Betsy Rose is a singer, writer, recording artist, and a mother. She is a renowned children’s artist, teaching children the power of their own voices and creativity through singing and song making workshops. She has performed widely throughout the world at festivals, ecological conferences and spiritual gatherings. Spiritual leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Matthew Fox and Joanna Macy have included her music in their work. She co-leads events for the Family Program at Spirit Rock. She was introduced to the dharma by Thich Nhat Hanh in 1987.
Singer ,Songwriter, Dharma Teacher, Betsy Rose shares some songs, poems and reflections on navigating our relationship to time. How many of us are experiencing time as a vanishing “commodity?” The speed and amount of digital inputs (email, activist alerts, webinars, headlines and more..) threaten to overwhelm us. Feeling pressured, squeezed, and overloaded can be a familiar experience. This talk explores practices and choices that can help restore a sense of spaciousness and wise view to the mysterious construct we call “time.”
Betsy shares some of her recent work called "Singing into the Unknown: Songs for Reimagining the Future" coming out the particular time of uncertainty we are currently in.
An exploration of the complex emotional, medical, social and ethical issues surrounding reproductive justice. What did the Buddha actually teach about non-harming? How does heated public discourse create false binaries, and push people into extreme positions? What is the way of the compassionate and wise heart as we navigate this heart-wrenching and challenging life situation?
Compassion (karuna) is an upwelling of tenderness and care in response to suffering. This beautiful quality of the heart has some "near enemies" that disguise as wise care, but cause our good intended words and actions to fall short, or even do more harm, to us and others. With song and story, this talk explores examples of near misses, and offers practices that allow wise compassion to emerge.
As we witness and are deeply impacted by the eruption of a war of aggression in the Ukraine, we will reflect tonight on how these three paramis -- compassion, courageous energy and equanimity -- are visible both on the world stage and in our own lives and hearts.
I met Thay in 1987 and assisted him in many retreats and public talks, singing the songs I wrote inspired by his teachings and poetry. In this talk, I share some stories and songs from these early days that focus on his unorthodox, creative, intuitive, and courageous embodiment of dharma.
We listen to a 2009 talk by ecologist, Buddhist, and systems thinker Joanna Macy, on the 5 gifts of uncertainty -- gifts for these unstable and uncertain times. With further teachings from Betsy Rose on Martin Luther King and Gandhi, and these gifts manifest in their life work.
Wise Hope, as articulated by Roshi Joan Halifax, can be a wise practice for our times. Unlike "Ordinary Hope" it does not focus on a desired outcome, but is rooted in the sense of infinite possibility in the face of, and in fact BECAUSE of, the groundless and impermanent nature of reality.
This season is full of holidays! There is Solstice, celebrating the rebirth of the sun after the longest darkest night. There is Hanukah, celebrating the mystery of enduring, impossible light protecting the sacred. And there is Christmas, honoring the birth of the prophet and teacher Jesus (often called “The Light of the World”).
Betsy reflects on the miracle of being born at all, against impossible odds, and how we are shaped by the causes and conditions we are born into. Darkness and Light, Joyful Existence and Dukkha- we’ll celebrate the whole mess!
The Buddha famously taught that the Sangha is the most important aspect of “the Holy Life”. And Indigenous wisdom (and recent biology) teach us that natural systems are also a sangha, a web of connection, kept healthy by reciprocity and generosity.
Betsy reflects on the dharma of the “Mother Trees”, and how elders (and youth) feed the life of our human ecosystem.
