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
April 26: What Is This Light That Everybody Has? – Deep Sit Sunday Zen with John Tarrant & Tess Beasley
May 7–10: Say A True Word & I Will Stay The Night – Open Mind Retreat with John Tarrant, Tess Beasley, & Allison Atwill
June 8–14: Dragons & Tigers, Oh My! – Our Great Summer Sesshin with John Tarrant & PZI Teachers
- This event has passed.
TUESDAY ZEN with David Weinstein: Dongshan’s Five Ranks
REGISTER
It’s past midnight
the moon has not yet risen.
In the deep dark you see a face from long ago
that you do not recognize.
No need to be surprised by this.
This is the first of Dongshan’s Five Ranks. “Rank” engages my ranking mind and perhaps that’s the point—an opportunity to know more deeply the way my mind ranks. Alternate translations are “modes,” “vantage points,” “perspectives,” or “angles.”
The Five Ranks don’t necessarily occur in the order that they are presented nor are they neatly separate from each other. They’re sometimes likened to Linji’s four modes.
This first mode of Dongshan’s is called various things: “the contingent within the essential,” “the phenomenon within the universal,” “the particular within the universal”—you get the idea. Perhaps Linji’s description will help: “Sometimes I steal the place, but not the person.”
Linji went on to say a bit more about this mode:
The rule of the sovereign prevails throughout the world;
the general in the borderlands is unstained by smoke and dust.
Been out to the borderlands lately?
The Chinese characters for “particular” and “universal” literally mean “straight or upright” and “slanted or askew.” Intuitively that feels right just as “bouba” feels round and “kiki” feels pointed.
That the moon has not risen—a moonless night—reminds me of another koan:
The moon set at midnight;
we walk through the town alone.
Ever done that?
The Japanese teacher Keizan’s comment:
If you release a blackbird at night, it flies clothed in snow.
Seen any blackbirds flying at night lately?
See you on Tuesday to compare notes.
—David Weinstein
COME JOIN US on Tuesdays for koan meditation, dharma talk and conversation.
Register to participate. All are welcome.
David Weinstein Roshi, Director of Rockridge Meditation Community
