Upaya Zen Center SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
Our Buddhist monastery offers daily Zen meditation, weekly dharma talks, and programs on Buddhist teachings, Buddhist art, neuroscience, and social engagement. We also conduct professional trainings for end-of-life care and Buddhist chaplaincy.
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM UPAYA
"Hatred is never appeased by hatred."
—Dhammapada, 5
Upaya Zen Center's global community finds itself grieving the tragic loss of life in Iran and across the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Sudan, and in the more than thirty other wars and genocides raging on our planet at this moment. We stand upright and open as we call not only for a cease fire, but a ceasing of war in our time. Our hearts cannot turn away from the truth of pervasive suffering, sorrow, and death as a result of war. And for this, we urge that this be a time of deep dialogue reaching past differences, of recognizing that the terrible cost of war passes through generations, that the impact of war on our earth is inestimable, and that we must realize our basic humanity and sanity for the sake of all at this time and those who are yet to be born.
Announcements
Announcing two unique opportunities to work at Upaya!
We are joyfully inviting two people to work closely with Upaya’s Executive Director Noah Kodo Roen, Associate Director Debra Myo-An Annane, Vice Abbot Wendy Lau, and Abbot Roshi Joan Halifax, and our core staff at this unique Zen practice center.
The ideal candidates for these positions will have a love of Dharma, people, and technology, as well as solid initiative, good judgment, responsiveness, excellent communication, attention to detail, reliability, joy, flexibility, relatability, and will be a quick learner.
OFFICE COORDINATOR
The Office Coordinator serves as the hub of Upaya’s day-to-day communications and administrative operations. This role combines front-desk hospitality with digital inbox management, office logistics, and cross-functional support for the Guest Coordinator and leadership team. Often the first point of contact for the community, the Office Coordinator embodies the quality of Upaya’s welcome through attentive and warm communication.
For more information about this position, please see the Office Coordinator job description and fill out the application here.
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT & MEDIA ASSET MANAGER
The Production Assistant & Media Asset Manager is responsible for the seamless operation of Upaya’s live programs and the stewardship of its digital media library. This technical and creative role ensures high-quality, immersive experiences for both in-person and online participants and manages the "Wisdom Library" to keep teachings accessible to a global community. This is a full-time, on-site position with a standard workweek of Wednesday through Sunday.
For more information about this position, please see the Production Assistant and Media Asset Manager job description and fill out an application here.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
April 18 – 25: Spring Practice Period Sesshin
In Person with Senseis Ryotan Cynthia Kear, Monshin Nannette Overley, and Jose Shinzan Palma, joined by Chris Senko Perez
April 26: The Spirit of Service
Online with Frank Ostaseski (Session 3 of 5; Recordings available with registration)
May 2: Hidden Lamp Study Group
Online with Sensei Zenshin Florence Caplow
May 3: Cloud Zendo Community
Online with Sensei Zenshin Florence Caplow
May 3: The Measure of Our Humanity: Imagination
Online with Tara Brach
May 7: Queer and Trans Sangha
Online with Ro Grace and Danny Wolf
May 08 – 15: Being with Dying
In Person only with Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD; Anthony Back, MD; Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN; Sensei Wendy Dainin Lau, MD; Holly Yang, MD; Rev. Corinna Chung; Mary Taylor
May 16: Ease and Joy of Mornings
In Person and Online with Edoardo Shoryu Eusepi
May 29 – 31: Planting Life
In Person and Online with Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Wendy Johnson, Roxanne Swentzell, Porter Swentzell, and Alonso Méndez
June 7: The Measure of Our Humanity: Compassion
Online with Roshi Joan Halifax
Jun 09 – 14: Young Adult Sesshin
In Person only with Senseis Noah Kodo Roen & Wendy Dainin Lau
June 20: World Making — Queer and Trans Daylong Retreat
Online with Ro Grace and Danny Wolf
July 9 – 12: Inner Practice of Medicine
In Person only with Sensei Wendy Dainin Lau
View Upaya's FULL program schedule
View Upaya's daily meditation schedule
Unless otherwise noted, we will host zazen in-person and on Upaya's YouTube channel (now also on zoom!) daily at 7:00 a.m. and again at 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time. As well as in-person (only) zazen at 12:20 p.m., Wednesday - Sunday. Please see the meditation and Dharma talk calendar for details.
Dharma Talks are held on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. Please join us online on zoom or on Upaya's YouTube channel or in-person at Upaya.
If anything comes up during the YouTube livestream like sound or video issues, please write to [email protected] so we can fix it as quickly as possible.
We encourage you to offer dana to support our teachers and Upaya.
