Welcome to the PZI KALPA Library!
KALPA—Koans And Liberation Project Archive—the online Zen koan library of Pacific Zen Institute, 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. Browse selected posts as a guest, or to access the entire collection, and for downloadable audio of meditations and talks, join us as a PZI Member.
Visit our KALPA Search Guide for an introduction on how to use the library.
Search the KALPA Library
PZI Teacher Archives
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Allison Atwill -
David Parks -
David Weinstein -
Eduardo Fuentes -
Jesse Cardin -
John Tarrant -
Jon Joseph -
Michelle Riddle -
Tess Beasley
New to the Library
Ikkyu’s Well & The Miscellaneous Koans
Images of water are really deep in meditation: the idea that water nourishes us and holds us, and that the Dao flows like water and always finds the Way. Whatever blocks the river, it dissolves it or will move around it. So, that quality? That’s the quality of meditation.
Yuanwu & the Great Masters of the Blue Cliff
The subject is the Dharma, the deepest matters, our own true face. And one way to look at that is through the Blue Cliff Record. It is a good way to look at that—all these occasions for revealing who you are.
A Blue Cliff Record Journey of Not Picking & Choosing
It’s kind of remarkable that the Picking & Choosing koan appears four times in the Blue Cliff Record, which contains only one hundred cases. So, what to do with it? When everybody tries to make sense of it, things happen: They get captured and taken off by pirates or drug lords. You’ve got to be careful in Zen.
Hearing the Sounds of the World
We don’t need to turn away from the world and we don’t have to find a place to stand. Our listening and our presence operate below the level at which we usually manage things. So that is the hearing aspect of this koan. Just let hearing have you. This koan can be carried everywhere with you. Complete Sunday Zen session.
Zen Luminary: Poet Naomi Shihab Nye
Poet, teacher and essayist Naomi Shihab Nye, recorded in conversation with Jon Joseph Roshi in June of 2022.