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: Yanyang’s One Thing
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Yanyang asked Zhaozhou, “When not a single thing is brought, then what?”
Zhaozhou said, “Put it down.”
Yanyang said, “If I don’t bring a single thing, what should I put down?”
Zhaozhou said, “Then carry it.”
—Book of Equanimity, Case 57
This koan is a great example of Zhaozhou’s teaching style of reflecting back to the student where they are. It reminds me of another exchange with Zhaozhou:
A student asked Zhaozhou,
“For a long time I’ve heard about the stone bridge of Zhaozhou.
But now that I’ve come, I see only a log across the river.”
Zhaozhou said, “You just see the log bridge, you don’t see the stone bridge.”
No yelling, no hitting, no questions that don’t make any sense. His teaching is short, pithy, down-to-earth, and rooted in everyday life. Like a koan, he reflects what is in front of him.
Another thing that comes to mind with this koan about Yanyang’s one thing is the First Truth of Buddhism, the Truth of Suffering. If we don’t know we’re suffering, we can’t stop suffering. Yanyang wasn’t aware of the way he was suffering by being stuck in the place of not one thing. Zhaozhou wasn’t dismissing him when he said, “Then carry it.” He was giving the best advice he could, though, not thinking about giving advice, not thinking about anything at all, just responding.
Then another conversation with Zhaozhou came to mind:
A student asked, “How should we meet difficulties when they arise?”
Zhaozhou said, “Welcome.”
In telling Yanyang, “Carry it,” he is inviting him to welcome it, let it in, meet it, turn toward it, get to know and be intimate with it.
We’re told that Yanyang had an awakening at the end of his conversation with Zhaozhou. He accepted Zhaozhou’s invitation and let in the cost of clinging to that one thing of not having one thing. That’s all it takes.
—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