UPCOMING DHARMA TALK
JOIN THE LOCAL SANGHA
Stay up to date on local sangha meetings, events, and happenings. Check out our local sangha page here.
Upaya’s Contemplative Residency
As residents, we live together as a sangha in Upaya’s deep field of practice. We have the rare opportunity to participate in meditation, liturgy, work practice, intensive practice periods, and a diverse course of study with teachers of socially engaged Buddhism, Buddhist studies, and contemplative science. Learn more and apply here.
DRAFT Awareness in Action
THE MEASURE OF OUR HUMANITY: Actualizing Compassionate Action In These Tangled Times – Special Speaker Series (Online 2026)
Sundays: January 4, February 1, March 29, April 12, May 3, June 7, July 12, August 30, September 20, October 25, November 15, December 13, 2026
Stewarded by Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Kodo Roen, and Sensei Dainin Lau
Join specially invited teachers and the global sangha from 11:00AM–12:30PM Mountain Time (MT), as we explore what defines our moral worth, what we stand for, and how to move forward in our tangled world by caring for others and embodying values like inclusion, belonging, compassion, respect, dignity, justice, and courage. At its very heart, the series is about laying down a path toward a sane and compassionate future. Learn more and register for the entire series here.
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SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD: The Ten Ox–Herding Pictures (In Person & Online 2026)
April 2 - April 25, 2026 with Sensei Monshin Nannette Overley, Sensei Ryotan Cynthia Kear, and Sensei Jose Shinzan Palma
During this Spring Practice Period, we will take up the classic study of the Ten Ox-herding pictures, a pictorial series of paintings and teachings formulated as visual parables for the stages of spiritual training and enlightenment. We will depend our daily practice with intensified sitting practice, studying in classes, training in the temple, having private interviews with the teachers, engaging in council practice and weekly Zazenkais, and sitting a Sesshin at the end of the month. Learn more and register for the In Person program here, and the Online program here.
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SESSHIN during Spring Practice Period (In Person and Online)
April 18 - April 25, 2026 with Senseis Monshin Nannette Overley, Jose Shinzan Palma, and Ryotan Cynthia Kear
This intensive, weeklong Zen meditation retreat (Sesshin) during the Spring Practice Period is an opportunity to deepen your practice though a consistent schedule of sitting meditation (zazen), walking meditation (kinhin), service and chanting (liturgy), formal meals in the zendo (oryoki), daily Dharma Talks, personal interviews with the teachers, and work meditation practice (samu). Learn more and register for this In-Person Sesshin here or join the full Spring Practice Period Online retreat here.
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THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE (Online 2026)
Sundays: April 26, May 24, June 28, 2026 with Frank Ostaseski
Life awakens us to continuous opportunities for service. In this series we will reflect on the meaning and place of service in our personal and professional lives, exploring how service is a natural expression of our humanity. Through mediation, inquiry, and group discussion we will discover the true heart of service and the shadows that obscure it. Learn more and register here.
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Hidden Lamp Study Group (Online 2026)
Saturdays: May 2, May 23, June 27, August 29, September 26, October 31, November 28, December 19
Join Sensei Zenshin Florence Caplow, co-editor of The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty Five Centuries of Awakened Women, for an online, donation-based interactive study group based on the book. Zenshin leads 2-hour sessions from 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM U.S. Mountain Time (MT). Each session focuses on a story as a mirror for our lives and practice, through a deeper encounter, lectio divina writing (slow, meditative), dialogue, silence, and sharing. A one-time registration and donation allows you to join for any or all of these sessions. They will all be recorded so, if you miss a session, you will be able to access the recordings at any time. Learn more and register here.
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QUEER & TRANS Sangha (Online 2026)
QUEER & TRANS Sangha with Ro Grace and Danny Wolf ~ First Thursday of each month: May 7, June 4, July 2, Aug 6, Sept 3, Oct 1, Nov 5, Dec 3, 2026
Upaya is delighted to offer this monthly program. Open to all self-identified Queer, Trans, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Intersex, Asexual, and Two-spirit. Learn more and register for the Program here.
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BEING WITH DYING: Professional Training Program for Clinicians in Compassionate Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying (In Person 2026)
May 8, 2026 — May 15, 2026
With Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD; Anthony Back, MD; Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FANN; Wendy Dainin Lau, MD; Holly Yang, MD; Craig Manbauman, FNP: Rev. Corinna Chung, and Mary Taylor
This revolutionary and practical training program for health care professionals provides important tools for working with people who have serious illnesses, as well as dying people and their families. Designed primarily for physicians and nurses, the training is also appropriate for experienced social workers, hospice workers, psychologists, administrators, chaplains, and clergy who work with end-of-life care patients. Learn more and register for the program here.
