Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

Episode Description: In this fifth and final talk from the Sesshin, Sensei Kaz and Sensei Irene focus on the precepts in relation to the Heart Sutra. Sensei Kaz opens by noting that the Heart Sutra does not directly discuss ethics. In fact it expresses the notion that everything is without boundaries; clearly a very healing but dangerous concept. it is important to remember that the Heart Sutra is just one of the Mahayana texts and that ethics are very important. Mahayana ethics revolves around the Six Paramitas. Paramita is commonly translated as perfection, while it's meaning in Sanskrit is much closer to "going to the other shore." Kaz continues on by describing how the first five of the paramitas: generousity, virtue, patience, effort and meditation are pluralistic. While the final paramita, prajna, is singularism; seeing everything. That the paramitas reflect having integrity in action to go beyond the common way of thinking. Kaz concludes by offering his own "textbook" definition of wisdom beyond wisdom: "the continuous, holistic experience of freedom from and integrity in pluralistic and singularistic understanding and action." Sensei Irene continues the talk offering an image of wisdom and compassion as two wings of a bird and that we need both wings to fly. She relates that Roshi Joan says that the "precepts help us live a life that is cool and peaceful," and that "I hold the precepts because I love."  Sensei goes on to briefly discuss the precepts in the Soto tradition and expresses three different approaches to following them. That the Theravada tradition has a very literal interpretation; in Mahayana it is one's own responsibility to see what is right in any given situation, and in Buddhayana that there is just oneness. For Series Description and teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Sesshin: Exploring The Heart Sutra Series: All 5 Parts

Episode Description: Opening with a Kazism, Tanahashi Sensei asserts that "Mahayana Buddhism without the Heart Sutra is like breakfast without a bagel." He then suggests that the core teaching of the sutra, sunyata, traces its roots to the Prajna Paramita scriptures from the 1st century CE. Prajna Paramita, or Perfection of Wisdom, started in the form of an eight thousand line scripture and was then expanded to twenty-five thousand lines and one hundred thousand lines. The Heart Sutra is a condensation of these teachings. In fact, the bulk of the Heart Sutra comes directly from the Prajna Paramita In Twenty-Five Thousand Lines. Kaz notes that the first part of the Heart Sutra came from a different source, because there is no mention of Avalokitesvara in the Prajna Paramita. And while the Heart Sutra does not directly address compassion, the inclusion of the Bodhisattva of Compassion implies its importance to wisdom. Sensei Irene then continues the talk by suggesting that while we can't really understand what wisdom beyond wisdom means, we can realize it. We can realize it by manifesting compassion in our daily lives. She goes on to explain the Four Brahmaviharas and the meaning of the depiction of Avalokitesvara as having eleven heads and one thousand arms. Sensei Irene concludes with a discussion of the koan, "Yunyan's Great Compassion," Case 54 from the Shoyoroku, Book of Serenity For Series Description and teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Sesshin: Exploring The Heart Sutra Series: All 5 Parts

Episode Description: In this Dharma Talk, Sensei Kaz and Sensei Irene discuss the history and mantra of the Heart Sutra. "Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha!" Sensei Kaz opens the talk with a captivating and thorough explanation of the history of The Heart Sutra. Going back to the earliest record of the sutra, what he calls the "alpha version," which is attributed to the Buddhist monk Xaunzang from the western part of China in the early seventh century. Kaz goes on to discuss how The Heart Sutra's mantra has been used as a prayer and that healing properties are attributed to words. Sensei Irene continues on to describe how the mantra offers protection and also has the potential to really be liberating. "By chanting the mantra we liberate our heart mind and mind. It is powerful medicine." She notes that although it is best to not translate it, it is commonly translated aa "Gone. Gone. Gone to the other shore. Altogether. Awake!" Irene suggests that it is possible to condense entire Heart Sutra into just the untranslated mantra. And in chanting the sutra, without seeking an intellectual understanding of it, we truly receive it and are liberated. For Series Description and teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Sesshin: Exploring The Heart Sutra Series: All 5 Parts

