Welcome to Episodes 07-08 of the Vibe with Venerable series, where we talk “live” to Buddhist masters together.
Roshi Joan Halifax will join us for 2 consecutive episodes. You are highly encouraged to attend both if you can.
Full listing of all Vibe with Venerable episodes here.
Episode 07. Was Buddha a Social Activist?
We explore one view of Buddha’s life and the lives of some of his radical successors, a two thousand five hundred year leap through time and space. Not all agree with this version of history and of Buddhism, but history is a way we can illuminate our lives, learn from the past, discover the present, and make a new road into the future. And Buddhism has many dharma doors, including ones that seem unlikely or for some, that seem very congruent with actualizing practice to be of benefit to others.
20 May 2025 (Tuesday), 8am US Pacific, 11am US Eastern, 4pm London, 11pm Singapore (Timezone convertor). [Register below]
Episode 08. Bodhisattvas in the Charnal Ground
The charnel grounds are where we all practice, from between your ears to between warring nations. This is what Bodhisattvas do. They do not seek easy situations. This talk explores the Bodhisattva attitude and seven keys to meeting the suffering in our world today.
27 May 2025 (Tuesday), 8am US Pacific, 11am US Eastern, 4pm London, 11pm Singapore (Timezone convertor). [Register below]
Registration Information
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About the Teacher
Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D. is a Buddhist teacher, Founder and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a social activist, author, and in her early years was an anthropologist at Columbia University (1964-68) and University of Miami School of Medicine (1970-72). She is a pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. She has lectured on the subject of death and dying at many academic institutions and medical centers around the world. She received a National Science Foundation Fellowship in Visual Anthropology, was an Honorary Research Fellow in Medical Ethnobotany at Harvard University, was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress, received the Pioneer Medal for Outstanding Leadership in Health Care by HealthCare Chaplaincy, the Sandy MacKinnon Award from Covenant Health in Canada, Pioneer Medal for Outstanding Leadership in Health Care, received an Honorary DSc from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She has received many other awards and honors from institutions around the world for her work as a social and environmental activist and in the end-of-life care field.
From 1972-1975, she worked with psychiatrist Stanislav Grof at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center with dying cancer patients. She has continued to work with dying people and their families, and to teach health care professionals and family caregivers the psycho-social, ethical and spiritual aspects of care of the dying. She is Director of the Project on Being with Dying, and Founder of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners. She is also founder of the Nomads Clinic in Nepal.
Her books include: The Human Encounter with Death (with Stanislav Grof); The Fruitful Darkness, A Journey Through Buddhist Practice; Simplicity in the Complex: A Buddhist Life in America; Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Wisdom in the Presence of Death; Standing at the Edge:Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet; Sophie Learns to Be Brave; and her latest work, In a Moment, In a Breath.
She has been involved with the Mind and Life Institute since its inception and is founder of the Varela International Symposium.
Donation
This series is freely offered by Buddhism.net.
If you’d like, you may make a donation directly to Upaya Zen Center.
We thank you for dāna, the practice of cultivating generosity.
Upcoming Events
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