Monday, May 14, 2012

Upaya Dharma Podcasts - Maia Duerr: The Dharma of Finding Sanity in an Insane World


Excellent dharma talk from Maia Duerr, her first at Upaya - a very relevant talk on distinguishing mental health and illness in a world gone quite insane.

Maia Duerr: 05-09-2012: The Dharma of Finding Sanity in an Insane World

Speaker: Maia Duerr

Recorded: Wednesday May 9, 2012

EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In her debut Dharma talk here at Upaya, Maia shares her own personal experiences of working with people with mental illnesses and how many of the symptoms that are used to diagnose such conditions can vary from one culture to another, as well the reaction of the community towards these individuals. She challenges the audience to question what it means to be sane/ insane, and how to incorporate our own neurosis or personality disorders as a learning tool that leads us to more compassionate action and understanding.

TEACHER BIO: Maia is the Director of Community Outreach and Development at Upaya, and also directs Upaya’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Program. She sometimes serves on Upaya’s Engaged Buddhism faculty. She is an anthropologist, writer, and editor. From 2004-2008, Maia was based at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship where she served as executive director and senior editor of Turning Wheel magazine.

Maia has received lay ordination from Roshi Joan Halifax into the Order of Interbeing and the Zen Peacemaker Order. She is also a student in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi, and has lived and practiced at the San Francisco Zen Center where she received jukai from Victoria Shosan Austin in 2008.

From 2002-2004, Maia was the research director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she led a study on the use of meditation and other contemplative practices in secular settings. She is the author of a number of articles on this topic, including “The Contemplative Organization,” published in the February 2004 issue of the Journal of Organizational Change Management.

Maia is the author of a blog on socially engaged Buddhism called The Jizo Chronicles.

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