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
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TUESDAY ZEN with David Weinstein: Will It Be Destroyed or Not?
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A student asked Dasui,
“In the kalpa fire when the universe is completely destroyed, I’m still wondering, is there something that won’t be destroyed?”
Dasui said, “It will be destroyed.”
“It will follow along with everything else?”
Dasui said, “It will follow along with everything else.”
Then the student asked Longji,
“In the kalpa fire when the universe is completely destroyed, I’m still wondering, is there something that won’t be destroyed?”
Longji, replied, “It won’t be destroyed.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s the same as the universe.”
–Book of Serenity Case 30
As I spend time with this koan, I find myself remembering when I began my meditation practice with the Tibetans. How they emphasized the certainty of our death and the uncertainty of when it would happen. There was a meditation that involved visualizing yourself on a train hurtling down the rails towards a bridge that had been washed out. We were told that if we didn’t get scared we weren’t doing it right.
Sounds like Dasui’s “It will be destroyed.”
We were also encouraged to meditate as we fell asleep, as we were told the process of falling asleep is the same as that of dying, and becoming familiar with it would help us in the transition.
That sounds like Longji’s “It won’t be destroyed.”
As I understood it, for the Tibetans, the best thing we could hope for would be a human rebirth in our next life, during which we might wake up to the reality of the world.
When the Buddha was asked how long the length of a human life is, his response was, “One thought-moment.” (And that there are sixty-four thought-moments in the snap of a finger.)
Moment after moment we are presented with the opportunity to become familiar with our death: the death of who we think we are, the death of what we think is right or wrong, the death of the way we think things are. Being consumed by the kalpa fire moment after moment opens the possibility of appreciating Longji’s “It is not destroyed.”
—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
