Radiance of the Dark

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Radiance of the Dark, zen dharma talks by Joan Sutherland, Roshi on how awakening is as much about endarkenment as enlightenment : the power of a broken heart … the richness of what happens underground, out of conscious awareness … waking into the dream of the world. Walking the timeless koan path t…

Joan Sutherland, Roshi


    • Nov 12, 2019 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 47m AVG DURATION
    • 124 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Radiance of the Dark

    Heart Sutra III (MCZC 2005)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 4:47


    2004 - 2005 | Springs Mountain Sangha, Colorado Springs, CO and Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Santa Fe, NM A bouquet of talks on the Heart Sutra, the distillation of the vast Prajna Paramita literature of the Mahayana. That's Prajna Paramita herself, the mother of buddhas, above. Because the Heart Sutra is a distillation, it's dense, nothing extra, bracing. Turns out when you pour in the stories and associations that surround it, the potion becomes sweeter and more complex. The first talk is the most straightforward introduction to the text, and after that, well, it wanders where it wanders - being the heart of the world and all.

    Heart Sutra II (MCZC 2005)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 39:15


    2004 - 2005 | Springs Mountain Sangha, Colorado Springs, CO and Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Santa Fe, NM A bouquet of talks on the Heart Sutra, the distillation of the vast Prajna Paramita literature of the Mahayana. That's Prajna Paramita herself, the mother of buddhas, above. Because the Heart Sutra is a distillation, it's dense, nothing extra, bracing. Turns out when you pour in the stories and associations that surround it, the potion becomes sweeter and more complex. The first talk is the most straightforward introduction to the text, and after that, well, it wanders where it wanders - being the heart of the world and all.

    Vermeer's Peace (2006)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 15:27


    Springs Mountain Sangha, Colorado Springs, CO | April 9, 2005, April 28, 2006 The old folks talked about how we all unfold sutra scrolls from our toes as we walk and our mouths as we speak, waving from the bright green tips of our new growth and falling out the tops of eggs as we peck them open. It's spring, the season of unfoldings both delicate and flamboyant — a good time for two talks inspired by artists. The first is an exhortation inspired by an old-style preacher and painter, Hakuin Ekaku of eighteenth century Japan — whose, um, directness I seem to have been channeling a bit that night; the second is a meditation on how koans are like the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, seventeenth century Dutch master of the pervading light. Hakuin would probably be pleased that his Prescription for the Penetrating-One's-Nature-and-Becoming-a-Buddha Pill was passed around during a retreat, while Vermeer might be surprised to find his oil and canvas evocations of peace enlisted to show how we work with koans, and koans work with us.

    Heart Sutra I (MCZC 2005)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 10:11


    2004 - 2005 | Springs Mountain Sangha, Colorado Springs, CO and Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Santa Fe, NM A bouquet of talks on the Heart Sutra, the distillation of the vast Prajna Paramita literature of the Mahayana. That's Prajna Paramita herself, the mother of buddhas, above. Because the Heart Sutra is a distillation, it's dense, nothing extra, bracing. Turns out when you pour in the stories and associations that surround it, the potion becomes sweeter and more complex. The first talk is the most straightforward introduction to the text, and after that, well, it wanders where it wanders - being the heart of the world and all.

    Hakuin's Prescription

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 23:42


    Springs Mountain Sangha, Colorado Springs, CO | April 9, 2005, April 28, 2006 The old folks talked about how we all unfold sutra scrolls from our toes as we walk and our mouths as we speak, waving from the bright green tips of our new growth and falling out the tops of eggs as we peck them open. It's spring, the season of unfoldings both delicate and flamboyant — a good time for two talks inspired by artists. The first is an exhortation inspired by an old-style preacher and painter, Hakuin Ekaku of eighteenth century Japan — whose, um, directness I seem to have been channeling a bit that night; the second is a meditation on how koans are like the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, seventeenth century Dutch master of the pervading light. Hakuin would probably be pleased that his Prescription for the Penetrating-One's-Nature-and-Becoming-a-Buddha Pill was passed around during a retreat, while Vermeer might be surprised to find his oil and canvas evocations of peace enlisted to show how we work with koans, and koans work with us.

