Opening Dharma Access: Listening to BIPOC Teachers & Practitioners

Day 3 Dharma talk excerpts from Access to Zen's (A2Z) Kindness of the Ancestors Retreat. Rev. Liên presents Suzuki Roshi's thoughts on The 3 Pure Precepts. Along the way, she shares how we CAN suffer less by practicing with our habitual patterns. In particular, how we let ourselves be determined by outside forces; thus letting them "aliving" us; instead of living our own lives. Is this how we want to live?

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

Day 2 meditation from A2Z's Kindness of the Ancestors retreat. Rev. offers commentary on Suzuki Roshi's "Take Care of Yourself."

Meditations in this series are from the last period each night. As such, they can range from guided meditations to readings (often, with commentaries) to inspired or dharmettes to round out that day's instructional or teaching points. As such, there often are pauses for reflections or to let the teachings sink in.

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

Excerpts from Dharma talk on Day 2 of Access to Zen's (A2Z) Kindness of the Ancestors Retreat. Rev. Liên draws the connection between Kind, or Loving, Speech and the avowal of "all my ancient karma" in Jukai, the Lay Precepts ceremony. In this talk, she give a brief overview of karma (or "habit tendencies" or "habit energies" are ways Rev. frames them) and how to work with sense desire and ill-will from the 5 Hindrances. Relatable, real-life examples on how to recognize and practice with sensual desire and ill-will when they impeded us from being present fully are shared.

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

Excerpt from first talk of Access to Zen (A2Z) Kindness Retreat.

How ancestors have shared their kindness with us so that we may know our aliveness in this very moment! (& be kind to ourselves, spoons, & mosquitoes!)

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

Rev's in retreat all of September so we're flipping our usual format: Enjoy this 30 minute meditation and come back for an excerpt from the Dharma Talk which goes with it: "Spoon Buddha."

Meditations in this series are from the last period each night. As such, they can range from guided meditations to readings (often, with comments) to inspired or dharmettes to round out that day's instructional or teaching points.

This begins Season 5 of Opening Dharma Access!

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

An insightful talk from Guest Teacher, Rev. Syd Yang, at A2Z Meditation Group, 7-20-26. A jump-off, in some ways, from Rev. Syd' interview of Rev. Liên earlier in July for their new podcast "The Dharma of Loneliness."

Stay listening for Rev. Syd's A.I.R. practice near the end of the episode!

GUEST:

Rev. Syd Yang, MDiv (they/them), host of The Dharma of Loneliness podcast, is a mixed race/Taiwanese American queer trans/non-binary Buddhist Minister, movement chaplain, spiritual counselor and writer who engages decolonial possibilities for shared liberation through their practice, Blue Jaguar Healing Arts. Syd’s work and writing finds its resonance in the stories we each hold at the intersection of memory, body, sexuality and mental health. Syd works primarily with queer and trans BIPOC as well as regularly leads workshops and facilitates community based practice spaces for wellbeing + healing justice, body liberation and recovery.

www.bluejaguarhealingarts.com / IG @bodyliberationchaplain and @bluejaguarlove

A few recent publications: (article) https://www.lionsroar.com/how-i-reclaimed-my-body/, (book / memoir) Release: A Bulimia Story, (podcast guest) Mending with Gold / Kintsugi Therapist Collective, (chapter) Emergent Dharma, (chapter) Q + A: Voices from Queer Asian North America

This month, we are doing a special feature of a wonderful new podcast hosted by our friend Rev. Syd Yang: The Dharma of Loneliness podcast!

Rev. Syd sits down with Rev. Liên Shutt to discuss what it means to experience loneliness as a “best friend,” exploring how the idea of best friendship and relational hierarchy can feel unclear and shifting. Rev. Liên defines loneliness as a visceral sense of not belonging or being made “other,” and they discuss their experiences with othering via bullying, racism, queerness and cultural differences. They connect Zen insights and practices to befriending difficult sensations through mindful attention, metta, and embodied pause, emphasizing agency to “re-belong.”

