THE MEASURE OF OUR HUMANITY: Actualizing Compassionate Action in These Tangled Times – REVERENCE with TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS (Online November 15, 11AM MT: FREE
upaya.org/program/the-me…

Roshi Joan and Sensei Dainin have returned home from Japan. The two weeks of travel and meetings with Japanese and Western colleagues were very rich with friendship and learning. Roshi also gave a talk to monks in training at Eiheiji (pictured here).

They will return to Japan in ence meeting and the G.R.A.C.E. Compassion Training annual national gathering at Sōjiji Monastery.

Dolores, so sorry you left us today. But you left us with your fighting loving brave spirit. You were a mighty presence in our world. Thank you for never giving up! I love you.

Waking up together 🌿 In this week’s newsletter:

🌙 Reflections from sesshin and Zhao Zhou’s teachings on finding our true home
🇯🇵 Roshi Joan and Sensei Dainin returned from Japan
🔊 We reflect on Jack Kornfield's session of The Measure of Our Humanity
🕊 We remember Roshi how you can support Upaya's Buddhist Chaplaincy scholarship fund
🔥 Coming up: Awakened Action: What Blooms in the Ashes (Nov. 13–15), Introduction to Zen Meditation with Sensei Dainin, Rohatsu Sesshin, and more

Subscribe to our newsletter here: ow.ly/XnM35101wtx

#Upaya #UpayaZenCenter #Zen #Buddhism #Sangha #Meditation #WakingUpTogether

Don't miss FREEDOM with Jack Kornfield tomorrow. Part of our free, online series, "The Measure of Our Humanity."

Register here to join tomorrow's teaching and gain access to all past recordings. Donations are deeply appreciated: upaya.org/program/the-me…

Yokota Roshi, abbot of Engakuji in Kamakura shares about our visit with him: youtube.com/watch?v=iAEESL…

NEXT MONTH: Six Remarkable Voices. One Urgent Question. | Awakened Action—What Blooms in the Ashes (Nov. 13–15)

Register to join the in-person waitlist here: ow.ly/MHvi5100Iqp

Register to join online (FREE; donations welcome): ow.ly/tlkM5100Iqo

Join us tonight at Upaya for a Dharma Talk by Sensei Royotan Cynthia Kear. Also online here: youtube.com/user/upayazenc…

This past weekend, Alonso Méndez held our fall harvest ceremony with Upaya residents, Fall Practice Period guests, teachers, and local sangha. Read more + photos:

upaya.org/2026/10/fall-h…

Beloved Buddhist teacher JACK KORNFIELD shares his wisdom about freedom in Upaya's The Measure of Our Humanity.
Join us on October 25th, 11AM MT, free online
Register for free + by donation here
upaya.org/program/the-me…

We are so grateful that beloved Buddhist teacher JACK KORNFIELD in Upaya's The Measure of Our Humanity will explore FREEDOM.
Join us on October 25th, 11AM MT, free online
Register for free + by donation here
upaya.org/program/the-me…

We have begun Fall Practice Period Sesshin, a special time of year as the leaves turn golden and return their energy to the roots and the earth. Here at Upaya, we settle into a deeper practice in the zendo and invite you to join when you can from home.

Online; free: ow.ly/Bxac50ZYHkz

We look forward to tonight's Dharma Talk at Upaya.

Join in person at Upaya, or online here: youtube.com/user/upayazenc…

Stars hanging over Upaya Zen Center.

Would you like to work at Upaya? We’re hiring a Facilities Assistant to work with our Facilities Manager in caring for the buildings and infrastructure of Upaya Zen Center.

We look forward to receiving your application. Know someone who’d be great at this? Please share.

Job description and application: ow.ly/XT1l50ZWS6G

On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Upaya Zen Center honors our close friends who are the original peoples of this land. We bow in gratitude to our teachers, including Roxanne Swentzell, Porter Swentzell, Beata Tsosie-Peña, Alonso Mendes, and many others who have generously shared ommunity over the years.

We are grateful to have grown ancient seeds and rematriated them to Roxanne and her relatives, and look forward to continuing Planting Life alongside her, her family, and the other elders and teachers who carry the precious legacy of teachings that we so deeply honor.

This is Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton showing precisely where the entire AI industry went wrong.

He went along with the trend: “If you have any theory of how the brain works, you can simulate it on a digital computer” unless it’s quantum effects.

This is false.

The brain is a m that uses the laws of physics to calculate. It *cannot* be reproduced in digital form, nor can it be simulated. The moment you digitize information, you lose the part that makes it real. By converting it to bits—no matter how many—you lose the infinite resolution of reality.

All forms of biological intelligence are 100% ANALOG. This is not an incidental feature of intelligence. It is fundamental to it. We have never simulated intelligence or consciousness on a digital computer because you can’t.

LLMs simulate the OUTPUT of intelligence. They do not simulate intelligence itself. They do not learn. They are static piles of human data compressed in high-dimensional math. The whole idea they are intelligent is absurd.

You will never get an intelligent digital computer, much less a conscious one. The future of AI is analog computing. When computers use the universe to calculate, when they adapt based on input from the physical world, we’ll be getting closer.

Until then, AI is a dead end.

Rematriation, the great blessing of the harvest: Upaya Zen Center, master gardener, Wendy Johnson. vimeo.com/1234230166/139…

🍂 We are in the midst of Fall Practice Period, with practitioners in person at our zen center joining our resident body, as well as many joining from around the world virtually.

If you would like to join zazenkai tomorrow online for free, register, and you will gain access to talks, and opportunities for practice during this time.

Online, FREE: ow.ly/Gmcw50ZWjm9

Well said from @mustafasuleyman here, with @RoryStewartUK - via @DavidSacks 👇🏽 (More on this topic in my @NoemaMag essay - The Mythology of Conscious AI - noemamag.com/the-mythology-…)