The Upaya Dharma Podcast features Wednesday evening Dharma Talks and recordings from Upaya's diverse array of programs. Our podcasts exemplify Upaya’s focus on socially engaged Buddhism, including prison work, end-of-life care, serving the homeless, training in socially engaged practices, peace & no…
Joan Halifax | Zen Buddhist Teacher Upaya Abbot
Santa Fe, NM
Listeners of Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast that love the show mention: dharma talks, zen, thank, great, roshi joan, upaya.
The Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Buddhist teachings and mindfulness practices. Hosted by Roshi Joan Halifax, the podcast offers a wide range of topics presented by esteemed teachers in the field. The podcast is freely available to all, and I am grateful for the generosity of Upaya in sharing these teachings.
One of the best aspects of this podcast is the quality of the teachings and the authenticity of the speakers. Roshi Joan Halifax is a genuine and compassionate teacher, and her clarity shines through in each episode. The podcast covers a wide range of topics, allowing listeners to explore different aspects of Buddhism and mindfulness practice. Additionally, the Zen Brain series is a highlight with its engaging discussions on neuroscience and awareness.
Another positive aspect is that the episodes often begin with a meditative bowl sound, creating a calming atmosphere from the start. This attention to detail enhances the listening experience and helps set a pleasant mood for exploring these profound teachings.
While there are many positive aspects to this podcast, one potential downside is that it may not be as accessible for those new to Buddhist teachings or meditation practice. The episodes assume some level of familiarity with these concepts, which might make it difficult for beginners to fully grasp certain teachings.
In conclusion, The Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast is an exceptional resource for individuals interested in deepening their understanding of Buddhism and mindfulness practices. With its diverse range of topics and esteemed teachers, this podcast offers valuable insights and guidance on living a more mindful and compassionate life. Despite potentially being less accessible for beginners, this podcast remains a treasure trove for those seeking authentic dharma teachings.
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Dainin interweaves personal story, Buddhist teaching, and contemporary challenges to show how the Bodhisattva vow can be lived — and is urgently needed — in our […]
In this session of Upaya's Awareness in Action series, writer and activist Rebecca Solnit joins Roshi Joan Halifax to explore how stories shape reality, the nature of human behavior in crisis, and the discipline of hope […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei James Fushin explores vulnerability as a profound gateway to awakening. Drawing from the Vimalakirti Sutra and physicist Brian Cox's question—”How do we live a finite, fragile life in […]
In the second part of this two-part Wednesday Night Dharma Talk mini-series, Zen teacher Guo Gu guides us into the embodiment of silent illumination. He begins not with theory but with experience: posture, presence, and body. […]
In this session of Awareness in Action, Roshi Joan Halifax and Terry Tempest Williams guide participants to witness the world with care, presence, and courage. Roshi Joan opens with the Zen koan—“A monk asked Joshu, […]
In this closing session of Upaya's Dogen Seminar, faculty and participants reflect on how ancient teachings become living transmission through courage, friendship, and practice. Roshi Joan reminds us that discovery emerges not through […]
In the seventh session of Upaya's Dogen Seminar, Sensei Genzan explores Dogen's Eight Awakenings of Great Beings (Hachi Dainin Gaku), weaving scholarship with lived experience to reveal how Zen practice addresses the paradoxes of daily […]
In the sixth session of Upaya's Dogen Seminar, the faculty engage in a rich exploration of Dogen's use of language, paradox, and poetry as spiritual communication. Heine highlights how paradox functions as […]
In this fifth session of Upaya's Dogen Seminar, Norman and Kathie Fischer explore Dogen's Four Methods of Guidance (Bodaisatta Shishobo), one of the most accessible and transformative fascicles of the Shobogenzo. Building on reflections about paradox in Zen, […]
In this fourth session of Upaya's Dogen Seminar, Sensei Jiryu explores the profound paradox at the heart of Zen practice: the essential teaching of non-separation. He highlights the famous line, “The great way […]
In this third session of Upaya's Dogen Seminar, renowned poet, translator, and peace activist Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi presents his analysis of paradox in Dogen's writings, drawing from his monumental 33-year translation project of […]
In this second session of the Dogen Seminar, distinguished scholar Dr. Steven Heine explores the profound role of paradox in Zen Buddhism, examining how these seemingly contradictory teachings serve as liberating devices rather […]
In this opening session of Upaya's Dogen Seminar, program faculty introduce themselves and reflect on themes and paradoxes within Dogen's teachings they will be sharing over the weekend. Roshi Joan Halifax presented Dogen's […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, resident priest Senko Perez reflects on the common trap of imagining that true practice lies elsewhere—in quieter places, calmer minds, or better circumstances. During a recent solo […]
In this session of Awareness in Action and speaking from her farm in Alexandria, Louisiana—unexpectedly located at the center of America's deportation operations—dharma teacher and social justice activist Konda Mason explores the powerful connection […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Monshin explores the ancient Buddhist teaching of Kanno Doko — “responsive communion” or “mystical communion.” Drawing from a Wallace Stevens poem and the writings of Suzuki Roshi, she […]
In the first part of this two-part Wednesday Night Dharma Talk mini-series, Zen teacher Guo Gu explores the deep relationship between silent illumination (or just sitting), and embodiment practice. He traces the historical roots of silent […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Jiryu affirms the central practice of Zen is to become truly ourselves. Reading from Suzuki Roshi's teachings, and sharing quotes from Shohaku Okamura, Katagiri Roshi, and […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Genzan offers a unique exploration of true dharma expression – weaving together the teachings of 13th century Zen master Dogen with the poetry and life of […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, longtime resident and novice priest Jimon Lorene Flaming tenderly offers her long and winding path to practice in her way-seeking mind talk. Inspired by overseas medical service […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Dainin shares deeply personal stories of accompanying her father and Roshi Joan through life-threatening medical crises, revealing how the Buddhist Five Remembrances transformed from abstract teachings […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Monshin explores what it means to be a peacemaker in our complicated world. Recalling a creative renaming of the 4th of July as “Interdependence Day,” Monshin […]