Joy Harjo’s poems “Cricket Song” and “Remember” frame loneliness as longing that can remind one to remember inherent connection, complexity, and living with what is.

Go to www.DharmaofLoneliness.com to listen to other episodes and learn more!

HOST

Rev. Syd Yang, MDiv (they/them), host of The Dharma of Loneliness podcast, is a mixed race/Taiwanese American queer trans/non-binary Buddhist Minister, movement chaplain, spiritual counselor and writer who engages decolonial possibilities for shared liberation through their practice, Blue Jaguar Healing Arts. Syd’s work and writing finds its resonance in the stories we each hold at the intersection of memory, body, sexuality and mental health. Syd works primarily with queer and trans BIPOC as well as regularly leads workshops and facilitates community based practice spaces for wellbeing + healing justice, body liberation and recovery.

www.bluejaguarhealingarts.com / IG @bodyliberationchaplain and @bluejaguarlove

A few recent publications: (article) https://www.lionsroar.com/how-i-reclaimed-my-body/, (book / memoir) Release: A Bulimia Story, (podcast guest) Mending with Gold / Kintsugi Therapist Collective, (chapter) Emergent Dharma, (chapter) Q + A: Voices from Queer Asian North America

GUEST

REV. LIÊN SHUTT (she/they), host of Opening Dharma Access podcast, is a priest lineage holder in the Shunryu Suzuki tradition. Born to a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she received her meditation training in the Insight and Soto Zen traditions in the United States, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. They are the guiding teacher of Access to Zen, an inclusive, anti-oppression sangha and nonprofit in the San Francisco Bay Area. She lives in Oakland, on Huichin land, with her partner, exploring waterways and forests as often as they can.

Visit AccessToZen.org for ways to connect and practice together and to learn more about her book Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path.

Rev. Liên Shutt shares how precepts can be apply in daily life.

See the full session's video (with practice & audience participation) at: https://youtu.be/FKUagZ27uKA

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

In this mindful dharma talk, Rahil invites us all to feel into our bodies and stay with our experience as we contemplate the 5th Precept: Non-intoxication or Clear Heart-Mind. Rahil talks about his own initial aversion to speaking on the Precepts, and the beauty of relating to this framework and tradition of guidance as a path toward deepening our presence to our lives. Rather than seeing them as strict rules that demand perfection and immediate change, Rahil encourages us to allow for authentic growth and evolution that begins in our stretch zones.

Guest

RAHIL ROJIANI, MD (they/them) is a queer, genderfluid, South Asian Ismaili Muslim, and an abolitionist trauma-focused psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School. Rahil’s contemplative practices are informed by their Muslim faith, secular mindfulness traditions, and multiple Buddhist lineages. Rahil has conducted several years of research on the neuroscience of meditation, and they have been facilitating and teaching meditation since 2014— particularly for healthcare professionals, BIPOC, and community organizers.

bruni dâvila talks about the fourth precept, not lying/honoring truths. What does that look like in practice? bruni gives some examples for the times we are living in together.

GUEST

BRUNI DÁVILA (she/they) has practiced Insight and Zen meditation since 1995. They graduated from the IMS/IRC Teacher Training Program, and has been guided and supported by various wonderful teachers and sanghas, and her ancestors of Puerto Rican heritage. bruni’s practice is grounded in the teachings of Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. She teaches at IMC, in Redwood City and in the wider Bay area, in English and Spanish.

Rev. Willie discusses the 3rd Precept, not misusing sexuality, and frames it as how to be safe and not hurt with sexuality. After his talk, there is a discussion with Rev. Dana Takagi and Rev. Liên Shutt going deeper into what boundaries in sanghas and practice centers might look like, and how awareness of power is an important part of this precept.

You can also watch the talk on YouTube

REVEREND WILLIE SHOMON MUKEI (he/him) is a Zen student at The Village Zendo and novice Zen Priest where he leads the People of Color Sitting Group. He is also a psychoanalyst with a private practice and a member of both the Buddhist Council of New York and a Episcopal Priest. Willie has extensive history working the anti-racism and social justice realm.

