“Can I Take Back My Vows? — Navigating Uncertainty, Fear and Despair”
Talk given at Beginner’s Mind Temple, San Francisco Zen Center on June 8, 2024
In this talk, Mushim Patricia Ikeda examines the question, How can Zen practice be of benefit to more people during what many are calling "unprecedented times"? In mid-2024 the news is filled with political divisiveness, threats of fascism, ongoing genocides, and, as the polar ice caps continue to melt, Mexico City is facing a possible "Day Zero" when millions of people will have no running water. Weaving threads from Chinese Chan, Korean Seon, Japanese Zen, and Vietnamese Thien, Mushim Ikeda asked how possible it might be, on one hand, for her to live up to Korean Zen Master Naong's ‘Great Resolutions;’ and, on the other hand, to possibly chicken out and take back her Bodhisattva Vows. Mushim shared from her wide-ranging recent explorations into a Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhist modern version of Chöd and other experiences, suggesting that the vital inquiry for each of us might be to engage in heartfelt discernment each day, asking, "What is the most important thing for me to be doing, here, now, with all that I am?"
“That’s Dharma?! –
Navigating Differences in the Spirit of Adventure"
Talk given to East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on March 28, 2024, via Zoom.
As a Buddhist teacher, I’ve been quoted as saying, “It’s a big bad Buddhist world out there.” Like any global faith tradition, the worldwide Buddhist community (if there is such a thing) is full of diversity of thought, practices, power dynamics, and cultural expression. As we mature in our Dharma practice, can we open to discovery, delight, and a certain amount of disgust in encountering ways of being that are very different from our own East Bay Meditation Center culture? As Dharma explorers and adventurers, we can, as our Agreements for Multicultural Interactions say, “try on” new ways of being, doing, and connecting to the spiritual realm and each other in order to deepen our Brahmaviharas: Good Will (LovingKindness); Compassion; Empathetic Joy; and Equanimity. And we can make new spiritual friends along the way! Guided meditation; Dharma talk; and Q and A.
“How to Meditate in Trauma-informed and
Access-informed Ways”:
5 instructional video recordings by Mushim
uploaded to East Bay Meditation Center’s (EBMC) YouTube channel
Recordings from EBMC’s yearlong program of secular mindfulness for justice activists, Practice in Transformative Action (PiTA), Mushim, guiding teacher
These forms of Buddhist-based meditation are taught for a secular audience in a trauma-informed and disability access-informed manner:
Body scan meditation (mindfulness meditation) 21 mins
Loving Kindness meditation (not a form of mindfulness meditation) 30 mins
Mahasati meditation (seated, using hand and arm movements), a form of mindfulness meditation in movement, especially helpful for people who cannot walk or who cannot walk slowly 5.5 minutes
Mindfulness meditation in movement: walking meditation 16 minutes
Mindfulness meditation in a stationary posture (seated on a chair or cross-legged or kneeling, or lying down) 24 minutes. Often called “sitting meditation,” this is more accurately described as stationary meditation, since sitting upright is not required. People with chronic fatigue, spinal injury, and other conditions that require semi-reclining or lying down can practice mindfulness meditation in relative stillness.
See this playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaRgsSqSeBGETkAO2YEnfcseo2S-qreYz
Lion's Roar Wisdom for Well-Being
Facebook Livecast Recording
Mushim's Wisdom for Well-Being Livecast Recording on Facebook
December 7, 2022. To watch Lion's Roar Buddhist media's recording of a Facebook livestream session with Mushim Patricia Ikeda, teacher in their online course, Wisdom for Well-Being, click here: https://www.facebook.com/events/718850306516266/?ref=newsfeed
Wisdom for Well-Being is a collection of teachings and practices from more than 20 unique teachers, spiritual leaders, psychologists, neuroscientists, and best-selling authors. They share their insights and guidance on rediscovering the best in who you are, so you can make positive changes in your daily life.
Learn more: https://learn.lionsroar.com/p/wisdom-for-well-being
"Caring, Connection and Creativity:
Recharging Our Batteries"
"Caring, Connection and Creativity: Recharging Our Batteries" is the title of Mushim's 20 minute presentation on November 19, 2022, when Vista Buddhist Temple in San Diego, California hosted the 4th annual Buddhist Community Gathering (online). This year's theme was "Our Self Care Is Community Care: How does Buddhism help us sustainably navigate the everyday exhaustion many of us are experiencing today?" The featured speakers were Reverend Candice Shibata, Mushim Patricia Ikeda, and Rev. Cristina Moon.
"Calm Abiding, Insight and Spiritual Strength"
Audio only EBMC POC Sangha talk, Sept 25, 2014
Watch "Mushim Ikeda ~ Return of the Light: What's the Most Important Thing?" on YouTube
What's the most important thing for you to do and be in this moment? And what's love got to do with it?
A Zoom recorded talk near winter solstice 2021 for the EBMC POC Sangha.
