It took nearly six years for bestselling author Daniel Handler to sell his first book, a satirical novel called The Basic Eight. When his agent sold it in 1998, it was “for the least amount she had ever negotiated for,” laughed Handler, who spoke at a UC Berkeley event earlier this month. More than two decades later, Handler has published seven nov…

A five-week class co-taught by Linda and Greg on the Lotus Sutra during the 2025 practice period. This class is an introduction to the Sutra, emphasizing why it is essential in the Dogen Zen tradition and touching on some of the more important teachings and stories to be found therein. Their aim is to have it be lively, engaging, and enjoyable for …

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk explores the essential energy of Compassion, as illustrated by the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kuan Yin.Από τον Eve Decker

A five-week class co-taught by Linda and Greg on the Lotus Sutra during the 2025 practice period. This class is an introduction to the Sutra, emphasizing why it is essential in the Dogen Zen tradition and touching on some of the more important teachings and stories to be found therein. Their aim is to have it be lively, engaging, and enjoyable for …

In Berkeley Talks episode 225, The Atlantic journalists Yoni Appelbaum and Jerusalem Demsas discuss the decline of housing mobility in the United States and its impact on economic opportunity in the country. Appelbaum, author of the 2025 book Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity, began by tracing the…

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk includes reflections, practice, and a song pointing to the essential practices that support integrity. Known as "sila" in Pali, wise speech, action, and livelihood and the Five Things (precepts) both lead to and express awakening. Let's look at why and how.…

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, April 26th 2025 by Karen Sundheim.Από τον Karen Sundheim

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Reflections and practices pointing to the important insight into interconnection. The realization of "anatta" - no separate self - is foundational to the Buddhist teachings. It becomes available with mindfulness practice and is a part of both our own awakening and our ability to courageously act on behalf …

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is considered the father of Western philosophy, one whose most famous ideas have all but risen to the level of pop culture. We parrot his claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” His name has been invoked by politicians to bolster their stance against “cancel culture.” There’s even an AI chat app …

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk takes a dive into Gratitude as a way to hold suffering. The Jewish holiday of Passover began on Saturday. Passover is a holiday of liberation. One of the most joyous parts of the holiday is singing the song Dayenu, which translates as "It would have been enough." The song's lyrics list one blessi…

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, April 12th 2025 by Ellen Webb.Από τον Ellen Webb

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, April 5th 2025 by Ryushin Andrea Thach.Από τον Ryushin Andrea Thach

When J Finley arrived at UC Berkeley as a graduate student in 2006, she planned on studying reparations and the legacy of slavery. But after a fellowship in South Africa, where she studied the Zulu language and culture, Finley says she realized Black people were never going to get reparations. Switching gears, she started thinking: “How else do Bla…

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk presents an exploration of "Wise Intention" - a crucial aspect of the Buddha's map for alleviating suffering.Από τον Eve Decker

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, March 29th 2025 by Gary Artim.Από τον Gary Artim

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Called to engage with, and do what we can to alleviate, suffering in the world, it's essential that we include ourselves and our own suffering in our circle of care. If we don't, our own suffering will be added to the larger suffering. Habituating practices and tools for grounding and coming back to presen…

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, March 22nd 2025 by Hondo Dave Rutschman.Από τον Hondo Dave Rutschman

In Berkeley Talks podcast episode 222, UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Brian Fitzpatrick, the Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee, debate the merits of originalism in constitutional interpretation. Originalism is a theory that argues that the U.S. Constitution should be interprete…

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Thich Nhat Hanh, beloved Vietnamese monk and peace activist, coined the term "Engaged Buddhism" when, during the great suffering of the Vietnam war, it no longer felt appropriate to many monastics to stay inside the monastery. There was a need to take action. However, as practitioners directly addressed th…

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) It's hard to keep up with all the disorienting changes we are processing each day. We can easily get lost in confusion trying to make sense of it all. As a result, we can draw conclusions based in despair and fear, thinking that we know where this is heading. We can find strength from Korean Zen Master Seu…

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, March 8th 2025 by Dōshin Dan Gudgel.Από τον Dōshin Dan Gudgel

In Berkeley Talks episode 221, American historian Heather Cox Richardson joins Dylan Penningroth, a UC Berkeley professor of law and history, in a conversation about the historical evolution of the Republican Party, and the state of U.S. politics and democracy today. Richardson, a professor of history at Boston College, is the author of the popular…