Episode Description: In this talk from the second day of the Sesshin, Sensei Kaz frames the session with the questions: "what is the Heart Sutra? What is the intention of this text? What do we receive from this sutra?" He goes on to discuss our dualistic experience and how Prajna Paramita, "Wisdom Beyond Wisdom," can be characterized as non-dual experience. Kaz then talks about his scholarly study of what he titles "The Dynamics of Singularism and Pluralism in the Heart Sutra." Sensei Irene continues the talk by looking at what is meant by "self," and what is meant by "no-self?" She notes that we are deluded in thinking of self as a solid fixed entity that exists by on its own and that the rest of the world is a threat. So we do the sane thing which is to protect ourselves. Problem is that we tend to take things too far, imprisoning ourselves, cut off from others behind huge self created walls. Sensei then has the audience perform a thought exercise exploring our experience of "self," followed by an exploration of "non-self." For Series Description and teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Sesshin: Exploring The Heart Sutra Series: All 5 Parts

Series Description: The Heart Sutra is a foundational text in our practice. It is a core text in Mahayana Buddhism and chanted daily in most zen centers. What is it when we chant: "Maha Prajna Paramita, the perfection of great wisdom, wisdom beyond wisdom?" How can we realize and actualize this prajna in our daily lives and live the life of a bodhisattva? This sesshin with Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi and Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker explores the heart, the very essence of the Heart of the Heart Sutra and the main teachings it carries. Episode Description: In this Dharma Talk from the first full day of the Sesshin, Sensei Kaz and Sensei Kaigetsu provide a brief introduction to the Heart Sutra. Sensei Kaigetsu then moves on to discuss duhka, or suffering in light of the Heart Sutra. She offers a brief explanation of duhka, The Four Noble Truths, and then describes our experience of pain and dis-ease. She notes that in life "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." Turning back to the Heart Sutra which tells us that the nature of all things is sunyata, empty, without a separate self. "Would suffering be an exception?" Sensei Kaigetsu then turns the talk over to Sensei Kaz who offers his own experience in translating The Heart Sutra as well as working with Thich Nhat Hanh to translate Heart of Understanding. He shares is own interpretation of duhka as angst and how that basic condition can be relieved through meditation, practice and Prajna Paramita. Kaz also discusses "social" Suffering such as famine or war and how that suffering might be alleviated. Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker is a certified zen teacher from the Netherlands, a Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax Roshi. She has been a student of Zen in the White Plum Sangha tradition since the mid-80s. Irene Sensei first met Roshi Joan Halifax in Auschwitz in 1996 and they had a strong connection. Irene Sensei then became involved in Upaya's Zen training and Being with Dying training. In 2004, Roshi Joan asked her to continue her training on death and dying in Europe. Every summer, Sensei assisted teaching at Upaya Zen Center. In Holland Sensei serves as teacher for Zen Spirit which she founded in 2004. As family and systems therapist, she works with people with cancer, end of life care, in psychiatry, and private therapy practice. As a mindfulness trainer she teaches future MBSR trainers at the College / School for Social Work in Utrecht, Netherlands. When receiving Denkai and Denbo in March 2012, Roshi Joan gave her the name Kaigetsu (Ocean Moon) in addition to Kyojo (Jeweled Mirror Samadhi), her Dharma name since Jukai in 1989. Kazuaki Tanahashi born and trained in Japan and active in the United States since 1977, has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally. He has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Also a peace and environmental worker for decades, he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. - See more at: http://www.upaya.org/programs/event.php?id=883#sthash.CKR24Njy.dpuf To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Sesshin: Exploring The Heart Sutra Series: All 5 Parts

