Black Mountain Zen: Recent Episodes
Ryūshin Paul Haller
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk inspired by poet laureate Amanda Gordon and the 2021 Inauguration, reflecting on the alchemy available in each moment as we stand in all the causes and conditions and fullness of our being and choosing to infuse our bodhisattva vow.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a dharma talk on the Sandokai - a famous zen poem chanted daily throughout the world, and he offers an exploration of "the nourishing factors of our inter-being"
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a dharma talk on practising with the upside-down mind knowing it's the very mind of Buddha.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives insight into the inclination to reach beyond our limits. In Zen ceremonies, we vow discover a path to wider notion of wellbeing. Despite our karma, our stories, the challenges- we try to live in service of others. Navigating the paradox of existence gives vitality to each moment. This liberation and effort echoes far beyond what we can ever know.
In this series, Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a six-week class on the six paramitas (perfections) - giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom. The perfections are a traditional list of the virtues and wholesome dispositions that arise with dedicated practice.
This class examines a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.
In this series, Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a six-week class on the six paramitas (perfections) - giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom. The perfections are a traditional list of the virtues and wholesome dispositions that arise with dedicated practice.
This class examines a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.
In this series, Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a six-week class on the six paramitas (perfections) - giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom. The perfections are a traditional list of the virtues and wholesome dispositions that arise with dedicated practice.
This class examines a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.
In this series, Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a six-week class on the six paramitas (perfections) - giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom. The perfections are a traditional list of the virtues and wholesome dispositions that arise with dedicated practice.
This class examines a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.
In this series, Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a six-week class on the six paramitas (perfections) - giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom. The perfections are a traditional list of the virtues and wholesome dispositions that arise with dedicated practice.
This class examines a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk from Tassajara Zen Center shortly after the George Floyd and Black Live Matter protests. A dharma response to these times: deep radical presence and acceptance.
In this series, Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a six-week class on the six paramitas (perfections) - giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom. The perfections are a traditional list of the virtues and wholesome dispositions that arise with dedicated practice.
This class examines a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.
In this series, Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a six-week class on the six paramitas (perfections) - giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom. The perfections are a traditional list of the virtues and wholesome dispositions that arise with dedicated practice.
This class examines a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk during the Winter practice period at Tassajara on patience and what it is to turn towards unpleasant experience.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk during the Winter practice period at Tassajara on all-inclusive awareness.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk during a Winter practice period sesshin at Tassajara on what we can learn from the mind of 'giving over' and the mind of resistance.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk on the first day of sesshin during the Winter practice period at Tassajara Zen Center. This talk is about the Fukanzazengi - a famous zen essay describing and encouraging the practice of zazen.
Ryūshin Paul Haller begins with a brief 10 min guided meditation and dharma talk on cultivating continuous contact with the present moment.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center in Belfast, Northern Ireland on virtue and our judgments about others and ourselves.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, Belfast on entering the moment and what these moments can teach us.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, Belfast, Northern Ireland about a famous koan - alive or dead?
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the San Francisco Zen Center on the spirit of religious practice. In this talk, he offers two zen stories to illustrate core teachings from the Tassajara workshop on Christianity and Zen.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, Belfast, on the history and significance of the Buddist robe (okesa and rakusu).
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, Northern Ireland about God, Buddha and being alive.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, Belfast about the wisdom of the Heart Sutra - famous Buddhist sutra that teaches about insight into the nature of what is.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the Insight Retreat Center on cultivating resilience.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a 50min guided meditation at during retreat at the Insight Retreat Center.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the Insight Retreat Center on cultivating tranquility and concentration in retreat and in our lives.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a 40 minute guided meditation at the Insight Retreat Center on tranquility.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the Insight Retreat Center on cultivating mindfulness in retreat and in our lives.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, Northern Ireland about the three types of consciousnesses in Buddhist psychology and what it is to practice with these three minds.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center in Belfast, Northern Ireland about being alive - drawing on poetry and zen koans.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk and discussion at Black Mountain Zen Center, Belfast, Northern Ireland, exploring how to engage zazen without getting stuck in clinging and aversion.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk during the Winter practice period at Tassajara about intention, vow, and arousing Bodhi mind in practice, reflecting on the question: "what does practice ask of you?".