    Heart Sutra (Springs Mountain Sangha, 2004)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 45:02


    2004 - 2005 | Springs Mountain Sangha, Colorado Springs, CO and Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Santa Fe, NM A bouquet of talks on the Heart Sutra, the distillation of the vast Prajna Paramita literature of the Mahayana. That's Prajna Paramita herself, the mother of buddhas, above. Because the Heart Sutra is a distillation, it's dense, nothing extra, bracing. Turns out when you pour in the stories and associations that surround it, the potion becomes sweeter and more complex. The first talk is the most straightforward introduction to the text, and after that, well, it wanders where it wanders - being the heart of the world and all.

    Three Roads

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2019 425:00


    June - October 2019 | Northern Coast of California An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Noncomplicity

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2019 6:54


    June - October 2019 | Northern Coast of California An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Make it a Prayer

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2019 2:02


    June - October 2019 | Northern Coast of California An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Doubts and Loves

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2019 246:00


    June - October 2019 | Northern Coast of California An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Our Ancestors, Our Children

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2019 250:00


    June - October 2019 | Northern Coast of California An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Invisible Ceremonies

    Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2019 16:06


    A day of remembrance. How do you memorialize something that hasn’t happened yet? The United Nations says that a million species could go extinct in the coming decades. What will that look like coming across our news feed? Imagine that the extinctions are announced one by one as they occur : How many alerts per day will that be? (Memorial Day, May 2019)

    Invisible Ceremonies

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2019 16:06


    An ongoing series imagining from a perspective both wide and piercing some of the deep stories underneath the climate crisis and the future of humans

    Dreaming the Invisible

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2019 425:00


    An ongoing series imagining from a perspective both wide and piercing some of the deep stories underneath the climate crisis and the future of humans

    Three Roads

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2019 7:05


    An ongoing series imagining from a perspective both wide and piercing some of the deep stories underneath the climate crisis and the future of humans

    Dreaming the Invisible

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2019 7:03


    When the foundation stone for Notre-Dame de Paris was laid in 1163 everyone, architects to stonemasons, knew they’d be working on something they wouldn’t live to see completed, nor would their children or grandchildren. They couldn’t be certain that the engineering would hold, or what the light, filtered through rose windows into a stone glade, would be like. (Earth Day, April 2019)

    Three Roads

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2018 425:00


    /*What does Dongshan teach? The dark way, the bird path, and the open hand.*/ At the edge of the sea, the rumble and roll of the waters pull on some deep memory of our first, floating home, when we were diaphanous, barely matter, aeons before the empires of thought and industry were built upon the land. Wind pours through the coastal forest, joining the boom of the waves, and the world is a unity of impersonal and completely consoling roar. (Bodhi Day, December 2018)

    Three Roads

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2018 7:05


    An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Make it a Prayer

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2018 2:24


    An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Doubts and Loves

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2018 4:06


    An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Our Ancestors, Our Children

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2018 4:10


    An erratic series prompted by the erratic events of our times, in hopes of offering ways to hold their complexities, grieving what there is to grieve and remembering the veins of gold that mend a broken tea bowl — the radiance in the shattered, the unexpected beauty of the mended.

    Dharma Gates of the Ancestors

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2018 24:36


    October - November 2008 | Cerro Gordo Temple, Santa Fe, NM | Pacific Zen Institute, Santa Rosa, CA Looking at dharma gates, the ancestors, the Great Mysterious at the heart of things, and more, from the perspective of Yunmen’s “In the whole world, in the midst of the cosmos, there is a treasure, hidden in your body. Holding a lantern, it goes toward the buddha hall. It brings the great triple gate and puts it on the lantern.”

