Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC Teachers & Practitioners

Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC Teachers & Practitioners

Welcome to "Opening Dharma Access," a podcast where we hear stories from BIPOC teachers & practitioners about their Dharma experiences and practice, and how those inform the ways they are sharing & practicing the Dharma today. Season 3 description: Hosted by Rev. Liên & Rev. Dana Takagi This season, we will have a new focus: Uplifting and Forwarding Asian American/Asian Diasporic Buddhist Experiences in the West. With our guests and audience, we will explore the specificities of Asian American/Asian Diasporic experiences. We take as given that there are generational differences (hence the historical moment matters!) and we hope to also delve into Asian family norms and values, our inchoate understanding of ancestor worship, issues of identity, representation, stereotypes about sexuality and sexual identity, and Asian American depression. A theme we'll be using to help guide our conversations is The Disquiet - a term we are adapting from writer/poet Fernando Pessoa (The Book of Disquiet) -- which, in our view, signals a complex recognition of self, mind, and body. The evidence for the foregoing includes scholarly research indexed in aggregate statistics on depression, youth suicide, and other issues in immigrant or first-generation families. While Asian Americans are not alone in experiencing trauma, the racial languages and discourses of othering are different for us than for other groups. What do we hope is the outcome of this podcast? Our first aim is to give voice to the range and depth of Buddhism in Asian and Asian American generations. We hope, in doing so, we help to shine a light on the limited or myopic envisioning of race in primarily white sanghas. Asian and Asian American diasporic truths about practice are a teaching for contemporary dharma organizations and centers. We recognize the depth and range of Asian and Asian Diasporic Buddhists is a wisdom mirror for organized Buddhism in the West. Thank you to the Hemera Foundation for their generous support of Season 3! Contact us at: Info.Access2Zen@gmail.com Further Info at: AccessToZen.org

Episodes

April 16, 2024 11 mins

Rev. Dana shares some of the ways she practices with grief.

Mentioned in the episode:
World Central Kitchen (website)

Dai Hi Shin Dharani (Sutra of Great Compassion) (text)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSzOHqYBK4 (video)
(read this blog post by Dana: https://danatakagizenlife.squarespace.com/blog)

Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo (Well-Being Chant) (Access to Zen text and audio)


NEW C...

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NEW Co-Host: Reverend Dana Takagi
Dana (she/her) is a retired professor of Sociology and also a zen priest. She spent 33 years teaching sociology and Asian Am history at UC Santa Cruz, she is a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies.  Zen practice since 1998.

Check out more of Dana's work:
2022: Sutra and Bible: an Interview with Duncan Ryūken Williams
2020: Most Intimate, Ordinary W...

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Rest in this meditation with Rev. Liên, Creator, Producer, & Co-host of ODA, as we transition Seasons. Offered at her weekly Access to Zen Meditation Group. Join us!

REV. LIÊN SHUTT (she/they) is a recognized leader in the movement that breaks through the wall of American white-centered convert Buddhism to welcome people of all backgrounds into a contemporary, engaged Buddhism. As an ordained Zen priest, licensed soci...

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Listen to this really amazing discussion between the 4 hosts on themes and highlights from all our interviews in Season 2. Listening will "make" you want to go listen to all of our wonderful guest teachers again! Or, check out the ones you've missed!

9 bows of love and appreciation for all the Hosts of Season 2!
1. LAMA KARMA YESHE CHÖDRÖN is a scholar, teacher, and translator of Tibetan Buddhism at Rigp...

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A 30 minute guided meditation led by Solwazi Johnson at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. It was part of a larger talk he gave called "The Middle Seat." This recording is from DharmaSeed.org. Listen to our latest conversation with Solwazi "What's Values Got to Do With It?" to hear more.

GUEST

Solwazi Johnson (he/him) teaches mindfulness meditation classes and leads mindfulness meditation ret...

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Solwazi Johnson has a laughter-filled conversation with Dalila Bothwell about his many life experiences before finding the Dharma, and how he believes the Dharma is for every person interested in freedom.

GUEST

Solwazi Johnson (he/him) teaches mindfulness meditation classes and leads mindfulness meditation retreats and workshops throughout the U.S. and the world. He has practiced mindfulness meditation for over 2...

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January 16, 2024 20 mins

A Dharma Talk by Grace Song. Perfect for the beginning of 2024!

GUEST:
Grace Song is an ordained Won Buddhist Kyomunim, meditation teacher, and advocate of interfaith dialogue. She serves as the Chair of the Won Buddhist Studies Department at the Won Institute of Graduate Studies. She has traveled to many countries to present and lead workshops and retreats on interfaith dialogue, social justice, mindfulness in educati...

