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: Shadow of the Whip with David Weinstein
REGISTER
An outsider asked the Buddha, “I do not ask for the spoken; I do not ask for the unspoken.”
The Buddha just sat still.
The outsider praised him, saying, “The Buddha with his great compassion and mercy has opened the clouds of my delusion and enabled me to enter the Way.”
He then made bows and took his leave.
Ananda asked, “What did that outsider realized to make him praise you?”
The World-Honored One said, “He is like the fine horse who runs even at the shadow of a whip.”
—Gateless Barrier Case 32
As I’ve been hanging out with this koan, more than the shadow of the whip, it has been Ananda’s shadow that I’ve been noticing, and my kinship with him. Ananda was the first cousin of the Buddha and one of his principal disciples. He entered the order of monks in the second year of the Buddha’s ministry and in the twenty-fifth year was appointed his personal attendant. He is credited with convincing the Buddha to let women join the order. However, he was the last of the Buddha’s principal disciples to have an awakening, despite the fact that Ananda had perfect recall and could remember every teaching the Buddha ever gave.
In this story, Ananda had not yet had an awakening experience, despite his many years of devoted practice. Yet here is this outsider, asking a question and getting awakened. Just like that! How would you feel if you were Ananda? I know how I felt as I watched others pass through the gate, and it wasn’t pretty. But that is my dream of this koan. What is yours?
—David Weinstein
COME JOIN US on Tuesdays for koan meditation, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate.
David Weinstein Roshi,
Director of Rockridge Meditation Community
