2019 Fall Sesshin

John Tarrant in Fall Sesshin 2019. Being lost or between places is a fundamental human predicament. Being lost delivers you to yourself with an unknown outcome. The teacher takes away the student’s need to know what’s unfolding on their pilgrimage. Zen likes predicaments as signs that things want to change.

Allison relays a story of an encounter between Manjushri and Vimalakirti. Manjushri, among the 32,000 bodhisattvas sent by Buddha to Vimalakirti’s sickbed, asks, “How do bodhisattvas enter the gate of nonduality?” The response is an intimate silence. Allison’s story includes the karmic path that his daughter, Moonlike Beauty, bore on her way to enlightenment.

John Tarrant takes us on an ancestral tour of the wild path of Chan awakening through the stories in the 100 koans of the Book of Serenity

David Weinstein examines Emperor Wu’s exchange with Bodhidharma. His question: “What is the first principle of teaching? Vast emptiness, nothing holy.” The Emperor wants to be acknowledged, but….

Allison Atwill takes us into the moment in Baizhang’s Fox koan when the old man finally stays and the implications for our world view. Recorded at Fall sesshin Land of Medicine Buddha, Soquel, CA.

Hands & Eyes – The Elegant Path of the Book of Serenity. John Tarrant, as recorded Fall Sesshin 2019.