Mushim Patricia Ikeda ~ "May I be the source of life”: BIPOC Heart Teachings
From Shantideva’s Prayer. What is a heart teaching? What heart teachings have been given to you? That you've given to others? Mushim Patricia Ikeda, one of the EBMC POC Sangha’s core teachers, will introduce us to the heart practice of “Shantideva’s Prayer”, an 8th century text revered in the Tibetan Buddhist lineages, and how it has deepened her practice in being with dying. BIPOC Buddhists are invited to share your heart practices with our Sangha.
Impermanence "Happens" but/and
How Do We MAKE Change?
Dharma talk by Mushim Patricia Ikeda, San Francisco Zen Center, February 26, 2022
When the will of a collective is strong and completely clear, change occurs in a seemingly magical fashion, without a feeling of protracted struggle. For organizations that have for years been saying their values are diversity, equity, inclusion and access, but whose actions have not produced evidence of needed change, what will bring actions into alignment with values?
Click here to watch: https://app.sfzc.org/m/NCEjOwnK/2022-02-26-cc-mushim-ikeda
Not What I Thought: Fantasy, Disillusionment and Reality on the Spiritual Path
Dharma talk given to the EBMC People of Color Sangha on 9/16/21.
Mushim Patricia Ikeda: “Grumpy Metta” ~ Meditating from Where We Are Now
Talk given to East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on Thursday, April 29th, 2021 via Zoom.
"Grounding, Centering, and Moving Forward: Mindful Practices to Build Resiliency."
Stressed out? Pandemic fatigue? A one hour stress reduction workshop with Mushim Patricia Ikeda, offered through the Robert Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University in May 2021. Emphasis is on small mindful movement interventions and sharpened observation of when we shift from lowered mood states into something that feels a little or maybe a lot better.
Columbia Univ, Union Theological Seminary speaker series: Dharma and Justice Dialogues:
Mushim on Vow Not to Burn Out
Join us for this last conversation in the Dharma and Justice Dialogues for this academic year with Mushim Ikeda and Rev. Kosen Greg Snyder In this conversation, they will explore the questions: How many of us who have devoted ourselves to the liberation of all beings are on a path toward burnout? How do we not fall into cynicism and despair? By what means do we maintain the energy for our own spiritual lives?
Given on March 23rd.
Meditating and Healing in a Traumatized World
Sunday Morning Zen talk for Zen Life & Meditation Center, Chicago.
Mushim kicks off Buddhist teacher Blake Tolbert’s new YouTube channel as his first interview!
In-depth new interview with Buddhist teacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda by Blake Tolbert for the new YouTube channel, Dharma of Color. I'm honored to be Blake's first Buddhist teacher of color interviewed, and this is a kickoff to what will be an amazing set of interviews of BIPOC Dharma leaders. Please share! -- and help this channel launch with energetic joy.
What Is Strategic Practice: How to Be a "Guerrilla Yogi"
Talk by Mushim for EBMC People of Color Sangha Nov 12, 2020.
What might our meditation practice have in common with revolutionary action and guerrilla warfare? Taking a page from Vipassana Hawai’i teacher Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey’s book Insurgent Heart: A Vipassana Manual for the Guerrilla Yogi, Mushim invites us to consider how to assess our resources, use them effectively, and attain our goals. Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a socially-engaged Buddhist teacher, community activist, diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, parent and author based in Oakland, California. She has a background in both monastic and lay Buddhist practice.
At EBMC, Mushim is also guiding teacher of the award-winning yearlong Practice in Transformative Action (PiTA) program, which provides secular mindfulness training for justice activists. Mushim is the recipient of a Global Diversity Leadership award; an honorary doctor of sacred theology degree from the Starr King School of Ministry; and was named one of Colorlines’s 20 transformative racial justice leaders in 2018.
Mushim's sermon for UU Church Santa Monica:
"What Is Anti-Oppression Spirituality and Practice?"
Mushim Ikeda gave the February 21, 2021 sermon for the Unitarian Universalist Church in Santa Monica (California). The entire service is enjoyable. If you'd like to hear Mushim, start around the 42.31 mark with my reading of a quotation from Sonya Renee Taylor, author of the NY Times bestselling book, The Body Is Not an Apology. Immediately afterward, I delivered the ten minute Sermon, "What Is Anti-Oppression Spirituality and Practice?"
The Most Important Thing:
Purpose, Intention & Action in Messed-up Times
Talk given to East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on October 15th, 2020, via Zoom.
I Got Your Back AND I Disagree:
Collective Liberation and Interdependence
Talk given to East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on August 20th, 2020, via Zoom.
Mindfulness meditation for people with disabilities
This YouTube video demonstrates mindfulness meditation instruction that is trauma-informed and disability-justice informed for people with disabilities, taught by Mushim Patricia Ikeda of East Bay Meditation Center. The video is a recording of the Asian Art Museum San Francisco's very first meditation class for people with disabilities, including Deaf participants and blind participants. Closed captioning is enabled, but unfortunately the window with ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation did not display in the recording. October 29, 2020.