In this session of Upaya's Awareness in Action series, Father Gregory Boyle—Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries—offers a profound reflection on kinship, healing, and radical compassion. Father Boyle brings humor, depth, and […]
In this informative Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Zenshin Florence Caplow explores the meaning of “Buddha meets Buddha” in the context of how we might skillfully navigate our relationships with spiritual teachers. Zenshin […]
This is the 2nd half of the session on Planting Life, where participants explore indigenous food ways and decolonization through cultivated ancient wisdoms. Artist and cultural preservationist Roxanne Swentzell shares her […]
This is the 1st half of the session on Planting Life, where participants explore indigenous food ways and decolonization through cultivated ancient wisdoms. Artist and cultural preservationist Roxanne Swentzell shares her […]
In this session of Planting Life, we participate in the sacred planting ceremony that honors indigenous wisdom through the cultivation of ancestral crops—corn, beans, and squash—known as the Three Sisters. Led by […]
In this session of Planting Life, Mayan archaeoastronomer Alonso Méndez reveals the profound astronomical knowledge embedded in ancient Mesoamerican civilization. Drawing from his decades of research at Palenque, Méndez traces how corn […]
In this session, Roshi Joan Halifax, Troy Keido Fernandez, Sensei Wendy Johnson, and Alonso Mendez open the annual Planting Life program at Upaya Zen Center. Roshi welcomes in-person and online participants to this sacred gathering that […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Cynthia Ryotan explores the ancient Zen poem “The Mind of Absolute Trust” or “Xinxin Ming.” She unpacks how our preferences “chop up our lives and […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Kodo explores the concept of impermanence as it relates to love, loss, and appreciation through the Portuguese word saudade – the inseparable feelings of sorrow and joy that […]
In this Wednesday Night Public Dharma Talk, resident practitioner Hunt Anshin Hoffman offers his first Dharma talk relating to his path and relationship with practice (way seeking mind talk). Anshin begins by invoking the […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Keido Troy Fernandez, a 13th generation native New Mexican and Zen priest at Upaya, tenderly weaves together ancestral wisdom, land-based practice, and Buddhist teachings. Drawing from […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Roshi Jan Chozen Bays provides a grounded and practical reflection on the teaching of impermanence. She explores impermanence (anicca) as one of Buddhism's three fundamental marks of […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk coinciding with Upaya's Being With Dying program, Frank Ostaseski breaks open the conversation of caring for those near death or in the dying process. Like curling up with a good […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Buddhist philosopher David Loy traces humanity's evolving quest for meaning through historical religious frameworks. Loy examines how humanity's search for purpose has evolved through the ages – […]
In this powerful talk from the Awakened Action series, Roshi Joan Halifax explores how solidarity can transform our shared and interwoven world during these critical times. After a warm introduction, Roshi begins, “From a […]
In this unique and powerful Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Roshi Joan Halifax displays the poise and clarity of practice. Unexpectedly, she turns the talk into a dialogue with the audience as she reflects on […]
In this closing talk from the last day of Spring Practice Period Sesshin, the faculty of the practice period weave together final reflections on the vows and actions of true bodhisattvas. Sensei […]
In this talk during the fifth full day of Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Cynthia Ryotan explores the fourth of the bodhisattva's methods of guidance: kind speech. She fames the importance of […]
In this third full day of Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Monshin explores the concepts of beneficial action and identity action from Dogen's Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. She identifies beneficial action as “skillfully […]
In this second full day of Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Shinzan explores the Four Bodhisattva Vows as expressions of what Suzuki Roshi described as an “inflexible determination to carry out one's will […]
In this talk during the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Ryotan explores the first of Dogen's Four Methods of Guidance: Dana (generosity). Dogen himself lived in a tumultuous era of social upheaval, war, […]
In this opening talk for the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Senseis Monshin, Ryotan, and Shinzan offer their remarks and suggestions to make the most of the deep quiet and practice of sesshin. Sensei Shinzan explains […]
In this dharma talk during Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Shinzan thoroughly explores the Ten Paramitas (Perfections) of Mahayana Buddhism. He works backward from the tenth to the first, covering knowledge, powers, vow, […]
In this second Zazenkai day talk of Spring Practice Period, Sensei Shinzan explores the essence of compassion in Buddhism. He begins with a Matrix-inspired question to illustrate the Bodhisattva vow: “Somebody tells you, […]
In this first Zazenkai day of Spring Practice Period, Sensei Monshin delivers a poignant talk in her naturally calm and lighthearted way. Monshin reflects on this opportunity to practice and asks us to […]
In this session of the Spring Practice Period, Senseis Monshin and Ryotan, introduce participants to Taigen Dan Leighton's Faces of Compassion – the text of focus for the practice period. Sensei Ryotan emphasizes that bodhisattvas are […]
In this opening session of Spring Practice Period, Senseis Monshin, Shinzan, and Ryotan warmly welcome participants to explore “Living in the Embrace of the Bodhisattva Path.” Sensei Monshin begins by speaking to the ancient tradition […]
In this session of the Awareness in Action series, Valerie Brown passionately meets us at the crossroads of spiritual practice and social action. As democracy trembles and DEI programs face systematic dismantling, […]
In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk during Spring Practice Period, Sensei Monshin explores the archetypal energies of two bodhisattvas – Samantabhadra and Jizo. She begins by asking what sustains our practice and effort, answering simply: […]
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