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Tassajara Zen Center during the Winter practice period on connecting with the resolve to practice and how we support each other in this process.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, in Belfast, Northern Ireland about the Genjo Koan - a famous fascicle written by Dōgen, the founder of Zen Buddhism's Sōtō school in Japan.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, in Belfast, Northern Ireland about the importance of investigating what we think we know - and how our idea of 'knowing' can get in the way of experiencing what truly is.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, in Belfast, Northern Ireland about our ways of relating to time and what we can learn about time from practice.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Tassajara Zen Center during a weekend workshop on the Spirit of Practice -a retreat has been co-lead with Brother David David Steindl-Rast for the last 12 years.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a dharma talk at Tassajara Zen Center during a weekend retreat on the path to wholeness.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center, Norther Ireland, on the forms in zen practice and what they can teach us.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Black Mountain Zen Center in Belfast, Northern Ireland, about religious narratives and stories in zen practice and the role of narrative in our lives.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives his fifth and final talk during his annual 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives his fourth talk during his annual 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the third talk during his annual 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the second talk during his annual 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the first talk during his annual 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a 40 min guided meditation on awareness of breathing at the Insight Mediation Center. At the end of the meditation, he briefly discusses this practice of attending and relating to the body and the breath.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the Insight Meditation Center about working with and appreciating the beauty of our humanness, fallibly and imperfection.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a guided meditation during a retreat at the Insight Meditation Center on cultivating awareness.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a dharma talk at Tassajara during a weekend workshop called The Path to Wholeness.
Ryushin Paul Haller gives a talk at the Insight Meditation Center on what it is to practice in the midst of an active life and to engage with the world in a purposeful way.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the fifth and final talk during a 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the fourth talk during a 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Norther Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the third talk during a 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the second talk during a 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the first talk during a 5 day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Black Mountain Zen Center in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a Saturday talk at the San Francisco Zen center on the last day of sesshin on the last day of the Winter practice period. He speaks about the practice period and how practice ultimately teaches us something fundamental about being alive.
Ryūshin Paul Haller continues his teaching on the Ānāpānasati Sutta and offers guidance for how to work with mental formations and sticky states of mind. This talk is given during a 5-day retreat at the Insight Retreat Center.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk during a 5-day retreat at the Insight Retreat Center on the Ānāpānasati Sutta - a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using awareness of the breath (anapana) as an initial focus for meditation.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk on the 6th day of sesshin during the Winter practice period at Tassajara. In this talk he talks about the unfolding stages of trust - how continuous contact with the moment reveals the fundamental nature of what is.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk on the 5th day of sesshin during the Winter practice period at Tassajara. In this talk he talks about how to rediscover the softness and wisdom of grandmother mind.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk on the 4th day of sesshin during the Winter practice period at Tassajara. In this talk he talks about the fierceness of ‘this very mind is Buddha’ and how to meet and practice with challenging experiences and emotions that can arise in zazen (and in life).
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk on the 3rd day of sesshin during the Winter practice period at Tassajara. In this talk he explores the koan - "this very mind is Buddha".
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers the first talk of Sesshin on day 2, during a Winter practice period at Tassajara. In this talk Ryūshin Haller explores how koan mind, beginners mind, can support zazen practice.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk during a retreat with Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center on the perfection of wisdom. He tells stories about the Zen monk Hakuin - an influential figure in Zen Buddhism to illustrate the wise steadfastness that can be realized through practice - particularly practice in challenging circumstances.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers at talk at the Insight Retreat Center on practicing with energy (Vīrya). He speaks about how to work with energy and strong emotions in interpersonal conflicts and in our meditation practice.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a 17min guided meditation on breathing at the Insight Retreat Center during a retreat with Gil Fronsdal.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk about ethics (Śīla) and how this supports practice and awakening. This talk is given at the Insight Retreat Center during a retreat with Gil Fronsdal.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a 40min guided meditation on awareness of body at the Insight Meditation Center.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at the San Francisco Zen Center beginning with a 10min guided meditation. He discusses the disposition of experiencing things as they are - ‘so it is’ - and the challenges presented by the discriminating mind.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at Tassajara Zen Center about the straight line of practice: aspiration, intention, resolve, diligence, discipline, and devotion.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the Insight Meditation Center on Buddhist outreach and what he's learnt from his years of work in prisons, drug rehab, and zen hospice.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about the Satipatthana Sutta - one of the primary sutras in the Pāli Canon describing the process of mindfulness - and what this sutta can teach us about shikantaza or zazen.
Ryūshin Paul Haller discusses emotional reactivity from the perspective of neuroscience and from the perspective of practice and what we can learn from these experiences.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk from Tassajara Zen Center during a poetry workshop with Naomi Shihab Nye.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the Insight Meditation Center on taking refuge - a central theme that ties many diverse Buddhist traditions together.
Ryūshin Paul Haller discusses how waking up is initiated, illuminated and actualized by noticing - a practice which is both profoundly simple and profoundly challenging to sustain.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about how to engage awareness directly with the experience that's arising in the moment and provides some experiential exercises.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about mindfulness, directive and receptive attention in the context of conflict resolution, zazen and practice in daily life.
Ryūshin Paul Haller describes what it is to enter the moment and offers suggestions for engaging mindfulness and beginners mind in daily life.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk on the first day of a 7-day sesshin at Tassajara Zen Center encouraging students to rediscover the mind and body of zazen - the mind of just being. This very mind is Buddha.
