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.
TUESDAY ZEN with David Weinstein: Equanimity Case 7 – Yaoshan Ascends the Rostrum
Yaoshan hadn’t given a talk for a long time. The Administrator of the temple said,
“Everyone has been anxious for instruction for quite a while. Please, will you give a teaching?”
Yaoshan called for the bell and everyone gathered. He climbed up to the seat.
Then, after a long time, he climbed down and returned to his quarters.
The Administrator followed after him and asked, “You agreed to give a teaching
for everyone; why didn’t you say a single word?”
Yaoshan said, “For sutras, there are sutra specialists. For commentaries, there are
commentary specialists. What do you want from me?”
—Book of Serenity Case 7
In the first case of Equanimity we had the Buddha ascending the rostrum, now we have Yaoshan ascending the rostrum in the same way. Is the repetition just in case we didn’t get it the first time? Either Hongzhi, who originally collected the koans, or Wansong, who took Hongzhi’s collection and added commentary, chose to give these two cases the same name, except for the name of the protagonist. They must have appreciated that the same point was being made and at the same time recognized that something different was being offered in the case of Yaoshan.
With Yaoshan we have the conversation that happens after he descends from the rostrum and that’s where my attention went. Then a story about Yaoshan and his teacher Shitou joined in the conversation. That story goes like this:
One day Shitou came upon Yaoshan sitting in the garden. He asked Yaoshan what he was doing and Yaoshan said, “I’m not doing anything.” To which Shitou replied, “Why are you sitting here wasting time?” Yaoshan replied, “If I was wasting time, then I’d be doing something.” Shitou then said, “What is this ‘not doing anything’ that you’re talking about?” Yaoshan said, “Not even the 10,000 sages know.”
In the koan that we kept company with before this one, it was elder brother Hai who said he didn’t know, placing himself firmly in the ranks of the 10,000 sages.
As to what Yaoshan’s specialty was, it seems obvious, it was “not doing anything.”
—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
