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 & 4 description: Hosted by Rev. Liên Shutt & 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 it 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 as a wisdom mirror for organized Buddhism in the West.
Thank you to the Hemera Foundation for their generous support of Season 3 & 4!
Contact us at: Info.Access2Zen@gmail.com
Further Info at: AccessToZen.org
Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC Teachers & Practitioners
Latest Episodes
Precepts for Skillful Engagement in Turbulent Times: 3 Ways to Practice Precepts & P1/Non-Harming with Rev Liên Shutt
First of 6 parts series from AccessToZen.org. For the video of this talk (& Deep Listening prompts & participants' comments, see link at end of show notes).Week 1 of Precepts for Skillful Engagement in Turbulent Times seri...
Season 4 Compilation of Interviews: Asian American & Asian Diaspora Buddhists Helping Define Buddhism Today!
Opening Dharma Access podcast, season 4 compilation of highlights of all our fantastic guests this past season. We hope you enjoy!Guests in order of appearance:Rev. syd yang, Siddhesh Mukerji, Reverend/Kumu June Tanoue, Rev. Dana...
Season 4 Wrap-Up: Can "What is AA & AD Buddhism" Be Answered? with Rev. Liên Shutt & Rev. Dana Takagi
Rev. Liên & Rev. Dana tries -- & about what it might be our future, too! Zen Fools! :)The Co-Host reflect on 2 Seasons forwarding Asian American (AA) & Asian Diasporic (AD) Buddhist teachers & practitioners; along with ot...
Well-Being Chant & Reflection Meditation with Rev. Liên Shutt
As our world continues to tumble, here's a Soto Zen chant for Well-being. Kannon, or Kanzeon, are the Japanese names for the Bodhisattva of Compassion. This chant is calling on her/them to support us to be with "the cries of the world."T...
Reverend Joseph Cheah: Lived Experience as the Core of Spiritual Practice
Reverend Joseph Cheah sits down with Dana to discuss his research and writings which push back against dominant understandings of Asian religions that were propagated by Western frameworks. He brings his combination of familial and cultural Bud...
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