PZI Teacher Archives

Taking Part in the Gathering

KOAN:

We and everything we perceive
are interwoven and not interwoven,
and this interweaving continues on and on, 
while each thing stands in its own place.

—Excerpt from Taking Part in the Gathering, PZI translation of the sutra attributed to Shitou Xiqiang

Audio February 14, 2023

Taking Part in the Gathering: Opening Talk

John Tarrant

John Tarrant’s opening dharma talk in Summer Sesshin at Santa Sabina. Recorded June 13, 2022.

33' 34"
Audio August 25, 2022

Summer Sesshin: We Are Interwoven – Welcome to Sesshin

John Tarrant

John Tarrant welcomes Summer Sesshin participants and introduces a stanza from Shitou’s song-poem, Taking Part in the Gathering, as an opening koan. The poem comes from the inception of Chan as a Daoist current on the nature of reality. Koans, art, meditation & conversation are part of waking up together in PZI culture. June 13, 2022.

26' 48"
Audio August 11, 2022

Summer Sesshin: Shitou’s Teachers

David Weinstein

David tells the story of Jiashan’s awakening, after being sent by Daowu to find the Boat Monk. David also guides a revealing exercise in picking and choosing. Complete talk given in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 37 minutes.

38' 51"
Audio August 11, 2022

Summer Sesshin: The Porous Vessel of Sesshin

Michelle Riddle

Michelle Riddle opens the sesshin vessel with instructions to help participants understand what it is to work with koans, especially within the unique container of group practice. She encourages “being with and bearing with usual responses,” while carried by the koans into new territory. How garage music and weed-whackers welcomed her to Summer Sesshin. Recording of the complete dharma talk given on June 14, 2022. 17 minutes.

16' 47"
Audio August 8, 2022

Summer Sesshin: Front Foot & Back Foot Walking

John Tarrant

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

44' 21"
Audio August 8, 2022

Summer Sesshin: Taking Part in the Gathering

John Tarrant

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.

38' 21"
Audio September 2, 2021

In the Family of Things

John Tarrant

The small self is always trying to hold off the world. But we are really a kind of flow. We feel the warm empathy at the bottom of all things. All things have Buddha nature. Not opposing reality is the beginning of all awakenings.

71' 59"
Audio February 26, 2021

Taking Part in the Gathering

John Tarrant

Evening dharma talk by John Tarrant in Winter Sesshin. As recorded January 15, 2018.

29' 2"