Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

In this Zazenaki Talk during the Winter Practice Period, two recently ordained priests— Butsumon and Genryu—explore Dōgen’s Tenzo Kyokun through personal experiences of transformation and learning. Genryu shares how a “ghost from a past life” unexpectedly visited him just days before ordination, initially shaking him but ultimately becoming a teacher. Weaving quotes from sutras and Dogen…

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In this Winter Practice Period Zazenkai Day Talk, resident priest Jimon and Sensei Wendy Johnson explore apamada—careful, heedful practice—through the lens of everyday activity. Drawing on Dogen’s Tenzo Kyokun, Jimon shares stories on how grinding sesame, tending squash, and preparing food are opportunities for the expression of ‘gyoji’, or wholehearted engagement. She reflects on how ritual…

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In this introduction to Dōgen’s Tenzo Kyōkun (Instructions for the Cook) during the opening days of Upaya’s Winter Practice Period, the faculty explores how awakening is realized through work, care, and ordinary activity. Roshi Joan Halifax reflects on Dōgen’s three minds—joyful mind, parental mind (grandmother’s heart), and big mind—emphasizing care for others in the cultivation of wholesome…

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In this opening session of the Winter Practice Period, Roshi Joan Halifax, alongside Senseis Wendy Johnson, Dainin, Kodo, and Hoshi Senko, names this month of practice as movement “against the stream”. Roshi suggests this step into structure, silence, and relationality is expressed not through personality, but through respect. Ango, she reminds us, is not only “peaceful dwelling” but safety: a…

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This opening session of The Measure of Our Humanity series gathers over 1,000 participants worldwide to reflect on what sustains our humanity in difficult times. Roshi Joan Halifax welcomes longtime friend Jon Kabat-Zinn, framing the series as a shared ‘commons’ grounded in solidarity, truth-telling, and radical care, recognizing the gathering itself as an act of collective sanity.

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