Welcome to the PZI KALPA Library!
KALPA (Koans And Liberation Project Archive), now the world’s largest online koan library, was conceived as a way of providing a wider circle for today’s far-flung seekers—to sit together, to enter the same timeless questions, and to receive the teachings. For unlimited access to all recorded PZI meditation sessions and talks, and for downloadable audio, join us as a PZI Member.
Visit the KALPA GUIDE for more info. Search for Teachers,Topics, Koans, or a File Type. Consider the adventure of searching using a Tag. Check out our selected topics in the dropdowns from the menu bar (to get you started.)
When you search by koans, the full text for the koan and reference to the lineage teacher and koan collection will appear above the search results. (This feature is updating continuously, under construction.)
Enjoy browsing the stacks in the KALPA!
KALPA Admin
Featured KALPA Files & Archives are linked above or below the images.
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Zen Koan Meditation Practice
Koan practice is at heart a practice of intimacy with life itself. For over twelve centuries, koans have drawn people bearing urgent inquiries 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.
‘Quickly without think good or evil,
What was your original face
Before your parents were born?’ — Huening’s ‘
Original Face’
An introduction to Koan practice: 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. Read on
Image – Tang dynasty scholar, Xuangzhong carrying scrolls on his back.
PZI Teacher Archives
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Allison Atwill -
David Parks -
David Weinstein -
Jesse Cardin -
John Tarrant -
Jon Joseph -
Sarah Bender -
Tess Beasley
New to the Library
Excerpt: Make Your Mind Still – John Tarrant Roshi
PZI Zen Online: ‘Whom can I ask what to make happen in this world?’ – Neruda. PZI mission statement revisited: Creating a culture for transformation, and how koans help us to stop and look. John reads Wordworth’s poem: On Westminster Bridge – the beauty of quiet still mornings in the midst of it all. As recorded Ocr 18 2020.
The Nature of Practice
Practice. The notion of practice, as something you embody, and you walk through, and you are—rather than something you add, like something added to gasoline. There’s also a sense of moving in the dark, in some way that’s positive. So that in a practice, “not knowing” is on your side.
Jordan McConnell & Jon Joseph Roshi – Zen Speaking in Guitar
PZI Zen Online: Koan: Say Something Without Moving your Lips & Tongue. Zen and music – Jordan’s path to zen. Creative process and how koan work influences his music, craft and vice versa. As recorded Oct. 19 2020.
Excerpt – ‘Miriam’s Waltz’, Celtic Music from Jordan McConnell
PZI Zen Online – Jordan finishes up a session talking about his music and zen connection to his work as Jon Joseph Roshi’s guest. Miriam’s Waltz – Celtic ballad. As recorded Oct. 19 2020.
One Treasure – Hanging Lanterns at the Gates of the Autumn Temple
PZI Zen Online – Hanging Lanterns series – One treasure deep in the cosmos and in you. Seeing, feeling being inhabited by the one light in all things. The eternity in things. Treasure in the simplest things. Zhaozhou meets a practitioner. These are our times – love the treasure in them. Michelle Riddle – vows, Michael Wilding – sax, Amaryllis – violin. As recorded Oct 11 2020.