Audio Library

You can feel happy despite your stories. The world and human life are never still—you are on the Way, carried by the great current of the Dao. Allowing koans to have you, when you work with them, is the same as opening to your life—there are no steps. You are already free, and there is unexpected help on difficult paths. Music from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding. Complete Sunday session recorded August 7, 2022. 81 minutes.

David Weinstein gives a dharma talk in Summer Sesshin on June 16, 2022. Complete session. 38 minutes.

Tess Beasley gives a talk on refuge at Summer Sesshin, on June 18, 2022. Complete session. 52 minutes.

A dharma talk by Allison Atwill in Summer Sesshin on June 16, 2022. Complete session. 46 minutes.

Tess Beasley gives a dharma talk in Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. Complete session. 49 minutes.

John Tarrant’s dharma talk on June 17, 2022, in Summer Sesshin. Complete session. 45 minutes.

John Tarrant’s dharma talk on the first day of Summer Sesshin. He reads Shitou’s poem, Taking Part in the Gathering. Complete session. 38 minutes.

Dark forces are present in our time, but the light is always at work holding everything. Do what you can, and know that confusion and lack of clarity are steps on the Way. Fierce joy is also it. Music for meditation from Michael Wilding & Jordan McConnell. Includes guided meditations. Complete Sunday session recorded July 03, 2022.

An encounter, a magical meeting, is the essence of koan practice. John Tarrant’s Sunday Talk, recorded July 10, 2022. Complete session. 70 minutes.

Michelle Riddle tells a sesshin story about a band of weed whackers that came to be in concert with everything. From John Tarrant’s Sunday Session on Not Picking & Choosing, recorded June 26, 2022.

In sesshin, our feelings are amplified, and we get to see what it’s like to have them fully. Allison Atwill reports on a utility bill that contained the dread of all space and time. From John Tarrant’s Sunday Talk on Not Picking & Choosing on June 26, 2022.

Tess Beasley shares stories about encountering unexpected sounds, delayed luggage, and the chaos of moving. Recorded in John Tarrant’s Sunday session on Not Picking & Choosing, June 26, 2022.

John Tarrant’s complete Sunday Talk: The Great Way Is Not Difficult; It Just Avoids Picking & Choosing. Recorded June 26, 2022, in the PZI Online Temple.

Michael Wilding’s solo flute during John Tarrant’s Sunday Talk: The Great Way Is Not Difficult; It Just Avoids Picking & Choosing. Recorded on June 26, 2022 in the Online Temple.

Michelle Riddle comments on how music and weed-whackers welcomed her in Summer Sesshin. Recorded June 14, 2022.

John Tarrant on Chan’s approach to the unbearable in times of disaster and chaos: no need to bear it. He shares a nun’s story of loss and the Buddha’s one-word ordination, and how archteypal Buddhism and the Zen way respond to the madness of the world. June 5th, 2022. 12 minutes.

John Tarrant on a meeting past midnight, with an old familiar face you may or may not recognize right off. When there is no moon and you can’t find your way in the usual way, you are bound to have some unusual encounters. Stories, readings, comments, and music for meditation from Michael Wilding and Jordan McConnell. Complete Sunday Session audio. Recorded June 12, 2022.

Great Summer Sesshin, opening eve: Our first in-person sesshin in over 2 years, due to Covid. John Tarrant introduces Shitou’s song, Taking Part in the Gathering, his translation together with Joan Sutherland. In this sutra, Shitou is trying to say what reality actually is. The myriad things are your own self—you look at the world and the world looks back. Whatever appears, enter there! No being for countless eons has ever fallen out of Buddha nature. Recorded June 13th, 2022, at Santa Sabina Center.

In chaos stories you are always lost. Why not go into the lostness? Chan says, go deeper—getting lost might be a good thing. We’re creating a culture to hold knowledge of the path, and for being connected during chaos times. Recorded June 5, 2022.

Jordan McConnell on guitar. Music for meditation, recorded June 5, 2022. 7 minutes.

Audio excerpt with John Tarrant, recorded June 5th, 2022.

Michael plays a solo improvisation during John Tarrant’s Sunday meditation. Recorded June 5, 2022. 9 minutes.

Michelle comments on a sense of the impossibility of death that runs underneath all our striving to ‘get it right’ in this life. Recorded June 5, 2022. 3 minutes.

Endless problems around a move mount into a seemingly impossible knot until…a bear walks through them. June 5, 2022. 3 minutes.

Michael Wilding’s improv on flute, recorded Sunday, May 2022, during John Tarrant’s What Is This? Sunday Session. 5 minutes.

What next? I am up against it. How can I do what is needed or know which direction to go? The direction is inward. A turning toward everything inside the self is required. Like the Buddha—his urgency amplified his situation. Facing pain, loss, injury, or grief, we want direct and appropriate action to release us. The only way forward is toward the inner world. Tess Beasley Sensei’s Sunday Talk on May 29, 2022.

Shopping for enlightenment. What is this? Things come at us and over us during an enlightenment experience—sometimes quite unusual. You are being carried by the Dao; it doesn’t care what else you’ve got going on. Music for meditation from Jordan McConnell and Micheal Wilding. Recorded May 15, 2022.

The Rhinoceros has a suggested shopping list for John. Among the items, like hay and jam, is enlightenment. Yes, you really can find all of these things at the market, right in the middle of your busy life. 15-minute excerpt from the Sunday Session: Enlightenment While Shopping for Jam, recorded May 15, 2022.

What is it like to be a mother? There are many rituals of participation with the Great Mother, the ancient Goddess. In Daoism, she is the Valley Spirit who never dies. In Chan/Zen, the Mother, the Valley Deep, brings the whole realm of feeling. Recorded on Mother’s Day, May 8th, 2022.