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk explores the view that the wide and profound perspective of Non-Duality sees that everything belongs. One is not creating divisions between "good and bad" or "right and wrong". It is all part of the dance of life. However, in the relative level of reality these categories are real and shape our t…

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, March 1st 2025 by Gerry Oliva.Από τον Gerry Oliva

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk examines some frameworks and practices that can help us return to equanimity (a sense of balance in the midst of things as they are, from which wise response can more easily arise).Από τον Eve Decker

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, February 22nd 2025 by Laurie Senauke.Από τον Laurie Senauke

If someone asked you to describe democracy in one word, what would you say? An October 2024 survey by the Political Psychology of American Democracy Policy Project, led by UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy Dean David Wilson, asked people just that. Many respondents said, “freedom,” but a lot of others said, “broken.” In Berkeley Talks e…

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk examines some frameworks and practices that can help us return to equanimity (a sense of balance in the midst of things as they are, from which wise response can more easily arise).Από τον Eve Decker

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Tuesday, February 11th 2025 by Peter Overton.Από τον Peter Overton

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, February 8th 2025 by Carol Paul.Από τον Carol Paul

When Luke Messac began his emergency medicine residency at Rhode Island Hospital in 2018, he noticed a lot of his patients came to him concerned about costs. Some worried about his recommendations for them to stay in the hospital overnight. Others questioned his motives when he asked them to undergo a test, like an X-ray or MRI. A few came in way t…

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk examines some frameworks and practices that can help us return to equanimity (a sense of balance in the midst of things as they are, from which wise response can more easily arise).Από τον Eve Decker

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, February 1st 2025 by Zenshin Greg Fain.Από τον Zenshin Greg Fain

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) It seems like many are feeling either a low-level anxiety or fear these days. Fear about their safety, about disasters like fire or floods, about what the future holds. While this is natural and understandable, when our minds get hijacked by fearful thoughts, it is almost impossible to have a wise or appro…

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Monday, January 27th 2025 by Peter Overton.Από τον Peter Overton

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, January 25th 2025 by Linda Galijan.Από τον Linda Galijan

In Berkeley Talks episode 218, sociology professor Stephanie Canizales discusses her 2024 book, Sin Padres, Ni Papeles, about the experiences of undocumented immigrant youth as they come of age in the United States without their parents. Over six years, Canizales conducted 75 in-depth interviews with adult immigrants living in Los Angeles who came …

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, January 18th 2025 by Zenshin Greg Fain.Από τον Zenshin Greg Fain

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk is about what the Dalai Lama called our greatest protection: our sincerity of motivation. What is sincerity? How do we know when we are truly sincere? How can we cultivate it?Από τον James Baraz

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Monday, January 13th 2025 by Peter Overton.Από τον Peter Overton

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, January 11th 2025 by Sue Oehser.Από τον Sue Oehser

In Berkeley Talks episode 217, john a. powell and Stephen Menendian, director and assistant director of UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, discuss their 2024 book, Belonging Without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World. During the campus event, the scholars touch on the transformative role of imagination and storytelling, why …

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The subject of this talk is the opening verse of the Dhammapada, the famous collection of the Buddha’s teachings. The verse starts out with these words: “We are what we think. With our thoughts we make the world.” This teaching can be truly transformative in one’s meditation practice as well as in one’s li…

In Berkeley Talks episode 216, celebrated poet and novelist Ocean Vuong joins in conversation with UC Berkeley English Professor Cathy Park Hong, a poet and writer whose creative nonfiction book, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, was a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Together, they discuss the importance of genre fluidity and artistic expe…

In Berkeley Talks episode 215, a cross-disciplinary panel of UC Berkeley professors, whose expertise ranges from political science to philosophy, discuss how they view decision-making from their respective fields, and how we can use these approaches to make better, more informed choices. Panelists include: Wes Holliday, professor of philosophy. Hol…

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday, December 7th 2024 by Zenshin Greg Fain.Από τον Zenshin Greg Fain

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Friday, December 6th 2024 by Judy Fleischman.Από τον Judy Fleischman

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Thursday, December 5th 2024 by Linda Galijan.Από τον Linda Galijan

Talk given by Linda Galijan and Greg Fain.Από τον Linda Galijan

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Tuesday, December 3rd 2024 by Zenshin Greg Fain.Από τον Zenshin Greg Fain