-
Working With Koans
John Tarrant
A koan is a piece of old wisdom in a very concise form. I think of it as a vial of ancient light that has been passed down to us. It’s the same light that was in the heart of the teacher who invented the koan. So, if you can get the vial open, what will pour out is your inheritance. It won’t be the usual kind of inheritance with bank accounts, real estate, debts and family feuds. This inheritance will be a perspective—the way an old master saw and experienced the world.
2853 Words September 18, 2019 -
Awakening Making Itself Through You
Allison Atwill
Allison tells two stories, one from Chuang tsu and talks about the kensho moment of awakening versus the elliptical path of awakening that is showing up in all its forms moment to moment.
54' 52" September 23, 2019 -
Where Impurity Meets Purity in Zhuangzi
Jon Joseph
Jon Joseph talks about delusion and awakening in Zhuangzi. The treasure house of heaven. (Some sound anomalies we are striving to correct – but wanted you to have access to the talk after Summer Sesshin. – KALPA Team)
27' 48" August 17, 2019 -
Every Action is a Dharmic Action
David Weinstein
David Weinstein gives a talk at the 2017 Summer sesshin. Morning of July 17, 2017.
25' 51" January 20, 2018 -
Chuang Tsu and the Dung Beetle Dream
David Weinstein
David tells the story of Chuang Tzu and his dream of transformation – gaining the capacity to dream yourself into anything: butterfly, dung beetle, peacock, cockroach – finding yourself in the dream in whatever form. Waking as a cockroach and the urge to go back to sleep again vs whatever I turn into embracing being it fully. We can’t know we are in a dream, or not until we wake – we are constantly changing and transforming
56' 47" September 23, 2019 -
43' 16" September 18, 2019 -
Mirror Zen – From the Kamakura Koans
Rachel Boughton
November 26th 2018 – Livestream talk from SRCZC Mirror Zen with Rachel Boughton
55' 49" July 20, 2019 -
Classic Predicament Koan
John Tarrant
“Late one night, you decide to visit the family graveside, where (as a point of somewhat snobbish pride) your family’s personal tomb resides…” During the 2015 summer Sesshin at Land of Medicine Buddha in Southern California, John Tarrant talks friends, the feverish scheming and planning of the mind, and the predicaments faced in life.
27' 41" June 30, 2017 -
A Koan Starter Kit
John Tarrant
“Working with a koan can make the world more transparent and alive and at the same time shift your consciousness in small and large ways. It’s a work of art as well as a spiritual method and intended to be useful in your life and contribute to your happiness.”
0 Words November 15, 2017
Welcome to KALPA, the Koan and Liberation Project Archive!
Koan practice is at heart a practice of intimacy with life itself. For over twelve centuries, koans have drawn seekers bearing urgent questions of life, death, beauty, and becoming. The tradition began as a way of carrying the discoveries of those willing to enter these questions together, and evolved into a vivid lineage of awakening encounters still echoing centuries and continents away.
Now the world’s largest online koan library, KALPA was conceived as a way of providing a wider circle for today’s far flung seekers to sit together, to enter the same timeless and urgent questions, and to receive the teachings.
PZI Member? All PZI Memberships now include access. You should have received a username and login.
Not a Member? Join us for unlimited access! Membership includes access as well as other discounts and benefits. Click here to join.
KALPA is maintained supported by our very tiny but diligent staff. We welcome your feedback! Please email Jaxyn at webmaster@pacificzen.org, or Corey Hitchcock with any issues, improvement ideas, or concerns.
New to the Library
Chuang Tsu and the Dung Beetle Dream
David tells the story of Chuang Tzu and his dream of transformation – gaining the capacity to dream yourself into anything: butterfly, dung beetle, peacock, cockroach – finding yourself in the dream in whatever form. Waking as a cockroach and the urge to go back to sleep again vs whatever I turn into embracing being it fully. We can’t know we are in a dream, or not until we wake – we are constantly changing and transforming
Awakening Making Itself Through You
Allison tells two stories, one from Chuang tsu and talks about the kensho moment of awakening versus the elliptical path of awakening that is showing up in all its forms moment to moment.
The Plainness of the Heart
John Tarrant presents a dharma talk at summer sesshin on the inherent nature of the heart. June 22, 2011.
Gratitude for the Path
A most heartfelt conversation about David’s spiritual journey. Beginning with his teacher Lama Yeshe to the practice of Zen with John Tarrant and the Pacific Zen Institute community. July 15, 2014.