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THE MEASURE OF OUR HUMANITY: Actualizing Compassionate Action In These Tangled Times – 2026 Special Online Speaker Series – IMAGINATION (May 3, 2026)
Sunday, May 10, 2026, with Tara Brach
Join specially invited teachers and the global sangha from 11:00 AM–12:30 PM Mountain Time (MT), as we explore what defines our moral worth, what we stand for, and how to move forward in our tangled world by caring for others and embodying values like inclusion, belonging, compassion, respect, dignity, justice, and courage. At its very heart, the series is about laying down a path toward a sane and compassionate future. Please join us for this Sunday session on IMAGINATION, with Tara Brach. Learn more and register for this session, and other sessions in the series here.
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The Ease & Joy of Mornings (In Person and Online May 2026)
May 16, 2026, with Edoardo Shoryu Eusepi
In this half-day program, you will join your fellow practitioners in learning the basic zendo forms as they are practiced at Upaya Zen Center, as well as how to establish a comfortable sitting posture, how to focus on your breath during meditation, and how to engage in walking meditation. There will also be plenty of time for questions and answers. Learn more and register for the In Person program here or the Online program here.
GRACE 2023 Roshi Tony Cynda Wendy
Planting Life (In Person & Online 2026)
May 29 — May 31, 2026 with Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Wendy Johnson, Roxanne Swentzell, Porter Swentzell, Alonso Méndez, and Keido Troy Fernandez
Planting Life 2026 teachings will be guided by a cherished and renowned team of Indigenous activist-scholars, artists and Native farmers working in close collaboration with Upaya Zen Center teachers. The time together will be grounded in daily meditation and socially engaged Buddhist training infused with the dynamic teachings of Native seedways and Traditional Ecological Knowledges. On Saturday, May 30, program participants and local sangha will gather in Upaya's Three Sisters Garden to sow the heritage seeds of persistent Native culture and to offer a formal seed blessing ceremony convened by Native leaders. Learn more and register for the In-Person Program here or the Online Program here.
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Young Adult Sesshin (In Person June 2026)
June 9 — June 14, 2026, with Senseis Noah Kodo Roen and Wendy Dainin Lau, and Miles Bukiet, LMSW
Join us for an intensive, six-day Zen meditation retreat (sesshin) with a group of your peers. This retreat is for everyone aged between 21 and 35, whether you have experience with Zen practice or not. It is a great opportunity to learn an ancient tradition in our modern world. We will spend the week “chopping wood and carrying water,” which is to say, tending to the everyday activities of life with bare awareness. Learn more and register here.
Explore Our
Wisdom Library
Upaya's Archive of Dharma Talks, Videos, and Learning Resources Spanning 30 Years
- War Close to the Heart March 20, 2026
- Like Fire, We Rise Up Together March 17, 2026
- On Hsiang-yen’s Case 5, “Up a Tree” March 14, 2026
- A Glimpse of Awakened Mind. Now What? April 13, 2026
- Bearing Witness in Gaza April 6, 2026
- The Measure of Our Humanity: Transformation March 31, 2026
- Spring Practice Period: Zazenkai: Ordinary Mind April 11, 2026
- A Glimpse of Awakened Mind. Now What? April 8, 2026
- Bearing Witness in Gaza April 1, 2026
- Varela International Symposium: 2021 Opening Session
- Exploring the Power of Lojong (9 of 9) John Dunne, PhD & Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD
- Exploring the Power of Lojong (9 of 9) John Dunne, PhD & Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD
Upaya is grateful for the many teachers who have visited our monastery to share their wisdom with us. These pages archive their dharma talks and list past and upcoming programs.
GIVING TO UPAYA ZEN CENTER
Upaya exists only because of the extraordinary generosity of many people. Honoring our Founder’s dedication to compassion and courage, please make a generous gift to our Karuna Fund which supports Upaya.
In Buddhism, Dana Paramita, the perfection of generosity, is the first realization of the Bodhisattvas. It is truly a way for us to let go and benefit others. Generosity is a way we cultivate joy, end the sense of separateness between self and other, and actualize the third of the Three Pure Precepts, doing good for others.
SOCIALLY ENGAGED BUDDHISM
The Upaya Zen Center has a strong commitment to social service. Each of the projects serves many beings, and we hope that you will help support the work we do here by giving generously.
Join Our Global Sangha
Your support promotes socially engaged Buddhism and compassionate action including teaching meditation in prisons, cooking for the homeless, and medical work in Nepal.