    Gates II

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2018 24:33


    October - November 2008 | Cerro Gordo Temple, Santa Fe, NM | Pacific Zen Institute, Santa Rosa, CA Looking at dharma gates, the ancestors, the Great Mysterious at the heart of things, and more, from the perspective of Yunmen’s “In the whole world, in the midst of the cosmos, there is a treasure, hidden in your body. Holding a lantern, it goes toward the buddha hall. It brings the great triple gate and puts it on the lantern.”

    Gates I

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2018 22:34


    October - November 2008 | Cerro Gordo Temple, Santa Fe, NM | Pacific Zen Institute, Santa Rosa, CA Looking at dharma gates, the ancestors, the Great Mysterious at the heart of things, and more, from the perspective of Yunmen’s “In the whole world, in the midst of the cosmos, there is a treasure, hidden in your body. Holding a lantern, it goes toward the buddha hall. It brings the great triple gate and puts it on the lantern.”

    Women of the Way

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2017 24:19


    2009 - 2011 | Cerro Gordo Temple | Santa Fe, NM Recent revelations of the moving, illuminating, maddeningly partial stories of our East Asian women ancestors are beginning to make the story of Chan and Zen more whole. These meditations on books about East Asian monastics and Japanese laywomen are filled with new metaphors and imagery, as well as practices, created by these geniuses on the margins of our tradition.

    Women's Domestic Zen

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2017 54:18


    2009 - 2011 | Cerro Gordo Temple | Santa Fe, NM Recent revelations of the moving, illuminating, maddeningly partial stories of our East Asian women ancestors are beginning to make the story of Chan and Zen more whole. These meditations on books about East Asian monastics and Japanese laywomen are filled with new metaphors and imagery, as well as practices, created by these geniuses on the margins of our tradition.

    Invocation of the Lunar Dharma

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2017 2:46


    First given at the Vernal Equinox Allegiance to the Most Beloved Retreat in 2013.

    Morning Star Koans 2009

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2016


    Secret Lover, Guest, and Host

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2016 39:56


    February 2010 | Desert Rain Retreat | Tucson, AZ At the start of a life with koans, we're in relationship with a Secret Lover, that whispered commentary on things that's always with us. Over time our allegiance shifts and we're more often slipping between the roles of Guest and Host, offering and receiving with others, with the vastness itself. subjects : Linji, Layman Pang, Fayan, sorrow, guest, host, secret lover

    Joan Sutherland, Roshi

    Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2015


    Founding Teacher Board of Directors, ex officio

    Deep in the Mountains IV Dharmakaya

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2013 64:30


    July 2013 | Vallecitos Mountain Ranch | Vallecitos, NM These talks accompanied a week spent immersed in the Three Bodies – of form, dream, and the vastness Ã

    Deep in the Mountains III Sambhogakaya

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2013 24:30


    July 2013 | Vallecitos Mountain Ranch | Vallecitos, NM These talks accompanied a week spent immersed in the Three Bodies – of form, dream, and the vastness Ã

    Deep in the Mountatins II Nirmanakaya

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2013 50:11


    July 2013 | Vallecitos Mountain Ranch | Vallecitos, NM These talks accompanied a week spent immersed in the Three Bodies – of form, dream, and the vastness Ã

    Deep in the Mountains I Introduction

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2013 64:30


    July 2013 | Vallecitos Mountain Ranch | Vallecitos, NM These talks accompanied a week spent immersed in the Three Bodies – of form, dream, and the vastness Ã

    Allegiance to the Most Beloved

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2013 60:08


    March 2013 | Mountain Cloud Zen Center | Santa Fe, NM This talk introduces Lunar Dharma, a vision of the koan way as an underground countercurrent to institutions and orthodoxies, connecting us to ancient and revivifying sources of the wisdom that grows in the dark. subjects : incantation of the lunar dharma, countercurrents, dreaming, endarkenment

    Koan Ancestors III

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2012 14:47


    November 2-4, 2012 | Mountain Cloud Zen Center | Santa Fe, NM One of the most beautiful aspects of the origin of the koans is their deep connection to the Chinese language, especially in its earliest forms. We spent a weekend getting to know some characters that are ancestors to the koans, amazing creatures who offer us the possibility of beautiful interruptions, which break what appear to be inevitable karmic chains, returning us to the realm of the free self and the original vow.

