Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

The Open Gate

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Fushin turns to the first two folds of the Eightfold Path—right view and right intention—the wisdom from which the rest of the

Varela 2026: Closing Q&A (Part 11)

In Part 11, the closing of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Roshi Joan Halifax, John Dunne, Molly Crockett, and Adam Frank address questions from the participant

Varela 2026: Panel Discussion – AI, Experience, and Ethics (Part 10)

In Part 10 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Roshi Joan Halifax, John Dunne, Molly Crockett, and Adam Frank gather as a panel to open questions on AI before ci

Varela 2026: A Conversation with Michael Pollan (Part 9)

In Part 9 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Roshi Joan Halifax introduces a pre-recorded conversation with author Michael Pollan on the value and limits of mys

Varela 2026: Ethical Considerations in an Age of AI – Panel Discussion (Part 8)

In Part 8 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Adam, Molly, John, and Roshi Joan open the floor to important questions of our time. Following Molly’s session on A

The Metta Sutta: What’s Love Got to Do with It?

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Koshin Flint Sparks explores the Metta Sutta as a practice that asks far more of us than simple sentiment. Quoting two lines o

Varela 2026: In the Grove of Mortality (Part 7)

In Part 7 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Molly Crockett turns to a question with real stakes in the race of AI development: Can Buddhist ethics be taught to

Varela 2026: Kensho, Joriki, and Ordinary Mind in Zen Practice (Part 6)

In Part 6 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Roshi Joan Halifax leads a guided sitting before turning to what she calls the four often-conflated categories of c

Varela 2026: Re/cognizing the Mystical (Part 5)

In Part 5 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, John Dunne returns for his second talk of the program, tracing “mystical experience” to its roots as a 19th-century

Varela 2026: The Blind Spot – Part B (Part 4B)

In Part 4B (the 2nd half of Part 4) of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, astrophysicist Adam Frank, PhD., turns to what comes after: a “new physics of life” built

Varela 2026: The Blind Spot – Part A (Part 4A)

In Part 4A (the first half of Part 4) of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Molly Crockett opens with a guided meditation on the breath, exploring impermanence and

Varela 2026: Panel Discussion – Time, Perception, and Not-Knowing (Part 3)

In Part 3 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, the faculty explores the nature of experience in this Day 1 panel session — reflexive awareness, the distortions of

Varela 2026: Reflexive Awareness and Encountering Reality (Part 2)

In Part 2 of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, John Dunne, PhD, opens with a guided meditation on reflexive, non-dual awareness before turning to a central questi

Varela Contemplative Science Retreat 2026: Opening Session (Part 1)

In this opening session (Part 1) of the Varela Contemplative Science Retreat, Roshi Joan Halifax welcomes practitioners on-site and online, tracing the retreat’s roots to

Dogen Seminar 2026: Our Care-full Attention (Part 7 of 7)

In this final session of Upaya’s Dogen Seminar 2026, Sensei Sokaku Kathie Fischer takes up Dogen’s Mountains and Waters Sutra, tracing how sustained attention dissolves t

Dogen Seminar 2026: Faculty Reflections (Part 6)

In this session of Upaya’s Dogen Seminar 2026, Reverend Tenmyo Dojima introduces baika, the Soto Zen tradition of Buddhist hymn-singing, chanting a hymn drawn from one of

Dogen Seminar 2026: The Four Methods of Guidance (Part 5)

In this session of Upaya’s Dogen Seminar 2026, Roshi Norman Fischer takes up Dogen’s fascicle Bodhisattva Shishobo, the Four Methods of Guidance: generosity, kind speech,

Dogen Seminar 2026: Contemporary Dogen (Part 4)

In this session of Upaya’s Dogen Seminar 2026, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi traces Dogen’s contemporary journey from a Zen ancestor barely mentioned by D.T. Suzuki — whose paradi

Dogen Seminar 2026: Dongshan and the Five Ranks (Part 3)

In this session of Upaya’s Dogen Seminar 2026, Roshi Konjin Gaelyn Godwin gives a close textual reading of Dogen’s fascicle Shunju, tracing a single koan — when a monk as

Dogen Seminar 2026: Cultural Legacy (Part 2)

In this session of Upaya’s Dogen Seminar 2026, Steven Heine, professor of religion and history and director of Asian Studies at Florida International University, traces D