Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

Sensei Sokaku Kathie Fischer’s talk covers a wide breadth of themes, everything from trusting the breath, to evolutionary biology and fearlessness. Her talk asks us to practice restraint from reactivity, and to think of the mind as a sense organ. In other words, the object of mind can be seen in the same category that senses perceive. For Series description, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Fall Practice Period 2019 The Diamond Sutra

The Diamond Sutra is one of the most well-known Mahayana texts on what is called the perfection of wisdom. The Sutra, a dialogue between the Buddha and one of his disciples, explains what is meant by perfect wisdom: “The name of this dharma teaching, Subhuti, is the Perfection of Wisdom. Thus should you remember it. And how so? Subhuti, what the Tathagata says is the perfection of wisdom, the Tathagata says is no perfection. This is it called the ‘perfection of wisdom.’” This sesshin delves deeply into these teachings, looking at their implications in our daily lives as well as in our practice of zazen. Matthew Kozan Palevsky brings our attention back to our thoughts and sensations. He asks, “are they heavy or dull, old friends, or cumbersome? We can think of them as old furniture.” His talk is a reminder of the need for a tool to cut through delusions. Loosening our attachment to them in favor of being in the present moment, is one of the best tools that we have. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: Fall Practice Period 2019 The Diamond Sutra

Fushin James Bristol gives a talk on his path to Zen Buddhism. He begins with his secular childhood and traces a story through his desire to be a Roman Catholic priest and then to his meeting with Roshi Joan Halifax in the late 1990s. With his introduction to Zen Buddhism, he begins to ask what the self is. “What is authentically you and what does it mean to forget yourself? How do your answers to these questions guide you in this journey we call life?” These questions inform his path and lead to a life of vow.

“The Diamond Sutra is bird song from 2000 years ago,” says Sensei Sokaku Kathie Fischer. In her talk, Sensei Fischer tells of the widespread influence of the Sutra, citing the work of Zen Master Dogen, Koans, the rise of the sudden enlightenment school in China, and the bodhisattva ideal, as well as the notion of upaya. Her talk is a reminder that practice freshens and enlivens us, and that it is a practice of loving-kindness.

Matthew Kozan Palevsky speaks about what it means to be on pilgrimage. He says, “being on pilgrimage invites us into not knowing.” When we let go of our knowledge of the world, of our preconceptions, we become free. Whether you are circumambulating a sacred mountain, prostrating at each step, or simply walking kinhin, there are many forms of pilgrimage and each provides an opportunity to embody the practice.

Wendy Johnson and Matthew Kozan Palevsky explore an array of subjects in this beautiful morning’s talk on Ecological Dharma. “Water cannot be changed; never say that water is polluted.” Wendy manages to weave nuggets of wisdom and insight such as this into the wild tangle of her talk. She recalls her teacher’s old sayings and speaks of experiences at Plum Village. Kozan chooses to hone in on some of the more relevant teachings such as the three tenets of the Zen Peacemakers: not knowing, bearing witness, and compassionate action. He says, “This is not a lineage of thought, but one of being, relationship, gratitude, and humanity; this also includes our fallibility and despair.”

Sensei Sokaku Kathie Fischer and Matthew Kozan Palevsky give a very pragmatic talk on attachment and how to cultivate non-attachment through zazen. During zazen, we are continuously distracted by our thoughts, but we keep bringing our attention back to the breath. Kozan says, “there’s nothing wrong with thoughts, it’s only when we are attached to them.” Sensei Kathie speaks on several topics including Upaya, also known as skillful means. She explains that when we see that nothing is inherently true, and nothing inherently false, we must practice upaya which is the radical teaching of responding to whatever living situation that we’re in.

