Free Daily Podcast Summary
Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Joan Halifax | Zen Buddhist Teacher Upaya Abbot
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 & nonviolence, compassionate care training, and delivering healthcare in the Himalayas.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 2 weeks ago48 min
Zhao Zhou’s Instructions for Finding Our True Home
In this Wednesday night Dharma talk, given on the fourth day of Upaya’s Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Cynthia Ryotan Kear explores how Zhao Zhou understands “leaving home.” For the Tang dynasty master the departure from home was never only about robes, shaved heads, or monastery walls. The deeper renunciation is of the dwelling we build in our minds: our fixed ideas… Source
- 2 weeks ago28 min
FPP 2026 Sesshin Day 3: Unburdened Attention
In this Dharma talk, given on the third day of Upaya’s Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Sokaku Kathie Fischer offers gentle guidance on meeting thoughts in zazen. She invites us to sit like a grandmother, with a wide lap for every rambunctious or troubled grandchild: the squirmy, the grumpy, the crying. We can sit with each one, seeing and loving, without getting caught up in their stories. Source
- 2 weeks ago45 min
FPP 2026 Sesshin Day 2: Going Straight On
In this Dharma talk, given on the second full day of Upaya’s Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Shinzan returns to Zhao Zhou, the Tang dynasty master whose teachings have shaped this season of practice. Through two of Zhao Zhou’s koans, he gently loosens our inclination to be critical of our own practice. In sesshin we may come face to face with our limitations and insecurities… Source
- 2 weeks ago45 min
FPP 2026 Sesshin Day 1: Beyond Picking and Choosing
In this Dharma talk, given on the first full day of Upaya’s Fall Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Cynthia Ryotan Kear turns to a poem echoed throughout the koans of Tang dynasty master Zhao Zhou. Reading Robert Olson’s translation of the well-known Xinxin Ming, or Mind of Absolute Trust, Cynthia shows how readily our likes and dislikes split the wholeness of experience. She reminds us how sesshin… Source
- 2 weeks ago49 min
FPP 2026: The Buddha Before You (Part 5)
In this Zazenkai Dharma talk during Upaya’s Fall Practice Period, Sensei Shinzan explores confidence in practice through Zhaozhou’s first meeting with his teacher Nanquan. Asked whether he has seen the temple’s standing Buddha—whether he has awakened—the young Zhaozhou replies that he sees a reclining Buddha, Nanquan himself, resting before him. For Sensei Shinzan, this exchange points to an… Source
- 2 weeks ago41 min
FPP 2026: The Space All Around Thoughts (Part 3)
In this Zazenkai day Dharma talk, Sensei Kathie Fisher turns to several of Zhao Zhou’s understated koans as part of Upaya’s Fall Practice Period. She explores what Zhao Zhou’s teacher meant by “ordinary mind”: not the busy, problem-solving mind we are so familiar with, but the simple awareness in which all experience rests. “This is not in opposition to thoughts,” she says. “It is the space all… Source
- 2 weeks ago46 min
FPP 2026: Introduction to the Text: Zhao Zhou’s Legacy and Teachings (Part 2)
In this introduction to the text during Upaya’s Fall Practice Period, Senseis Kathy Fisher, Cynthia Ryotan Kear, and Shinzan Palma open the recorded sayings of Zhao Zhou, the Tang dynasty master whose brief, disarming exchanges lie at the heart of many classic koans. The teachers offer a way of studying unlike the one most of us learned: not cramming for understanding, but letting these old… Source
- 2 weeks ago33 min
Fall Practice Period 2026: The Teachings of Zen Master Zhao Zhou: Opening Session
In this opening session of the Fall Practice Period, Sensei Shinzan, Sensei Kathie Fisher, and Sensei Monshin invite participants to step out of ordinary life and into a shared rhythm of practice. For three weeks, participants in person and online are encouraged to “be a monastic,” setting aside familiar routines and the mind’s constant busyness. Sensei Kathie calls it “the strangest of vacations,”… Source
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About Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast
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 & nonviolence, compassionate care training, and delivering healthcare in the Himalayas.
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