In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, Roshi Joan Halifax reflects on Appamāda—a Buddhist teaching often translated as vigilance or heedfulness, and here offered simply as care.

Speaking from a life shaped by civil rights work, caregiving, and decades of practice alongside Bernie Glassman, Joan explores what it means to stay present with moral distress without rushing toward answers. Drawing on Bernie’s teaching of Not Knowing and Bearing Witness, she invites us to let response arise not from ideology or strategy, but from direct contact with suffering—our own and the world’s.

Through images of water—fluid, responsive, inclusive—and the story of Anishinaabe grandmother Josephine Mandamin carrying a single bucket along the shores of the Great Lakes, Joan points to a practice grounded in responsibility at human scale. Not grand solutions, but showing up. Not certainty, but care. Again and again.

This is a conversation about conscience, community, and the small, faithful acts through which our vows are lived—moment by moment, right where we are.

If this conversation moves you, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to all of our content—podcasts, articles, event recordings, and more—and help sustain the work of Zen Peacemakers.Learn more at www.zenpeacemakers.org

We invite you to support this work. Become a paying subscriber to the Peacemakers Podcast or join the Zen Peacemakers community as a member.

Show Credits:

* Speaker: Roshi Joan Halifax

* Recording Date: December 12, 2023

* Hosts: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe, Jim Hōden Fricker

* Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker

* Event Coordinators: Clotilde Wright, Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe

* Related Video: HERE

This episode of the Peacemakers Podcast features reflections from Bernie Glassman, drawn from a three-day gathering held in 2014.

Across those days, Bernie occasionally spoke from the vantage point of the first, second, and third twenty-year periods of his life — not as a formal structure, but as a way of noticing how practice matures through time. What comes through most clearly is not biography, but how the Three Tenets — Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Taking Action — continually shaped his responses to life.

Listening now, these reflections feel less like a retrospective and more like an invitation. The Three Tenets are not presented as ideas to adopt, but as something already moving in each of us — in how we meet uncertainty, stay with what is difficult, and allow action to arise from real presence.

If this episode resonates with you, we invite you to support the ongoing work of Zen Peacemakers by becoming a paying subscriber.

Join our Community Platform to learn more here

Show Credits:

* Speaker: Bernie Glassman

* Recording Date: 2014

* Hosts: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe, Jim Hōden Fricker

* Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker

In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, we sit with T. Marie King in a conversation that invites honest reflection on identity, power, and how we show up in community.

Rather than offering answers or analysis, this episode creates space to notice what we assume, who we may be missing, and how listening itself can become an act of care and responsibility. Rooted in lived experience and grounded presence, T. Marie’s work challenges us to slow down, brave discomfort, and allow ourselves to be changed.

This conversation is closely connected to place, especially Selma and Montgomery, Alabama—cities that continue to shape the moral and emotional landscape of our shared life. It also points toward the Zen Peacemakers’ upcoming Bearing Witness to Racism in America Retreat in April 2026. This contemplative immersion is not about fixing the world, but about letting experience work on us.

If this episode resonates, you are also invited to join T. Marie King for a free online Zen Peacemakers event, Perspective + Empathy: Learning Beyond Our Own Lens. Details for both the retreat and the online event can be found in the show notes.

If you value these conversations, please consider becoming a paying subscriber and supporting the ongoing work of Zen Peacemakers. Learn more at www.zenpeacemakers.org

Show Credits:

* Speaker: T.Marie King

* Recording Date: June 23, 2022

* Hosts: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe, Jim Hōden Fricker

* Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker

* Event Coordinators: Micka (妙心) Moto-Sanchez, Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe

* Related Video: HERE