Simplicity, Clarity & Spiritual Strength
Conversation with Mushim Ikeda at the Flame.
A four-step process of spiritual discernment offered by Mushim.
The Flame is a Christian/Lutheran-based group for LGBTQIA2+ persons and their allies in Portland, Oregon.
Four questions for Simplicity, Clarity & Spiritual Strength
Step I: Investigate & discern for myself (through prayer, meditation, contemplation) Who am I as a spiritual person?
Step II: As a spiritual person, what is my heart practice / essential practice? "A heart practice is one that does not depend on being in a particular building or place, special clothing or equipment, or other people. You can do it anytime and anywhere, even in prison or in the most dire circumstances." (Mushim Ikeda).
Step III: How do I connect with spiritual friends (community)? Buddha: “Admirable friendship is the whole of the Holy life.”
Step IV: As a spiritual person with a practice & a community, What is my path of compassionate action in the world?
The Hot Mess of Our Times, On Anger and Equanimity
Talk given to East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on July 30th, 2020, via Zoom.
The Lion’s Roar - Authenticity, Wholeness and Boldness for POC Dharma Practitioners
Talk given to East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on November 20th, 2014.
Dharma as Healing Medicine
Talk given to East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on July 31, 2014. (25:54 Dharma Talk)
How to Be a Mindful Mess:
Inner peace isn't just about feeling good
Hosted by Kaira Jewel Lingo. With Mushim Patricia Ikeda
This interview is part of the Mindfulness and Meditation Summit, a free online event where you can return to joy, foster courage and share compassion through the power of mindful awareness. For more information, please visit https://mindfulnessmeditationsummit.com/. This recording is a copyright of The Shift Network. All rights reserved.
Mushim gives a talk on Creating Refuge for Yourself and Others in a Time of Fear.
Mushim’s interview for the
Transforming Loneliness interview series.
Mushim joins a webcast on Mindful Resistance.
Mushim gives a meditation for working with Post-Charlottesville Stress.
Mushim gives a brief talk on "Teachings for Uncertain Times" for Black History Month Feb 2017.
Click here to view the talk
Download the transcript in PDF form here.
Buddhist eacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda’s talk references the presidential election and the “sharp increase in already existing fears” among African Americans, undocumented immigrants, Muslims, and people of color communities. “The question is: what is going to change and how will it change?” says Ikeda-Nash, a meditation teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California. “Dharma practitioners have always formed communities and deep spiritual friendships that have helped us to weather the winters of hard times and to bask together in the warmth of good times . . . Now is the time to ask ourselves, ‘what have we been practicing for?’” In honor of Black History Month, Tricycle is presenting a special video series, “Teachings for Uncertain Times,” featuring 13 teachers of color, here on our blog, Trike Daily, throughout Februar 201. The videos are free to watch.
You can also download a transcript in PDF form here.
Mushim gives a Dharma Talk at SFZC
Click here to watch the video on "Awakening, Engaging, and Embodying Social Justice."
"Before we consider whether we can embody Dharma—and in my case being at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland where our mission is diversity and social justice based, whether we can embody social justice (that which is just; that which is fair; that which is equitable, good and compassionate for the many)—we can just ask ourselves, I think, whether we can embody our own body."
—Mushim Ikeda, Dharma talk, "Awakening, Engaging, and Embodying Social Justice," March 12, 2016
This is a video of Mushim Patricia Ikeda delivering her keynote address to the 2015 Starr King Symposium: Remembering Our Wholeness. The honored guest teacher discusses the ways in which her tradition of Mahayana Buddhism helps her connect to her wholeness and how we can connect with and live in our wholeness.
Creating Inclusive and Welcoming Buddhist Sanghas in the U.S.," talk by Mushim Patricia Ikeda at the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) Pacific Seminar for the 21st Century in Berkeley, California on July 4, 2015. Best practices and learnings from our work at East Bay Meditation Center in downtown Oakland. Working toward spiritual communities that invite everyone to come through our doors without having to leave parts of how people self-identify and their varied experiences outside in order to "fit in" to the community. Cultivating warm curiosity and the willingness to be comfortable with discomfort are keys to discovering just how richly diverse, innovative, energetic and loving our communities can become through practicing cultural humility and inclusivity. Imagine! Act with bold compassion! Create!
I was invited to be part of a group of Catholic and Buddhist leaders to engage in a interreligious dialogue about social change.
What does the future of socially engaged Buddhism look like?
Video of the dharma talk from the People of Color Mindfulness Retreat. Recorded at the Sweetwater Zen Center in San Diego, CA.
Video of the guided meditation from the People of Color Mindfulness Retreat. Recorded at the Sweetwater Zen Center in San Diego, CA.
Video from the public talk of Mindfulness, Self-Care + Social Change. Recorded at the Malcolm X Library in San Diego, CA.