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Dharma Roads: Daily Summaries Delivered
by John Danvers
In this podcast, Buddhist chaplain, Zen practitioner and artist, John Danvers, explores the wisdom and meditation methods of Zen, Buddhism and other sceptical philosophers, writers and poets - seeking ways of dealing with the many problems and questions that arise in our daily lives. The talks are often short, and include poems, stories and music. John has practiced Zen meditation (zazen) for over sixty years.
Latest Episodes
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- Sep 11, 202640 min
Episode 45 - Intermingling minds: a Venetian rendezvous
Send us Fan Mail In this extended episode I take an exploratory wander through a number of themes and associations – all of which are somehow connected to the image of Venice as a place where people have met, traded and gone off on their travels to all parts of the globe. This notion of a cosmopolitan meeting of people I associate with another observation: that people’s minds are intermingling as well as their bodies. The city is a place where they open their minds to each other, opening wind...
- Aug 4, 202639 min
Episode 44 - In beauty I walk: beauty, appreciation and wabi-sabi
Send us Fan Mail This episode is in two parts. In Part One I explore some ideas about beauty, both those that define beauty as an ideal or transcendent quality, and those that consider beauty as an experience and mode of attention. I discuss concepts of beauty that focus on perfection and permanence and those that focus on imperfection and impermanence. In Part Two I offer a poetic alternative rendering of what I have said in Part One – hopefully evoking experiences of beauty in the images, r...
- Jun 2, 202636 min
Episode 43 - Zen teacher Dogen
Send us Fan Mail In this episode I talk about the very influential Japanese Zen teacher, Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), and also say a little about an earlier Chinese teacher, Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157) whom Dogen respected and quoted many times. I describe some of the key ideas of Dogen’s teacher, Rujing (1163–1228), as they are a major influence on Dogen’s approach to Zen meditation. I also discuss their important contributions to the development of Zen Buddhism and say why I think their teachi...
- Apr 30, 202628 min
Episode 42 - Zazen & just being here
Send us Fan Mail In this episode I share some thoughts about what I have learnt from zazen practice and how it has come to be so central to my life. In my experience, zazen (Zen meditation) is a very creative, expansive and revitalising activity. The mind seems to open naturally to fresh understandings and shifts of perspective - as if windows and doors open, allowing the cool breeze of thoughts, feelings and sensations to flow unhindered.
- Mar 13, 202642 min
Episode 41 - Charles Reznikoff: poet as witness
Send us Fan Mail In this extended episode I talk about the American poet, Charles Reznikoff, and about the two movements or trends in modern poetry with which he was associated - ‘imagism’ and ‘objectivism’ – and which help us to understand something of Reznikoff’s beliefs and approach as a poet. Please note: one of the poems quoted in the talk is titled, Holocaust, and contains disturbing verbatim accounts from the Nuremberg Military Tribunal of atrocities committed during the Second World W...
- Jan 28, 202633 min
Episode 40 - The arts of awakening & selfing
Send us Fan Mail In this episode I explore ideas about nirvana, awakening and what we mean by ‘the self,’ as described in the Buddhist traditions founded by Gotama Buddha - whom scholars reckon may have lived around 400 BCE. I suggest that awakening and ourselves are processes, rather than fixed states or things, and that we can cultivate them through mindful awareness or Zen meditation. Rather than being accessible only to a few people endowed with special powers, awakening is an art we can ...
- Nov 13, 202537 min
Episode 39 - Gary Snyder: his life & poetry
Send us Fan Mail In this extended episode I talk about another American poet, essayist and environmental activist, Gary Snyder. You might like to take a break in the middle! As I mentioned in Episode 34 both Snyder and Kenneth Rexroth explore the natural world in their work – literally, as hikers through the American landscape, and in their poetry and other writings. Snyder, who is now in his nineties, spent a lot of time with Rexroth in the 1950s and for a while Rexroth was something of a me...
- Sep 27, 202531 min
Episode 38 - Mutability, time & presence
Send us Fan Mail The brevity of life and the nature of time are topics that humans have puzzled over for at least two thousand years – and probably for as long as our species has walked the earth. In this episode I want to offer a few thoughts on these matters and on the mysterious phenomenon we refer to as ‘the present moment.’ What I have to say is rooted in my experience of zazen, Zen meditation, and in my study of Buddhist thought and other philosophical traditions. The practice of zazen ...
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About Dharma Roads
In this podcast, Buddhist chaplain, Zen practitioner and artist, John Danvers, explores the wisdom and meditation methods of Zen, Buddhism and other sceptical philosophers, writers and poets - seeking ways of dealing with the many problems and questions that arise in our daily lives. The talks are often short, and include poems, stories and music. John has practiced Zen meditation (zazen) for over sixty years.
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