Episode Description: Sensei Kaigetsu opens this Dharma Talk by discussing the ubiquity of the Heart Sutra in light of its perceived difficulty to comprehend. Sensei describes it as "a crazy text about crazy wisdom. Wisdom beyond Wisdom." She goes on to talk about how a good joke can work by shaking up our idea of reality. While one probably shouldn't compare the Heart Sutra to a joke, it does operate in a similar manner - to shake up our whole conceptual framework. Sensei then talks about how some teachers are associated with a particular statement or action. Bodhidharma's "I know not, Your Majesty" Joshu's Mu. Roshi Bernie's "Not-knowing. Bearing witness. Compassionate action." Roshi Joan's "Show up!" "Nothing extra." Sensei then discusses two things that are associated with her Dharma Great-grandfather, Maezumi Roshi: "Appreciate your life" and "Not necessarily so"; offering an anecdotal story about Maezumi Roshi's use of "Not necessarily so." Sensei then returns to the Heart Sutra indicating that it also expresses the notion that we take to be real, our conception of everything, may not be necessarily so. Sensei Irene Kaigetsu Bakker is a certified zen teacher from the Netherlands, a Zen priest and Dharma successor of Joan Jiko Halifax Roshi. She has been a student of Zen in the White Plum Sangha tradition since the mid-80s. Irene Sensei first met Roshi Joan Halifax in Auschwitz in 1996 and they had a strong connection. Irene Sensei then became involved in Upaya's Zen training and Being with Dying training. In 2004, Roshi Joan asked her to continue her training on death and dying in Europe. Every summer, Sensei assisted teaching at Upaya Zen Center. In Holland Sensei serves as teacher for Zen Spirit which she founded in 2004. As family and systems therapist, she works with people with cancer, end of life care, in psychiatry, and private therapy practice. As a mindfulness trainer she teaches future MBSR trainers at the College / School for Social Work in Utrecht, Netherlands. When receiving Denkai and Denbo in March 2012, Roshi Joan gave her the name Kaigetsu (Ocean Moon) in addition to Kyojo (Jeweled Mirror Samadhi), her Dharma name since Jukai in 1989.

Series Description: The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150 C.E.) famously articulated the notion of emptiness or sunyata as a tool for understanding ultimate reality. Based on selected primary texts such as his Wisdom, this seminar explores Nagarjuna's thought and its powerful effect on subsequent Buddhist philosophy. Inquiring into the key concept of sunyata, we will see how it relates to interdependence and compassion, and we will ask how it is possible to experience sunyata in meditative practice. Episode Description: In the final segment of the program, John begins with the fact that the phenomenal field presents itself in terms of subject and object, both of which seem truly existent. In the visual field, for instance, objects present themselves as "out there" and seem real to the subject perceiving them "in here." However, this structure of phenomenal experience is false. There is no "out there" nor "in here." Furthermore, there is no real object or subject. The dropping away of "what is to be perceived" and "the perceiver" represents an emptiness of the very structure of subject and object, which subtly underlies our entire cognitive system. When this basic structure falls away, what is "left over" is a "luminosity," "reflexive awareness," "suchness," or even, the "ultimate." Even this luminosity, however, is empty, and not to be reified. Thus we are left with the "emptiness of emptiness." John concludes the program with some final words about wisdom and compassion. First, perhaps the deepest implication of the philosophy of emptiness is that in emptiness, there is no wisdom to obtain nor ignorance to abandon. In other words, there is no Path. When we see that wisdom and ignorance arise together, that they are "of the same taste," there is no longer a distinction to be made. In this light, even samsara and nirvana are empty. John ends with the remarkable idea that compassion is what drives world-making, that compassion is built into awareness, and that it is what "remains in emptiness." For teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Revealing Nagarjuna Series: All 12 Parts

Series Description: The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150 C.E.) famously articulated the notion of emptiness or sunyata as a tool for understanding ultimate reality. Based on selected primary texts such as his Wisdom, this seminar explores Nagarjuna's thought and its powerful effect on subsequent Buddhist philosophy. Inquiring into the key concept of sunyata, we will see how it relates to interdependence and compassion, and we will ask how it is possible to experience sunyata in meditative practice. Episode Description: This first segment of the final session of the program begins with an extensive Q&A, which ends with the idea that while "ignorance is the architect of samsara, compassion drives the Buddha-field," which segues into a discussion of the three kinds of compassion. Each successive kind of compassion is said to be more authentic than the next. The first kind of compassion takes the person as the object. The second kind takes "dharmas" as the object, and views the person as an "emergent system." Thus at this level, compassion is focused on a dysfunctional system as opposed to a dysfunctional person. The final, most powerful form of compassion is "non-referential." This kind of compassion no longer sees the world in terms of a compassionate subject, an act of compassion, and an object of compassion. At this level, the conceptual structure has entirely transformed. Although it is said that only Buddhas realize this level of compassion, John will argue in the final segment that this kind of compassion represents a certain potential, which requires a yet deeper understanding of emptiness. For teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Revealing Nagarjuna Series: All 12 Parts

