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 Emlyn Guiney
F E A T U R E D
September 15 Sunday Zen: With John Tarrant & Friends
September 21 Daylong: With John Tarrant & Tess Beasley
October 22–27 Fall Sesshin: with John Tarrant & PZI Teachers
- This event has passed.
SUNDAY ZEN: Return to the Pure Land with Guest Host Jesse Cardin
February 4 @ 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Free – $10
There was a woman who kept the pilgrim’s inn at Hara under Mount Fuji. Her name is unknown, and it is not known when she was born or died.
She went to hear a talk by Hakuin, who said, “The Pure Land where everything is only mind, the Buddha of Infinite Light in your own body—once Amida appears, mountains, rivers, and earth, plants, trees, and forests, all glow with a great light. If you want to see this, look into your own heart. Since the Pure Land is only mind, what kind of special features would it have? Since the Buddha of Infinite Light is your own body, how would you recognize it?”
When she heard this, the woman said to herself, “This isn’t so hard.”
Returning home, she meditated day and night, asking these questions while she was awake and during sleep. One day, as she was washing a pot, she had a sudden breakthrough. She tossed the pot aside and rushed to see Hakuin.
She said, “I’ve run across Amida in my own body, and everything on earth is shining with a great light. It’s wonderful!” She danced for joy.
“Is that so?” Hakuin asked, “But what about a pile of shit—does it shine with a great light too?”
The woman ran up and slapped him, saying, “You still don’t get it, you old fart!”
Hakuin roared with laughter.
—PZI Miscellaneous Koans, Case 32
I remember the afternoon after my first sesshin at St. Dorothy’s Rest. I wasn’t sure I was coming away with anything other than a sense relief that I’d survived all seven days. But arriving at my hotel that afternoon, I saw a dirty pickup truck that was just exquisite to look at. I’d never seen anything so clean, so crisp and so Here.
The whole universe is available to us in this way. All we have to do is return.
Join us on Sunday.
—Jesse Cardin
Meditation is not a task with a known goal. It’s something you can’t do wrong, a chance for the things of this world to come towards you and to meet you, for doors to open by themselves, and for us to see where the ancient paths lead.
Waking up is something we do together, in the online temple on Sunday. We love it when you join us.
—John Tarrant Roshi and all of us at PZI
Dana and donations are gratefully accepted.
Once you register, you’ll receive a PZI link for access to:
Sunday Zen at 10:30 am Pacific Time