What does “no-self” really mean? Sensei Sokaku Kathie Fischer offers a beautiful talk on what it means to be in “this moment, this body, this place, and this time of no time.” She uses an account of recent pictures which depict plastic bags in the deepest portion of the ocean. This theme of no-self is poignant in the Diamond Sutra, a Mahayana classic on emptiness, and Kathie’s story demystifies what it means to be inherently interconnected with everything on this planet, including the detritus on the bottom of the ocean.

Sensei Jose Shinzan Palma and Sokaku Kathie Fischer continue their discussion of the Diamond Sutra. This time Sensei Shinzan talks about the sixth passage of the text, which is about the true faith of belief. A pivotal sentence from the chapter reads, “Bhagavan, will there be any beings in the future, in the final epoch, in the final period, in the final five hundred years of the dharma-ending age, who give birth to a perception of the truth of the words of a sutra such as that spoken here?” Sensei Kathie discusses the feeling of immediacy that practice affords, a feeling which many of us have felt that we lost in childhood.

Sensei Jose Shinzan Palma discusses the second chapter of The Diamond Sutra, a dialogue between Buddha and Subuthi, and the importance of an inquiring mind. “When Roshi Bernie Glassman used to come here to teach,” says Shinzan,” he said, ‘It’s not about the answers, it’s about the question.'” Shinzan talks about koans, his own questions to his teachers, and reminds us, “It’s important to go into your hearts and find that question. It’s going to be your ignition to walk the path.”

What does the Diamond Sutra teach? In this Zazenkai talk, Sensei Jose Shinzan Palma and Matthew Kozan Palevsky begin to explore the Diamond Sutra, one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in East Asia. The Sutra features a dialogue between Subhuti and the Buddha on emptiness, compassion, and skillful means. The Sutra emphasizes the notion of embodiment. We embody the practice whenever we practice true generosity, selflessly giving a gift without “support of sign, sight, smell, perception of gift-ness, or of giver and receiver.”

Sensei Shinzan Palma leads this talk on the Diamond Sutra, one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in East Asia that expounds emptiness, compassion, and skillful means. Shinzan says, “the Diamond Sutra’s beautiful teachings are not easy to understand. It is just talking over and over again about the non-self. The point is to really catch the intellect.” This talk is a great reminder to widen your circle of beliefs regarding identity, and always come back to zazen, a practice which allows us to see our own mind.

Are you joyful? What is the difference between joy and happiness? Matthew Kozan Palevsky asks such questions in his exploration of the role of joy in dharma. Laughingly, Kozan explains, “I’ve been reading the sutras very carefully about joy and it turns out that joy, not suffering, is at the heart of Buddhism.” This talk is both an invitation to change our way of responding to the conditions that we’ve been given, and it is a call to go find the things which make us joyful—a deep dive into the dharma gate of joy, and an introduction to Willow, a fuzzy ball of Labradoodle puppy delight.

What does it mean to love a city? Wendy Johnson speaks of heartbreak and connection on the 18th anniversary of September 11, 2001. Speaking of a visit to the World Trade Center Memorial site, Wendy describes her love for New York City and the sadness she experienced at the unfolding of the attacks on the Centers. Her talk moves to some of the central themes of her upcoming program on ecology and Dharma. Speaking on the voice of nature, Wendy quotes, “Do inanimate objects preach the Dharma loudly and clearly? Just because you do not yet hear them, do not hinder that which does.”

Kigaku Noah Rossetter introduces the theme of his talk with a quote from Buddha, “I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.” So, what is dukkha? Noah explores the many facets of dukkha through passages from the Pali Suttas, as well as related concepts of tanha (thirst), upadana (craving), klesha (mental afflictions), sankhara (conditioning), and skhandas (aggregates), and how they inform a deeper understanding of the three levels of dukkha: the dukkha of suffering, the dukkha of change, and the dukkha of conditionality. Finally, Noah looks at ending suffering through an understanding of emptiness and an appreciation of the ephemeral beauty of life. His talk ends with a haunting chant from the Diamond Sutra on the conditioned nature of existence.