    Koan Ancestors II

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2012 33:22


    November 2-4, 2012 | Mountain Cloud Zen Center | Santa Fe, NM One of the most beautiful aspects of the origin of the koans is their deep connection to the Chinese language, especially in its earliest forms. We spent a weekend getting to know some characters that are ancestors to the koans, amazing creatures who offer us the possibility of beautiful interruptions, which break what appear to be inevitable karmic chains, returning us to the realm of the free self and the original vow.

    Koan Ancestors I

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2012 47:11


    November 2-4, 2012 | Mountain Cloud Zen Center | Santa Fe, NM One of the most beautiful aspects of the origin of the koans is their deep connection to the Chinese language, especially in its earliest forms. We spent a weekend getting to know some characters that are ancestors to the koans, amazing creatures who offer us the possibility of beautiful interruptions, which break what appear to be inevitable karmic chains, returning us to the realm of the free self and the original vow.

    Embracing Change III

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2012 73:03


    August 2012 | Omega Institute | Rhinebeck, NY These three talks were given as part of a Shambhala Foundation weekend on Embracing Change in Your Life. Do you trust your life? How is change sometimes like geology, sometimes like seasons, or weather? What's it like to actually rest in not knowing? subjects : change, transition, Dharma, trust, life, seasons, geology

    Embracing Change II

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2012 23:46


    August 2012 | Omega Institute | Rhinebeck, NY These three talks were given as part of a Shambhala Foundation weekend on Embracing Change in Your Life. Do you trust your life? How is change sometimes like geology, sometimes like seasons, or weather? What's it like to actually rest in not knowing? subjects : change, transition, Dharma, trust, life, seasons, geology

    Embracing Change I

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2012 20:14


    August 2012 | Omega Institute | Rhinebeck, NY These three talks were given as part of a Shambhala Foundation weekend on Embracing Change in Your Life. Do you trust your life? How is change sometimes like geology, sometimes like seasons, or weather? What's it like to actually rest in not knowing? subjects : change, transition, Dharma, trust, life, seasons, geology

    Nonduality as Flow II

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2012 30:47


    April/May 2012 | Cerro Gordo Temple | Santa Fe, NM Nonduality is an iron cliff of a word, so these two talks attempt to create some footholds by considering the essence of nonduality as the shimmer of things, and its activity as the way everything is flowing in and out of everything else. subjects : nonduality, tathagatha, alaya vijnana, simultaneity, Middle Way, function, /*Lankavatara Sutra*/, /*Platform Sutra*/

    Nonduality as Shimmer I

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2012 22:09


    April/May 2012 | Cerro Gordo Temple | Santa Fe, NM Nonduality is an iron cliff of a word, so these two talks attempt to create some footholds by considering the essence of nonduality as the shimmer of things, and its activity as the way everything is flowing in and out of everything else. subjects : nonduality, tathagatha, alaya vijnana, simultaneity, Middle Way, function, /*Lankavatara Sutra*/, /*Platform Sutra*/

    Lankavatara Sutra & The Poet Issa III

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2012 46:12


    March 2012 | Mountain Cloud Zen Center | Santa Fe, NM The Lankavatara Sutra says that we project thoughts into the world and think they're real, but it's possible to drop those projections and return to our heart-mind's natural unity with the world. In 18th-century Japan, Kobayashi Issa turned these teachings into poetry, showing us how to move toward this liberating state of projectionlessness in the midst of our poignant lives. *subjects :* Lankavatara Sutra, koan introduction, D.T. Suzuki, Issa, dreaming, reincarnation, tathagata

