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: Qinglin’s Snake
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A student asked Qinglin, “When a student goes along the path, what about that?”
Qinglin said, “There’s a poisonous snake on the path. I advise the student not to run into it.”
“What about when the student runs into it?”
“She must mourn her life.”
“What about when she doesn’t run into it?”
“But there is no way to avoid it.”
“Then how about at that moment?”
“It completely disappeared.”
“I wonder where it went.”
“The grass is so deep that we can’t find it anywhere.”
“You too should protect yourself against it.”
Qinglin rubbed his palms together and said, “Both you and I are poisonous snakes.”
—Book of Equanimity, Case 59
I have been enjoying the various ways this koan has been translated regarding the snake. There are two characters in question. One means “dead” or “death” and the other means “snake.” In a number of places, it is translated as “Dead Snake.” In a number of other places, it is translated as “Snake of Death” or “Death Snake.” The word “poisonous” does not appear, it is an interpretation of the translator.
I imagine the thinking was something along the lines of, “If it is a snake of death, then it must be poisonous.” I find it hard to understand how I lose my life to a dead snake. I suppose I might lose my life by suddenly realizing that I too will die someday in a more deeply intimate way than I had before that. So, it is said that if you pick up the dead snake it will come alive, if you really engage it.
But sometimes it’s like being bitten by a snake that I didn’t even know was there. Suddenly all of my ideas and concepts fall away and I’m not who I was anymore.
Have you ever been bitten by this snake?
—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
