Book of Serenity

Jon Joseph gives the morning dharma talk about his dreams of the ancestors. A relationship continues beyond death. How is this so? It does not need to be explained, it only asks to be lived. As recorded in Fall Sesshin on Thursday morning, October 21, 2021.

What is the gift of the universe? We receive unexpected help when we are “living down a level,” living things before we construct them. Not constantly consulting your “me,” you open to the invitations and gifts that appear; trusting in the Dao.

David Parks Roshi of Blue Grass Zen in Kentucky continues with the koans of Dongshan. Dharma talk: The One Who Is Not Sick, PZI Zen Online. As recorded April 22, 2021.

John Tarrant on the journey into awakening in Zen and in our lives, and how it purifies. Deshan’s cart full of Diamond Sutra commentaries and our own strategies of resistance. Music from Jesse Cardin, Amaryllis Fletcher, Jordan McConnell. PZI Zen Online, as recorded November 15, 2020.

PZI Zen Online: We are in the midst of great civil unrest around racism and the institutions that support it. Li Bai, Du Fu, Dalung & Primo Levi speak about what remains, what lives, what holds us in the universe—even as we feel most perishable, sad, defeated. The light is still there in all things even without a foundation to stand on. As recorded June 14 2020.

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

Steve Lucas looks at the injustice of Fayan’s determination – and also lets us into his zen practice and his world as a competitive financial trader and concerned father.

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….

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