How does Roshi Joan Halifax make sense of her Buddhist life?

Key Points:

• Roshi Joan Halifax, an 84-year-old medical anthropologist and Buddhist teacher, recently recovered from two open-heart surgeries and reflects on her life dedicated to serving suffering people, from burn units to war zones, and now her own mortality.
• Halifax’s early experiences with illness and racial inequality deeply influenced her path toward combining social activism, medical anthropology, and Buddhist practice, aiming to bring compassion and presence to caregiving and dying.
• Her work has included pioneering medical anthropology studies in Miami’s multicultural communities, facilitating healing rituals in prisons, and conducting LSD-assisted therapy with dying cancer patients alongside her then-husband Stanislav Grof.
• After decades of Buddhist practice with various teachers, including Seung Sahn and Bernie Glassman, Halifax founded Upaya Zen Center in New Mexico to integrate contemplative care with palliative medicine and social activism.
• Halifax emphasizes the importance of recognizing limits in caregiving to avoid pathological altruism, focusing on marginalized communities, and continuing her work inspired by a near-death experience urging her that she is “not done with her work yet.”