In week 2 of Precepts for Skillful Engagement: Cultivating loving interactions in turbulent times (BIPOC Teachers, Series 1), Dana talks about the importance of deeper and creative understandings of the precept of not stealing. Drawing from her personal background as an academic, and as a priest and teacher, Dana examines the precept of not stealing when framed in terms of who believes they have expertise or the right to be heard in shared spaces and conversations.

In that spirit, here is a version of the 5 Precepts that may help to shine the light of awareness on how to share space and dialogue without taking what is not given. We hope you enjoy!

You can also watch the YouTube version which includes chanting and Q&A here.

5 Fundamental Precepts (not stealing week)
I vow to promote non-harming.
I vow to promote space-equity.
I vow to promote intimacy.
I vow to promote balanced speech.
I vow to refrain from expertise-ness.

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 series:

Rev. Liên gives an overview of 3 ways to practice with the precepts which she connects to how Sama has been translated as "Right," "Wise," & "Skillful" within the 8-Fold Path. Also shared are practice stories of her work with these precepts. The group practice is both the recitations (offered weekly) and the practice of Deep Listening as a form of Repentance (an aspect of precepts taking/vowing).
The affirming/positive aspect of the 5 Precepts offered today are:
I vow to realize & promote non-harming.
I vow to realize & promote mutuality.
I vow to realize & promote connections.
I vow to realize & promote honesty.
I vow to realize & promote clear heart-mind.
The traditional form & full info can be found at AccessToZen.org under the name of this offering.
May this offering be for the benefit of all beings.
Be safe. Bring safety to all.

See the full session's video at: https://youtu.be/l2SuNU85JI8

Contact Info.Access2Zen@gmail.com with questions or if your are able to support the continuation of Opening Dharma Access (ODA). Thank you!

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

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 Takagi, Judy Nakatomi, Professor Alice Yang, Professor/Rev. Joseph Cheah, Abbess Yuko Yamada, Rev. Liên Shutt, Professor Michael Omi, Mushim Ikeda, Professor Sharon Suh, Eunji Son, Rev. Rebecca Nie.

YouTube Version.

Instagram Version. (Please share!)

If you enjoyed this and you know of funding opportunities for a project like ours, please reach out! We are also receiving donations to help us continue into season 5, which includes the time it takes to find guests, record, edit, and get the word out about the podcast! We would love to continue forwarding BIPOC voices!

Email: info.access2zen@gmail.com
IG: accesstozen

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 other AAs who have shaped our collective understanding of race and racialization in the U.S.

We thank Rev. Dana Takagi for her dedication to these aims for the last 2 seasons! These archives would not be the same without her or her guests' voices!

We'll be dropping a compilation of Season 4 for the "practice" on April 21.

UPDATE on 4/6: We did not get funding to renew this project.

As always, feel free to contact us (about funding or otherwise) at Info.Access2Zen@gmail.com

Your hosts

REV. DANA TAKAGI(she/her) is a retired professor of Sociology and zen priest, practicing zen since 1998. She spent 33 years teaching sociology and Asian American history at UC Santa Cruz, and she is a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies.

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

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."

Traditionally, just a chant. Here, Rev. has embedded it with a meditation, offering guidance to reflect on how to practice being with and be nourished by our kind heart-minds, aching in the midst of difficulties.

May our practice be for the benefit of all beings!

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrants, and those seeking a home in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder & Guiding Teacher of Access to Zen. You can learn more about her work and book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Pathat https://accesstozen.org/ EVENTS

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 Buddhist roots with his Catholic faith and livelihood to also offer the idea that anti-hate activism by Asian organizers is a deep kind of spiritual social practice in action.

GUEST

REVEREND JOSEPH CHEAH OSM, Ph.D. is Professor of Religious Studies and Theology, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies.

