PZI Teacher Archives

Dongshan's Five Ranks (1st)

KOAN:

Poem 1

It’s past midnight
The moon has not yet risen.
In the deep thick dark you see but don’t recognize
a familiar face from long ago
No need to be surprised by that.

—from the Record of Dongshan, The Five Ranks (1st Rank)

Audio July 24, 2022

Entering the World with Open Hands

John Tarrant

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

70' 34"
Audio June 17, 2022

Magical Meetings

John Tarrant

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.

70' 34"
Audio December 10, 2021

Images & Patterns in Dreams, and Hakuin’s Dream

Tess Beasley

Tess Beasley comments on the way dreams of awakening can be huge or small, in image and duration. She reads Hakuin’s amazing awakening dream record from his journal. As recorded on December 5, 2021, during John Tarrant’s Dreams of Awakening Sunday session.

6' 23"
Audio December 10, 2021

Dreams of Awakening: A Familiar Face from Long Ago

John Tarrant

With dreams, whatever part touches your heart, that’s the part you want. The universe is providing these personal and archetypal myths in the perfect formulation for your awakening. Dreams help us because we can’t control them. The gold is wherever you are. As recorded December 5, 2021. Music from Michael Wilding & 4 vows from Cantor Amaryllis Fletcher & Jordan McConnell. Comments and dream stories from Allison Atwill, Tess Beasley, Michelle Riddle, and others.

75' 31"
Audio December 9, 2021

Dreams of Awakening: Our Own Dream Is An Unfamiliar Face & The Giant Pancake

Michelle Riddle

Teachers’ dreams often feature magical ways of feeding an entire community. Michelle Riddle’s remarkable giant pancake dream came after being asked to respond to a teaching from John Tarrant. Excerpt from John Tarrant’s Sunday session on dreams, on December 5, 2021.

7' 27"
Audio December 9, 2021

Dreams of Awakening: It’s Gold Wherever You Are!

John Tarrant

Dreams help us because we can’t control them. You have it already and are looking past it. The light is wherever you are. Excerpt from John Tarrant’s complete Sunday session on December 5, 2021. 32 minutes.

30' 41"
Audio January 26, 2021

The Firstness of Things & A Face in the Dark

John Tarrant

Handing Things On in the Dark. The dark silent time of this year has lasted for 9 months, in Covid. “The whole meaning of your life is in the current matter happening now.” No explaining it. “To be deeply in Zen is to be deeply in how to express it.” The first vaccines are here. The mysterious freedoms of this time, welcoming the new year, and a tour of the deep thick dark of midnight. John reads poems by Gerard Manly Hopkins, Anna Swir, Czeslaw Milosz, and more. Music from Jordan McConnell & Amaryllis Fletcher. PZI Zen Online, as recorded Jan 3, 2021.

51' 30"
Audio January 26, 2021

Trusting the Universe in the Deep Dark

John Tarrant

PZI Zen Online: Excerpted from Handing Things On in the Dark—the universe takes care of us in the middle of deep thick darkness.

1' 42"
Audio January 25, 2021

Meditation: Suddenly It’s Midnight

John Tarrant

PZI Zen Online: Excerpt from John Tarrant’s Sunday Talk—Handing Things On in the Dark. A 10-minute meditation on finding a face at midnight. As recorded Jan. 3rd 2021.

9' 33"
Audio January 25, 2021

Excerpt: The Firstness of Things – the New Year 2021

John Tarrant

PZI Zen Online: Excerpt from Handing Things On in the Dark. The freshness of the new year, the dark silent time of the year. To be deeply in zen is to be deeply in how to express it. The mysterious freedoms of the dark. As recorded Jan. 3, 2021. 2 minutes.

1' 59"
Audio December 23, 2020

Excerpt: Promising Darkness – Journey Into Awakening

John Tarrant

PZI Zen Online: Excerpt from the last Journey Into Awakening on the last Sunday of 2020. Meeting the intangible in the dark. Showing up for mysterious possibility. Trusting the mystery to make a feast of this strange time. Zen is familiar with impossible tasks! Showing up for them is a blessing for others too. As recorded Dec. 20, 2020. 15 minutes.

15' 7"
Audio May 26, 2020

Before There Is Moonlight – First Rank of Dongshan’s Five Ranks

Jon Joseph

We are in a time ‘before moonlight’ with Covid and the resulting massive unemployment, with great unknowns ahead. Dreams in Zen are not so different from waking life. We make up stories about what will happen. But we are passing through a gate of meeting and not recognizing. How do you make your way? Step by step. As recorded May 25, 2020.

94' 15"