2026-01-27 I Inquiry I Zazen and running toward the fire with water I Joel Barna

·58 min·5 clips

Joel Barna starts by confessing he woke up empty and frightened, then promises to connect Zen meditation with brain anatomy to reduce suffering.

The episode begins with Joel Barna welcoming attendees and acknowledging teachers and monitors at Appamada. He shares a personal feeling of emptiness, quoting Rumi, and outlines his plan to connect anatomy and physiology with Zen practice. Barna reads Mary Oliver's poem 'At the River Clarion,' which emphasizes hearing holiness in nature beyond self-centered perception. He then introduces Barry Crawford's website 'Science of Zen,' detailing Crawford's background as a Zen practitioner and neuroscientist. Crawford identifies the brain's default mode network as responsible for self-referential thinking, worrying, and habitual behavior, aligning with Buddhist teachings on suffering. Barna explains that the central executive network can indirectly influence this by deciding to pay attention, which activates the dorsal attention network and shuts down the default mode network. He cites Matthew Sullivan, who describes meditation as creating space between impulses and actions, akin to adding car lengths on a freeway. Sullivan also interprets Indra's net as the foundation for Zen ethics, suggesting that individual actions diffuse through interconnectedness to address global problems. Participants like Kathy, Cassie, Ed, and Emily engage in discussion, relating the teachings to current events in Minneapolis and personal despair. They explore how meditation fosters compassion and actionable change, referencing the Dhammapada's teaching that hatred ceases by love. The session closes with Joko Beck's practice principles and a reminder about contributions to Appamada.

As heard by us

A grounded Zen inquiry into attention, physiology, and the surprise of the ordinary.

Appamada's Inquiry gathering follows a question about zazen into the body's machinery of attention, then brings it back to compassion. Joel links present-moment awareness with the dorsal attention network, the default mode network, and the possibility of meeting experience with…

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You want zazen, attention networks, and ordinary sounds opening the Dharma room.

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