Fr. Joe has made robust contributions in the fields of Asian American religions and theology, Buddhist Studies, World Christianity, race and religion. He is the author of Race and Religion in American Buddhism (OUP, 2011) which is the first monograph to take race seriously as a category of analysis in American Buddhist scholarship (Brooke Schedneck) and “stands to transform the discourse on American Buddhism and Asian American religions in significant and much needed ways” (Sharon Suh). His recent book Anti-Asian Racism (Orbis, 2023) has been reviewed as “an exceptional book … on the genealogy and variants of anti-Asian racism in the U.S.” (Thomas Hampton) and “a must-read for all Americans” (Peter Phan). He is a co-editor on the Palgrave Macmillan series, “Asian Christianity in Diaspora” with Grace Ji-Sun Kim, with whom he co-authored a book on Theological Reflections on “Gangnam Style.” In recognition of his record of exceptional scholarship, the University in 2018 awarded him with the Sister Mary Ellen Murphy Faculty Scholarship Award.

He has been an invited speaker on anti-Asian racism, Catholic Social Teaching, and other topics to audiences at diverse educational levels across the country. He was part of Asian American Christian Collaborative delegates invited to a White House meeting to address central issues faced by Asian American communities.

HOST

REVEREND DANA TAKAGI (she/her) is a retired professor of Sociology and zen priest, practicing zen since 1998. She spent 33 years teaching sociology and Asian American history at UC Santa Cruz, and she is a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies.

This month on Opening Dharma Access, we continue to shift from our regular schedule to focus on the ongoing ICE occupation and state-supported destruction impacting the globe. Rev. Dana Takagi reflects on her personal experience of returning to some foundational practice tools during a time of grieving, and the necessity as practitioners to double down in times of intense hatred and anger. She also talks about chanting and acknowledging one's own ancient twisted karma, always being a work in progress, and how we should resist furthering hatred and violence in ourselves for even those who perpetuate hatred and violence.

REVEREND DANA TAKAGI (she/her) is a retired professor of Sociology and zen priest, practicing zen since 1998. She spent 33 years teaching sociology and Asian American history at UC Santa Cruz, and she is a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies.

This month on Opening Dharma Access, we continue to shift from our regular schedule to focus on the ongoing ICE agency violence. Rev. Dana Takagi speaks about the many ways to respond to fascism from a Dharma perspective, whether that be peaceful protest or staying educated on which systems can be used as shields for the vulnerable. Dana recommends some reading, watching and podcasts, to understand in detail how the current presidential administration is consistently acting as a fascist regime by disregarding legal and communal structures to create an atmosphere of terror. Stay tuned for a second episode from Dana on the third Tuesday of this month.

Here are links to references mentioned by Dana in the episode:

1. Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/

2. Rachel Maddow, Burn Order: https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-presents-burn-order

3. Densho ( a digital storehouse of Asian American history). This is an interview with attorney Dale Minami who was one of several attorneys who participated in the Coram Nobis Case which set aside the convictions of Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi, and Min Yasui (all of whom challenged different aspects of the constitutionality of the order to evacuate Japanese Americans in 1942). https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTk9cCAiECg/

4. Strict Scrutiny: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/strict-scrutiny/

REVEREND DANA TAKAGI (she/her) is a retired professor of Sociology and zen priest, practicing zen since 1998. She spent 33 years teaching sociology and Asian American history at UC Santa Cruz, and she is a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies.

The 5 Ways of "a superior person's gift" are (as ordered in this talk): right time, respectfully, with a generous heart, without denigration, & out of faith.

Given the heart-breaking events in the US this week, ODA will present a series of offerings from both hosts, Rev. Liên Shutt & Rev. Dana Takagi.

This episode is from a talk at Access to Zen, Rev. Liên's sangha. Video of talk & other references can be found on the Dharma Talk page at AccessToZen.org

Rev. Dana's commentaries will drop in 1-week. We'll then offer more responses; formats TBD.

Feel free to reach out to us at Info.Access2Zen@gmail.com

Please take good care meanwhile!

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 social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and those seeking a “home” in the midst of North American society’s reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder of Access to Zen (2014). You can learn more about her work at AccessToZen.org. Her new book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path. See all her offerings at EVENTS