    Lankavatara Sutra & The Poet Issa II

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2012 23:29


    March 2012 | Mountain Cloud Zen Center | Santa Fe, NM The Lankavatara Sutra says that we project thoughts into the world and think they're real, but it's possible to drop those projections and return to our heart-mind's natural unity with the world. In 18th-century Japan, Kobayashi Issa turned these teachings into poetry, showing us how to move toward this liberating state of projectionlessness in the midst of our poignant lives. *subjects :* Lankavatara Sutra, koan introduction, D.T. Suzuki, Issa, dreaming, reincarnation, tathagata

    IV Mindfulness and Concentrat

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 29, 2012 24:40


    February 2012 | Desert Rain Zen Group | Tucson, AZ This collection of foundational dharma talks was given at a retreat in which a ceremony for sensei Tenney Nathanson was performed. Topics covered include an introduction to retreats; the foundations of koan practice; teachers, traditions, and lineage; and mindfulness and concentration practices. subjects : Santoka, retreat, relaxation, silence, koan practice, Tenney Nathanson, Andrew Palmer, Sarah Bender, sensei, mindfulness, concentration, tathagata

    III Teachers, Lineage, Tradit

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 29, 2012 46:22


    February 2012 | Desert Rain Zen Group | Tucson, AZ This collection of foundational dharma talks was given at a retreat in which a ceremony for sensei Tenney Nathanson was performed. Topics covered include an introduction to retreats; the foundations of koan practice; teachers, traditions, and lineage; and mindfulness and concentration practices. subjects : Santoka, retreat, relaxation, silence, koan practice, Tenney Nathanson, Andrew Palmer, Sarah Bender, sensei, mindfulness, concentration, tathagata

    II Introduction to Working w

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 29, 2012 35:31


    February 2012 | Desert Rain Zen Group | Tucson, AZ This collection of foundational dharma talks was given at a retreat in which a ceremony for sensei Tenney Nathanson was performed. Topics covered include an introduction to retreats; the foundations of koan practice; teachers, traditions, and lineage; and mindfulness and concentration practices. subjects : Santoka, retreat, relaxation, silence, koan practice, Tenney Nathanson, Andrew Palmer, Sarah Bender, sensei, mindfulness, concentration, tathagata

    I Relaxing into Retreat

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 29, 2012 27:00


    February 2012 | Desert Rain Zen Group | Tucson, AZ This collection of foundational dharma talks was given at a retreat in which a ceremony for sensei Tenney Nathanson was performed. Topics covered include an introduction to retreats; the foundations of koan practice; teachers, traditions, and lineage; and mindfulness and concentration practices. subjects : Santoka, retreat, relaxation, silence, koan practice, Tenney Nathanson, Andrew Palmer, Sarah Bender, sensei, mindfulness, concentration, tathagata

    Reconsidering Mindfulness IV

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2012 25:38


    February/March 2012 | Cerro Gordo Temple | Santa Fe, NM The way we seem to be assimilating Buddhist teachings in the West is as mindfulness, which has many helpful applications. It also has some pitfalls, which become clear when we consider mindfulness in its traditional context. These talks explore mindfulness not so much as a miner's lamp practice of attention but as heart-mindfulness, with its sense of open and loving attention, focus on unselfing, appreciation for what we can't make conscious, and constant recollection of the vastness of the present moment. subjects : mindfulness, unselfing, heart-mind, private buddha,Yehuda Amichai, Simone Weil

    Reconsidering Mindfulness III

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2012 31:30


    February/March 2012 | Cerro Gordo Temple | Santa Fe, NM The way we seem to be assimilating Buddhist teachings in the West is as mindfulness, which has many helpful applications. It also has some pitfalls, which become clear when we consider mindfulness in its traditional context. These talks explore mindfulness not so much as a miner's lamp practice of attention but as heart-mindfulness, with its sense of open and loving attention, focus on unselfing, appreciation for what we can't make conscious, and constant recollection of the vastness of the present moment. subjects : mindfulness, unselfing, heart-mind, private buddha,Yehuda Amichai, Simone Weil

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