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An engaging conversation with Grace about creating  space for self, community, & collective inclusion for 21st Century Dharma.

GUEST:
Grace Song is an ordained Won Buddhist Kyomunim, meditation teacher, and advocate of interfaith dialogue. She serves as the Chair of the Won Buddhist Studies Department at the Won Institute of Graduate Studies. She has traveled to many countries to present and lead workshops and retr...

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Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage (Skr. Namastāraikaviṃśati­stotra­guṇa­hitasahita) is a liturgy that consists of twenty-seven verses of praise and reverence dedicated to the deity Tārā. The first twenty-one verses are at once a series of homages to the twenty-one forms of Tārā and a poetic description of her physical features, postures, and qualities.
    -  84000 Reading Room

Chanted by Pema Khandro Ri...

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PEMA KHANDRO RINPOCHE is an internationally renowned teacher and scholar of Buddhist philosophy. She is the founder of Ngakpa International and its three projects, The Buddhist Studies Institute, Dakini Mountain and the Yogic Medicine Institute.

In her work as a Buddhist teacher, she is an authorized Lama and lineage holder of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and was enthroned to carry on the lineage of her predecessor, t...

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November 21, 2023 24 mins

GUEST:
Dr. Rebecca Li,
a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen, is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community. Her books include Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times and the upcoming book Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method. She lives in New Jersey with her husband.

Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method, clarifies the practice ...

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November 7, 2023 60 mins

An open, spacious conversation with Dr. Rebecca Li on her practice & teachings on Chan Buddhism and her newly released book, Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method

GUEST:
Dr. Rebecca Li,
a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen, is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community. Her books include Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times and the upcoming ...

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October 17, 2023 29 mins

GUEST:
René Rivera (he/him) is a meditation teacher and restorative justice facilitator working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer Latinx trans man. René teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation, as a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center. He has co-led the first residential meditation retreats for transgender, nonbinary and gender expansive people...

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GUEST:
René Rivera (he/him) is a meditation teacher and restorative justice facilitator working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer Latinx trans man. René teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation, as a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center. He has co-led the first residential meditation retreats for transgender, nonbinary and gender expansive people...

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A meditation with guidance by words and song!

JOE REILLY (he, him) is a singer, songwriter, social worker, and ordained Dharma Teacher in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. Joe was raised Catholic and currently studies and practices progressive Catholicism, Native American spirituality, and engaged Buddhism. Joe has been a student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh since 2004 and is often found singing and writing songs on spiri...

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September 5, 2023 54 mins

GUEST:
JOE REILLY (he, him) is a singer, songwriter, social worker, and ordained Dharma Teacher in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. Joe was raised Catholic and currently studies and practices progressive Catholicism, Native American spirituality, and engaged Buddhism. Joe has been a student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh since 2004 and is often found singing and writing songs on spiritual retreats. He currently lives in Waawiya...

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A short, but lovingly offered, meditation from Anushka Fernandopulle. Originally offered on Dharma Seed.

Anushka Fernandopulle (she/they) is on the Spirit Rock Teacher's Council and has trained for over 30 years in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in the U.S., India, and Sri Lanka. Anushka lives in San Francisco and teaches retreats and workshops around the world. They also works as a leadership coach and management ...

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GUEST
Anushka Fernandopulle (she/they) is on the Spirit Rock Teacher's Council and has trained for over 30 years in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in the U.S., India, and Sri Lanka. Anushka lives in San Francisco and teaches retreats and workshops around the world. They also works as a leadership coach and management consultant, influenced by a BA in anthropology and religion from Harvard and an MBA from Yale. Her teachi...

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A multidimensional practice of hearing Dharma, chanting, and silent meditation in the Shin Buddhist tradition, offered by Rev. Mark Unno.

Rev. Mark Unno is Professor of Buddhist Studies & Department Head of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon, specializing in Pure Land, Zen, and Shingon Buddhism. He is the 14th generation minister of Shin Buddhism in his family. He is also the President of the Society for Bud...

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July 4, 2023 51 mins

REV. MARK UNNO is Professor of Buddhist Studies & Department Head of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon, specializing in Pure Land, Zen, and Shingon Buddhism. He is the 14th generation minister of Shin Buddhism in his family. He is also the President of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies.

Read articles by Rev. Mark Unno at Lion's Roar Magazine online

Visit his
website for more resources...

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