PZI Events Calendar
W E L C O M E to the PZI Events Calendar! Here you will find all upcoming events and registration links for PZI Zen Online retreats, sesshins, and weekly meditations & talks. Search by individual event, day, or month. Save to your Google Calendar or iCal Calendar. No experience required to participate. All event times are Pacific Time. Questions? Contact Lucas at PZI Support.
F E A T U R E D
May 7–10: Say A True Word & I Will Stay The Night – Open Mind Retreat with John Tarrant, Tess Beasley, & Allison Atwill
May 17: Sunday Zen with John Tarrant, Allison Atwill & Tess Beasley
June 8–14: Dragons & Tigers, Oh My! – Our Great Summer Sesshin with John Tarrant & PZI Teachers
- This event has passed.
MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Growing Horns on Your Head
REGISTER
Trying to explain, you regretfully grow horns on your head:
Be wary of the desire to search for the Buddha.
In this time of vast emptiness, there is no one who can know,
so why head south in search of the many sages?
–Dongshan’s second set of Five Ranks, fifth verse.
This is the final poem in the second set of Dongshan’s Five Ranks, a series of poems that we use as a final stage in our formal koan curriculum. For me, this poem is an admonition on how to pursue our practice and lives at whatever stage we find ourselves.
In koan study, we say “show rather than tell.” That merely means in addressing a koan we accept its singular invitation to join in the play of everyday life. It is an invitation to open our hearts.
In Dongshan’s verse, there is no need to explain (and grow horns), there is no need to search for the Buddha, who after all, is right here. The time of vast emptiness is our time, and it is a world of not knowing. Moment by moment, we and the universe appear fresh and new. So why go seeking all those sages who have nothing to add?
Join us.
—Jon Joseph
COME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome.
Jon Joseph Roshi, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
