Joan Halifax
Where Contemplative Practice Meets Social Action
Roshi Joan Halifax is a Zen Buddhist teacher, anthropologist, ecologist, social justice activist, and hospice caregiver. Instrumental in developing the dialogue between science and Buddhism, Joan is the founder and abbot of the Upaya Zen Center, a place she calls a "refuge of practice, learning and service for our complicated and fraught world". Her work with dying people and their families as well as her efforts as a social and environmental activist in the face of dying ecologies and social systems have been recognized and awarded internationally. She now seeks to be present and to hold collective fears of extinction and death of our systems, our planetary ecologies, and our very notions of humanity in an age of machines. Apathy is not an enlightened path, she says. Instead, she advocates engaged Buddhism, social activism, and, most of all, compassion as responses to the multifaceted crises we are confronted with today. Read Full Bio »
