Up a Tree: Precarity, Not-Knowing, and Awakening Times

About this episode

Roshi Joan Halifax discusses the themes of precarity and not-knowing in the context of current global issues through the lens of a koan.

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Roshi Joan Halifax opens by naming her deep concern for the ongoing wars, displacement, and political upheaval seen throughout the world. Rather than offering direct reassurance, she turns to two stories held in deliberate tension: Kyōgen’s koan “Man Up a Tree,” in which a man hanging by his teeth from a branch is asked a question he cannot answer without… Source

People in this episode

Host: Roshi Joan Halifax

Topics covered

• precarity
• not-knowing
• awakening
• political upheaval
• koan

Keywords

• Dharma Talk
• Kyōgen
• Man Up a Tree

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Up a Tree, Man Up a Tree

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