Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

On the fourth day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi reflects on the previous evening’s full moon atonement ceremony, revealing that “I think to be ethical is … life with ease and joy. You don’t have to hide anything. You don’t have to fear.” Kaz references the teaching to “thoroughly engage in each activity” to transform the world. He reframes “continuous failure” as “continuous missing”… Source

On the third full day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi illuminates the radical teaching at the heart of Zen practice: we begin with enlightenment itself. Tracing the tension between seventh-century China’s scholarly Huayan school—requiring lifetimes of gradual study—and Huineng’s “illiterate school” of sudden enlightenment, Kaz reveals how Dogen went even further… Source

On the second full day of Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi explores the Avatamsaka Sutra’s vision of Shakyamuni Buddha as Vairocana—the Dharmakaya itself—and the bodhisattva path through its metaphoric landscape. Kaz teaches that bodhisattvas become bridges, letting beings cross the ocean of life and death. He offers practical guidance for working with sleepiness… Source

In this year’s Gratefulness and Generosity program Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski explore gratefulness and generosity as essential Buddhist practices for navigating “the pressure of the time we’re in.” Roshi Joan situates generosity as the first paramita—a boundless state of mind—and invites participants to hold both sorrow and beauty, acknowledging the painful histories and difficult… Source

In this penultimate session of Awareness in Action (2025), Roshi Joan Halifax gathers with Sharon Salzberg and Frank Ostaseski to explore love as the foundation for engaged Buddhism, acknowledging the collective “upwelling of perturbation” many feel about the body politic. Roshi describes how spiritual community calls us back into love, noting the nation’s parallel journey: “We fell out of love… Source

In this penultimate session of Awareness in Action (2025), Roshi Joan Halifax gathers with Sharon Salzberg and Frank Ostaseski to explore love as the foundation for engaged Buddhism, acknowledging the collective “upwelling of perturbation” many feel about the body politic. Roshi describes how spiritual community calls us back into love, noting the nation’s parallel journey: “We fell out of love… Source

In this Winter Solstice gathering, Roshi Joan Halifax offers a grounded teaching on awareness amid darkness. Speaking during the longest night of the year, she introduces the Zen phrase ekō henshō—“turning the light around”—as the practice of directing awareness toward awareness itself. Through a story from a vinaya gathering in Thailand and a single word—“phenomena”—Roshi explores how we meet… Source

In this Way-Seeking Mind Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, resident Clayton Genryu Dalton charmingly shares his unexpected path to Zen and reflects on meaningful moments and insights from his life. From bathroom graffiti at UT Austin to Alan Watts, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, emergency medicine, and the abrupt end of his marriage, Genryu embodies life as process. Smiling at his own mistakes and… Source

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Hoshi Senko reflects on Radiant Light as the everyday experience of being alive. Drawing on Dōgen Zenji’s Komyō (Radiant Light) and Koun Ejō’s sole surviving work, Komyōzō Zanmai (The Practice of the Treasury of Radiant Light), Senko traces how the ancestors point to what is closest and most easily missed—summarized by Wittgenstein: “It is not how things are in… Source

Kaz Tanahashi, a renowned Japanese-American calligrapher and Zen teacher, shares profound insights on Rohatsu, celebrating the Buddha's birth, awakening, and passing. He emphasizes the non-division of all things, illustrating emptiness as the 'zero of divisions.' Kaz and Roshi Joan Halifax discuss the Bodhisattva ideal and how everyday acts can embody compassion. They explore the Avatamsaka Sutra's themes of interconnectedness and how recognizing our oneness can transform ethical practices. The conversation reflects on the urgency of service and the relational nature of our vows.