekend program, Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski deepened the exploration of how personal love can open into universal compassion. Framed by the bodhisattva path, Roshi Joan recounted Thich Nhat Hanh’s story of youthful love for a nun, which he transmuted into service for a suffering Vietnam: “She repres…

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Love and Death 2025: Opening the Great Gifts: Opening Session (Part 1) 1:03:24

3M ago1:03:24

1:03:24

In the opening session (part 1) of Love and Death, Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski welcomed more than 1,300 participants into a shared inquiry of love and mortality. Framed by Rainer Maria Rilke’s insight that “Love and death are the great gifts that are given to us. Mostly they are passed on unopened,” the dialogue explores how dying strips…

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The Ultimate Inspiration: The Lion’s Roar of Queen Srimala 49:13

4M ago49:13

49:13

In this intriguing Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Kodo inspires us with the lion’s roar of Queen Srimala. Beginning with reflections on how motivations and intentions consciously and unconsciously impact behavior, Kodo guides us into the surprising and unexpected teachings of Queen Srimala. Counter to common cultural conceptions of Buddhism, Q…

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Joan Halifax | Zen Buddhist Teacher Upaya Abbot Podcasts

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