Part 5: “I live my life according to experiences, not according to the commentary.” This last half of the final panel traverses: projection in student-teacher relationships; how Roshi Joan’s and Bernie’s relationship has changed over the years; whether it’s true that “you can’t be friends with your students;” distinctions between resilience and “getting over yourself” […]

Bernie Glassman at Upaya

Roshi Bernie Glassman & Hozan Alan Senauke & Roshi Joan Halifax: Gate of Sweet Nectar 2015 (Part 5 of 5)

Part 4: A song and questions. After Alan leads everyone in song, the panel takes open questions and jams. They consider: are there any restrictions on what people do with this liturgy when they leave? How does the joy in breaking boundaries dance with respect for boundaries? How do you feel about the word “death” […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman & Hozan Alan Senauke & Roshi Joan Halifax: Gate of Sweet Nectar 2015 (Part 4 of 5)

Part 3: Dialogue ensues! The question of feeding hungry spirits what they want versus feeding them what they need engages many voices. This leads on to: what is the difference between bearing witness and the reflex to get rid of, to “heal?” In Bernie’s opinion Bearing Witness retreats are all about fear, going to what’s […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Gate of Sweet Nectar 2015 (Part 3 of 5)

Part 2: Feeding everyone. Bernie explains the inner logic and dramatic progression of the liturgy’s several pieces. It proceeds through loving invitations and invocations, magic work to actualize energies and feed everyone; through giving teachings; and climaxes with giving and taking the Buddhist precepts. Shingon condenses the five precepts into two: “Now I have raised […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Gate of Sweet Nectar 2015 (Part 2 of 5)

Part 1: An open-hearted overhaul. Bernie spins a lively history of the Gate of Sweet Nectar liturgy, from an early version (mythically attributed to Shakyamuni) to Menzan’s tantric innovations to his own open-hearted overhaul. Maezumi Roshi gave Bernie remarkable permission to remake the Gate (and by extension Zen) in an American grain: “He didn’t try […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Gate of Sweet Nectar 2015 (Part 1 of 5)

Part 8:  “Everything is opinion.” In this last dialogue, Bernie — with a little help from Roshi Joan and Sensei Alan — fields questions about whether the view that “everything is opinion” closes or opens dialogue; about the Greyston model; about the five Buddha families as a model for social entrepreneurship; about assassinating Hitler.

Roshi Bernie Glassman & Hozan Alan Senauke & Joan Halifax: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 8 of 8)

Part 7: Q&A. The teachers complete the Q & A session.

Roshi Bernie Glassman & Hozan Alan Senauke & Joan Halifax: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 7 of 8)

Part 6: Feminism, liturgy, and clown noses. After a song led by Sensei Alan, the panel conducts a Q & A period to close out the day. Topics covered include liturgy, feminism, teacher-student relationships, clown noses, street retreats and the meaning of radical chaplaincy.

Roshi Bernie Glassman & Hozan Alan Senauke & Joan Halifax: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 6 of 8)

Part 5: The practice of zazen. Concluding the third session of the retreat, Roshi Bernie continues his dialogue with retreatants, answering questions about the stages of “bearing witness,” telling stories from the “Bearing Witness Retreats,” and discussing the practice of zazen.

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 5 of 8)

Part 4: Bearing witness retreats. Roshi Bernie describes the Zen Peacemakers Order and the approach of “Bearing Witness Retreats” with homelessness in New York and genocide at Auschwitz and in Rwanda.

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 4 of 8)

Part 3: Listening without preconception. In the second part of the session, Roshi Bernie talks about the actualization of an “Indra’s Net” connecting impoverished communities by responding to the various groups’ needs by listening without preconception and acting on what arises within and between. Among other cases of skillful means, he cites his own work […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 3 of 8)

Part 2: Indra’s Net. After Sensei Alan Senauke opens the session with a guided meditation song, Roshi Bernie offers his opinions on “non-dual communication” on interdependence and Indra’s Net, reincarnation, koan study, the Eightfold-fold path, social activism, education, and many other images, models, and practices.

Roshi Bernie Glassman & Hozan Alan Senauke: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 2 of 8)

Part 1. Nonduality. Bernie-Roshi reflects on three periods of his life, each marked by stepping beyond limited “clubs” into ever wider and less sure circles of caring engagement. He speaks of nonduality as not-knowing, freedom to think and feel outside grooved categories — a state provoked both by Zen koans and by “plunges” into deeply […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman & Hozan Alan Senauke & Joan Halifax: Engaged Buddhism, Radical Chaplaincy 2014 (Part 1 of 8)

“Have you seen The Big Lebowski?” In this final session, Bernie continues to answer questions posed by the retreat participants. One person asked: “How can one go about distributing homemade soap to the homeless without offending them?” Another person asked Bernie to talk about his transition from being an engineer to a Zen student and then on […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Bearing Witness to the Oneness of Life 2013 (Part 5 of 5)

Being on the street. This session continues where the previous left off, with Roshi Bernie taking a number of questions from the participants. The first question concerns Indra’s net, which leads Bernie into a discussion on the possibility of escaping the space-time continuum. The next question concerns “going deeper and deeper.” Which for Bernie means […]

Roshi Bernie Glassman: Bearing Witness to the Oneness of Life 2013 (Part 4 of 5)

This podcast features Roshi Bernie Glassman’s teachings at Upaya over the years and is a memorial series honoring his profound Zen teachings and socially engaged work in the world.