Bearing Witness at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Bearing Witness at Auschwitz-Birkenau

There is a difference between knowing a thing and being changed by it. In this episode of The Peacemakers Podcast, we enter the heart of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Bearing Witness Retreat, held each November by Zen Peacemakers. Through the voices of Barbara Wegmüller, Bernie Glassman, Fleet Maull, Genro Gauntt, Tani Katz, and Jishu Holmes, this episode explores what it means to sit at the selection site, read the names of those who were killed, and allow the place itself to become the teacher. This is not simply an episode about history, memory, or the past. It is about what happens when we stop holding suffering at a distance and allow it to change us. Again and again, the voices in this episode point toward the same realization: Auschwitz is not only about what happened then. It is about what lives in us now. Bernie Glassman reminds us that to remember is “to make whole again,” and this conversation becomes an invitation into that difficult and necessary work of remembrance. Not as an idea, not as blame, and not as despair, but as a practice of presence. If this conversation moves you, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to all of our content—podcasts, articles, event recordings, and more—and help sustain the work of Zen Peacemakers.Learn more at www.zenpeacemakers.org [http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/] We invite you to support this work. Become a paying subscriber to the Peacemakers Podcast or join the Zen Peacemakers community as a member. Show Credits: * Speakers: Barbara Wegmüller, Bernie Glassman, Fleet Maull, Genro Gauntt, Tani, and Jishu Holmes * Publication Date: June 10, 2026 * Host: Jim Hōden Fricker * Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe [https://voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Right of Remembrance - 1864 Sand Creek Massacre

There are stories that history books only partially hold—and others that live on in families, in land, in memory carried across generations. In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, we listen to Southern Cheyenne leader Chris Tall Bear as he shares the story of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre—not as distant history, but as something still present. His ancestors survived Sand Creek. What he offers here is a continuation of memory: held in place, in lineage, and in the responsibility to remember. Chris walks us through the broken treaties, the political ambitions, and the violence that led to Sand Creek. He speaks to what remains unresolved. A question of how we live with histories that have not been fully recognized.A question of what remembrance asks of us now.And a quiet, ongoing possibility—that through acknowledgment, conversation, and presence, something can begin. Listen in to this heartfelt and necessary conversation. If this conversation moves you, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to all of our content—podcasts, articles, event recordings, and more—and help sustain the work of Zen Peacemakers.Learn more at www.zenpeacemakers.org [http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/] We invite you to support this work. Become a paying subscriber to the Peacemakers Podcast or join the Zen Peacemakers community as a member. Show Credits: * Speaker: Chris Tall Bear * Recording Date: April 01, 2026 * Hosts: Jim Hōden Fricker * Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker * Event Coordinators: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe & Chloe Wright * Related Video: HERE [https://zenpeacemakers.org/zpi-publishing/sand-creek-massacre/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe [https://voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Not Turning Away: Hozan Alan Senauke and the Practice of Staying

In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, we sit with Hozan Alan Senauke — a Zen priest, teacher, musician, and lifelong practitioner of engaged Buddhism — in a conversation that feels less like an interview and more like being in the presence of a life deeply lived. At the heart of Hozan’s path is a simple but demanding vow: “I will not abandon you.” Not as a sentiment, but as a practice. A North Star. A way of meeting suffering without turning away — while still holding boundaries, clarity, and compassion. Through stories from his life — from sangha relationships to refugee camps, from Bangladesh to India — Hozan brings the Three Tenets into lived reality. Not Knowing. Bearing Witness. Taking Action. Not as abstract ideas, but as something we return to again and again, especially when it would be easier to walk away. There’s a quiet honesty in this conversation. A recognition that staying present is not always comfortable, not always clear — but that something essential unfolds when we remain in relationship. If this conversation moves you, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to all of our content—podcasts, articles, event recordings, and more—and help sustain the work of Zen Peacemakers.Learn more at www.zenpeacemakers.org [http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/] We invite you to support this work. Become a paying subscriber to the Peacemakers Podcast or join the Zen Peacemakers community as a member. Show Credits: * Speaker: Hozan Alan Senauke * Recording Date: March 28, 2023 * Hosts: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe, Jim Hōden Fricker * Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker * Event Coordinators: Micka (妙心) Moto-Sanchez, Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe * Related Video: HERE [https://zenpeacemakers.org/zpi-publishing/turning_words/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe [https://voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Growing Up in the Shadow of The Troubles — Bearing Witness with Ryushin Paul Haller

In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, Zen teacher Paul Haller reflects on how the practice of Zen meets the realities of a divided world. Paul grew up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, a time when political conflict and religious identity shaped daily life. Neighborhoods, schools, and communities were divided, and the tensions between Catholic and Protestant communities formed the backdrop of his early years. Those experiences left deep impressions about fear, identity, and the ways people come to see one another as “other.” In our conversation, Paul shares how Zen practice — and particularly the Zen Peacemakers’ emphasis on Bearing Witness — offered a way to meet these divisions without turning away. Rather than retreating from the world, the practice invites us to enter it more fully. To listen. To see suffering clearly. And to discover how compassion can arise when we stop holding tightly to fixed positions. Paul’s reflections remind us that peacemaking is not abstract. It grows directly out of our lived experience — the places we come from, the histories we inherit, and the willingness to face them with an open heart. This episode explores how practice moves from the meditation cushion into the streets, into communities, and into the complicated human realities we share. If this conversation moves you, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to all of our content—podcasts, articles, event recordings, and more—and help sustain the work of Zen Peacemakers.Learn more at www.zenpeacemakers.org [http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/] We invite you to support this work. Become a paying subscriber to the Peacemakers Podcast or join the Zen Peacemakers community as a member. Show Credits: * Speaker: Ryushin Paul Haller * Recording Date: October 23, 2020 * Hosts: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe, Jim Hōden Fricker * Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker * Event Coordinators: Micka (妙心) Moto-Sanchez, Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe * Related Video: HERE [https://zenpeacemakers.org/zpi-publishing/fierce-courage-peacemaking-in-northern-ireland/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe [https://voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Three Tenets - The Intimacy of Taking Action

We see suffering.Something inside says: Do something.Another voice answers: What if I get it wrong? In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe sits down with five longtime Zen Peacemakers to explore the raw, human edge of Taking Action—the third of the Three Tenets. Not a strategy.Not performance.Relationship. From street retreats in Los Angeles to immigrant support in Seattle, from community councils in Helsinki to integrated housing projects in Vermont and New York, one thread runs through it all: Action is intimacy.Action is ceremony.Action is staying when things get uncomfortable If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re doing enough—or too much—this conversation is for you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to all of our content—podcasts, articles, event recordings, and more—and help sustain the work of Zen Peacemakers.Learn more at www.zenpeacemakers.org [http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/] We invite you to support this work. Become a paying subscriber to the Peacemakers Podcast or join the Zen Peacemakers community as a member. Show Credits: * Speakers: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe, Joshin Byrnes, Jitsujo T Gauthier, Daiken Nelson, Mikko Ijäs, and Genjo Marinello * Recording Date: September 2, 2025 * Hosts: Jim Hōden Fricker * Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker * Event Coordinators: Clotilde Wright, Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe * Related Video: HERE [https://zenpeacemakers.org/zpi-publishing/the-three-tenets-the-intimacy-of-taking-action/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe [https://voice.zenpeacemakers.org/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]