Ryūshin Paul Haller begins with a brief guided meditation and then goes on to offer guidance for zazen practice and to discuss the three elements of zazen.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives an introductory talk at the start of a 7 day sesshin (retreat) about way seeking mind referring to the koan between Joshu and Nansen.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about the mind of emptiness (shunyata) and how to cultivate this in practice using some inquiry-based exercises.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about how to practice with, and what we can learn from, strong emotional states and challenging experiences.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about the mindfulness movement, Buddhist psychology and neuroscience and what this can teach us about bringing zazen practice into daily life.
Ryūshin Paul Haller tells the Theravada Buddhist story of Angulimala – a violent murderer who was reformed after meeting the Buddha. Ryūshin Paul Haller explores what we can learn from this story about how to relate to our own practice.
Ryūshin Paul Haller discusses pivotal life events and their role in causing us to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. From the perspective of practice, this can happen in a momentary way and sometimes in the broader sense, changing the very direction our lives are taking.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk about renunciation and priest ordination in the zen tradition. The talk is given on a Saturday morning before an ordination ceremony with one of Ryūshin Paul Haller's students at the San Francisco Zen Center.
Ryūshin Paul Haller describes how mindfulness practice is a process over time. He explains how, in this process, it is possible to cultivate a greater awareness of our own unique mental, emotional and psychological life as well as an experiential insight into Buddhist teachings.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk on the 7th day of sesshin (a period of intensive meditation). He describes the process of practice during sesshin and how sesshin supports the unfolding of awareness.
Ryūshin Paul Haller talks about the breath in zazen and offers some guided instruction for engaging the breath in sitting meditation.
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers three short guided meditations as an experiential exercise in receptive and applied awareness.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about cultivating samadhi in daily life - a practice of pausing, noticing, and directly experiencing what is with honesty and awareness.
Ryūshin Paul Haller talks about what it is to practice with the challenges that life presents us with.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks to students participating in the Winter practice period at the San Francisco Zen Center about the role of wholehearted intention in practice. In this talk, he also offers a few experimental exercises.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives the first talk of the 2010 winter practice period at the San Francisco Zen Center and explores the importance of intention, connection and insight in engaging practice in our lives.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at the San Francisco Zen Centre about a koan (zen story) from approximately 1100 years ago. In a conversation between a teacher and student, the student asks the teacher if he has any more teachings. The teacher says, “there is only one mystery. That's the teaching.”
Ryūshin Paul Haller offers a talk at the start of a one day sit at the San Francisco Zen Center. He explores the koan - "Medicine and disease subdue each other. The whole earth is medicine. What is your self?”
During a retreat in Northern Ireland, Ryūshin Paul Haller talks about practice outside our comfort zone and the growth that's possible there.
Ryūshin Paul Haller explores a famous Zen story (koan) about the Second Patriarch of Zen Buddhism. When Bodhidharma, the first patriarch of Zen Buddhism, was meditating facing a rock wall in Shaolin-si Temple, the monk Huike came and asked to be accepted as his disciple. When Bodhidharma rejected the young priest, however, Huike chopped off his left arm to prove his firm determination to the master.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks offers a dharma talk at the San Francisco Zen Center about the Buddhist practice of taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and how we can realize this practice in the way that we engage life.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about the practice of closely examining our motives, intentions and fixed habits - a practice that can elicit humility or humiliation.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about bearing witness in the context of 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
Ryūshin Paul Haller shares some stories about engaging life fully and what this tells us about awakening. One story, from his own life, is about a journey with a severely neglected 4-year-old orphan girl who spent the first two years of her life living inside a cardboard box.
Ryūshin Paul Haller gives a talk at the Insight Meditation Center recently after becoming abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. He recounts a story of a conversation between the Buddha and Mahakashapa wondering about the growth of the buddha-dharma and the potential challenges this brings.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about the practice of inquiry in the context of life during the troubles in Belfast and in his Buddhist chaplaincy and peace work in Northern Ireland.
Ryūshin Paul Haller speaks about what he's learnt from over 12 years of work with zen hospice.
Paul Haller grew up in a poor, Catholic family in Belfast, sharing a bed with his siblings and often going hungry.
He left Northern Ireland during the height of the Troubles to travel the world.
A chance meeting in a Tokyo restaurant turned Paul onto Zen and he eventually found his way to a cave in a forest in Thailand, where he meditated alone for 6 months. After being ordained a monk he joined the San Francisco Zen Centre where he became Abbot, and taught meditation to prisoners in San Quentin and to terminally ill hospice patients.
For many years Paul has lived in Tassajara, a remote mountain monastery in California, surrounded by deer and blue jays.