About this episode

Sensei Monshin discusses the concept of joyful effort in meditation practice during the Spring Practice Period Sesshin.

In this first formal talk of the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Monshin takes up virya — the Sanskrit term for joyful effort — as the essential energy of practice. What does it mean to sit day after day with the whole catastrophe of the mind: the boredom, the fear, the stories we tell about ourselves? Drawing on the ox-herding pictures’ imagery of taming, she explores the difference… Source

People in this episode

Host: Joan Halifax

Guest: Sensei Monshin

Topics covered

• joyful effort
• virya
• Spring Practice Period
• meditation
• mindfulness
• boredom
• fear

Keywords

• joyful effort
• virya
• meditation
• Spring Practice Period
• ox-herding pictures
• mind
• boredom
• fear

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: ox-herding pictures

More episodes of Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

• SPP2026: Sesshin Day 6: Entering the Marketplace · April 30, 2026 · 49 min
• SPP2026: Sesshin Day 5: Returning to the Source · April 30, 2026 · 54 min
• SPP2026: Sesshin Day 3: Holding the Keys · April 30, 2026 · 45 min
• SPP2026: Sesshin Day 2: Free From The Start · April 30, 2026 · 45 min

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