Excerpt Library

Original music inspired by and for meditation, improvised by artist and musician Michael Wilding. Michael plays a wide range of instruments including saxophone, flute, didgeridoo and drums. From the Red Thread Sunday Zen session with guest host Tess Beasley, recorded March 26, 2023.

John Tarrant tells a story of finding and reaching. 24-minute excerpt from Sunday Zen on Boxing Day 2023.

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

Allison Atwill reads mysterious and hopeful final words from the book, The Little Prince. Did he make it safely? We don’t know. Recorded at close of the evening during Fall Sesshin, October 6, 2022. 4 minutes.

A gorgeous lilting ballad, “Now Westlin’ Winds,” sung a cappella by Jordan McConnell, of all things red thread and the passions of fall: hunters shooting, wild birds taking flight, and the field of love. The ballad is also known as “Song composed in August,” a Robert Burns song-poem, written around 1783. Recorded on October 7th, 2022 in Fall Sesshin.

When you are falling, there is not a lot you can do about it, but you are no longer constrained by your usual preoccupations. Awakening too, is in the category of things you can’t do anything about. The apparatus of certainty is circumvented and the universe is manifesting and unfolding through us. Excerpt from a sesshin dharma talk recorded October 6, 2022.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

John Tarrant reads his poem, Healing Paths, composed spontaneously in response to a training exercise with a group of Integrative Medicine doctors. Each practitioner was asked to describe healing, and this “is what came out of me.” Excerpt from Zen & Poetry, a Sunday Talk on May 1st, 2022.

Michael Wilding’s musical solos during a meditation for getting lost. Recorded during John Tarrant’s Sunday Talk on March 13, 2022.

Jordan McConnell plays a guitar solo for exploring the lost cities during John Tarrant’s Sunday Talk on March 20, 2022.

Michael Wilding plays flute for exploring the lost cities, during John Tarrant’s Sunday Talk on March 20, 2022.

Amanda Boughton sings and accompanies herself on ukelele. Recorded February 4th 2022, at Winter Sesshin.

Allison remarks on Bodhidharma’s Setting the Mind to Rest koan. Reality vs Data: Data can’t be wrong, can it? Recorded during Sunday session with John Tarrant & Friends on February 27, 2022. 4 Minutes.

Michael Wilding plays an exquisite solo during meditation. From John Tarrant’s Sunday session, recorded on February 20, 2022.

Solo saxophone music for meditation from Michael Wilding. From John Tarrant’s Sunday session, recorded February 20, 2022.

Beautiful Winter Sesshin Opening Ceremony with John Tarrant & PZI Teachers. John Tarrant, David Weinstein, Tess Beasley, Jesse Cardin, Jon Joseph, Sarah Bender, & David Parks all speak koans and phrases into the Temple. Michael Wilding plays solo flute for meditation. February 1, 2022. 14 minutes.

John Tarrant reads the koan story Bodhidharma Sets the Mind to Rest to close his Sunday program. February 27, 2022. 2 minutes.

Jordan McConnell sings the Sho Sai Myo Kichijo Dharani to ward off danger and to dispel demons the nine times required for its magic to take hold. Recorded February 27, 2022. Introduced by John Tarrant.

A ritual chant of release. Recorded December 26, 2021.

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.

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.