Series Description: The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150 C.E.) famously articulated the notion of emptiness or sunyata as a tool for understanding ultimate reality. Based on selected primary texts such as his Wisdom, this seminar explores Nagarjuna's thought and its powerful effect on subsequent Buddhist philosophy. Inquiring into the key concept of sunyata, we will see how it relates to interdependence and compassion, and we will ask how it is possible to experience sunyata in meditative practice. Episode Description: This Saturday evening session opens with a discussion about the meditation technique of "self liberation of the thought." At that moment when one accepts what a thought seems to represent, you are "dragged into the web," and the proliferation of further thoughts and concepts ensues. If one sees that initial thought according to its true nature: as just a thought, and not as what it represents, one is liberated from the thought. One should just look at the thought intently. Of course means that one must be aware of one's own thinking. However one must be able to notice one's thoughts without objectifying them. This is counter to how our "own" phenomenal space is presented in an agentive subject - object manner. So far in this retreat, the emptiness of the object, as well as emptiness of the self have been analyzed. To move to a deeper understanding of sunyata one must understand the emptiness of the subject, the observer, you. Trick is: how does one deconstruct oneself without objectifying oneself? John continues on to discuss the concept known as "reflexive awareness." With reflexive awareness every moment of awareness is self presenting - luminosity. It describes the feature that every moment of awareness that it is presented. Consciousness illuminates every aspect of consciousness both object and subject. John then discuss how a number of traditions, including Zen, seek to develop luminosity through practice. For teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Revealing Nagarjuna Series: All 12 Parts

Series Description: The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150 C.E.) famously articulated the notion of emptiness or sunyata as a tool for understanding ultimate reality. Based on selected primary texts such as his Wisdom, this seminar explores Nagarjuna's thought and its powerful effect on subsequent Buddhist philosophy. Inquiring into the key concept of sunyata, we will see how it relates to interdependence and compassion, and we will ask how it is possible to experience sunyata in meditative practice. Episode Description: In this, part 2 of the Saturday afternoon session, John opens with one final argument regarding who "you" are. Are you the same or different from the "pycho-physical stuff?" Are you as the subject changing over time? Is there anything that seems persistant about one's perspective? These questions lead the discussion into an exploration of the Philosophy of Yogacara, Ultimately exploring the notion that everything that we perceive is as being "out there," is actually "in here" (our mind). That fundamentally everything is "in here" and that there is no separation between out there and in here. Which in itself a kind of sunyata - the "emptiness of subject object duality." For teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Revealing Nagarjuna Series: All 12 Parts

Series Description: The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150 C.E.) famously articulated the notion of emptiness or sunyata as a tool for understanding ultimate reality. Based on selected primary texts such as his Wisdom, this seminar explores Nagarjuna's thought and its powerful effect on subsequent Buddhist philosophy. Inquiring into the key concept of sunyata, we will see how it relates to interdependence and compassion, and we will ask how it is possible to experience sunyata in meditative practice. Episode Description: John opens this Saturday afternoon session by addressing the question: "why do we have this belief that our concepts of time, space, self, etc. are essential?" Another participant asks a question regarding the role of justice in Buddhism, specifically within the context of sunyata. John then continues on to discuss Buddha-nature and that Nagarjuna offers that this is a transformative process. That sunyata does not offer an escape into paradise, or stoping into nothingness. Rather "there is no distinction between samsara and nirvana." John introduces the idea that there is a very important "connection through the nature of the mind itself between emptiness and compassion." For teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Revealing Nagarjuna Series: All 12 Parts