Video Library

Predicament koans give a nod to the perilous, loony nature of life right now. It is the dangerous situation of being alive—anything can happen. Linji said, “We can’t stay here long,” so relish it! Even in the middle of a disaster you can have a marvelous time. What constitutes a predicament? You oppose what is happening, by overlaying what should be going on. Music for meditation from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding. Recorded in the Sunday Temple on September 11, 2022.

The 3rd of John Tarrant’s Sunday series on Predicament Koans. Beginning talk on this koan on the Great Kalpa (End of the Universal) Fire. Recorded at beginning of the session. 19minute – Complete video also available. 091822

Excerpt from the 3rd of John Tarrant’s Sunday series on predicament koans. John talks about the Great Kalpa Fire. (Kalpa is a great age, eon, or universe.) Recording from the beginning of John’s Sunday Talk on September 18, 2022. 10 minutes.

The great cataclysmic fire at the end of the universe is us, is in our hands, because there is no separation. A student asks three teachers the same question: “At the end of the universe, will everything be destroyed?” and gets different answers. It is like asking, “Do you think I am really going to die?” and then getting three opinions. Complete Sunday Talk recorded September 18, 2022.

Jon Joseph Roshi talks with Joan Sutherland about her new book, Through Forest of Every Color, her evolving thoughts on koans, and her breakout work with John Tarrant and others: bringing koan teaching out of the box of dokusan and into a new western practice of conversations in groups. A rich and lively hour-long conversation with questions and insights from Jon Joseph, John Tarrant, and Allison Atwill. Recorded September 26, 2022.

A predicament koan for our times. A woman raises a goose in a bottle. When it is grown she wishes to remove it without breaking the bottle or killing the goose. How do you get the goose out of the bottle? What is the glass between you and the world? This koan offers a chance to taste life. Music from Michael Wilding, Amaryllis Fletcher, and Jordan McConnell. Complete session recorded September 4, 2022. 1 hour, 12 minutes.

Just having your life, whatever appears—meeting it. Nothing to DO. There is a joy in that, no matter what the universe delivers in the daily mix. Music from Amaryllis Fletcher and vows sung by Todd Geist. Recorded August 28, 2022.

There is a secret quality of friendship that is very close to enlightenment. Friendship is a state of freedom—you don’t want each other to be different. A tolerance comes out of the heart. Deep friendship has a long arc; Buddha realized that Mara would miss him if he left. Complete session recorded August 14, 2022. Music from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding.

John Tarrant welcomes Summer Sesshin participants and introduces a stanza of Shitou’s long poem: Taking Part in the Gathering, as an opening koan. The poem comes from the inception of Chan and is described as a Daoist current on the nature of reality – how emptiness pervades form. Koans, Art, Meditation & Conversation are part of waking up together in PZI Culture. June 13, 2022.

The James Webb telescope is showing us new images of galaxies in deep space. The infinite is in the microbial and the galactic. Trees are made of stars. Complete Sunday session. 1 hour, 19 minutes.

A guided koan meditation from John Tarrant. Allowing the koans to have you when you work with them is the same as opening to your life. There are no steps to the Way. You are already free, and there will be unexpected help on difficult paths. August 7, 2022. 10 minutes.

Jordan McConnell plays and sings the Four Boundless Vows for John Tarrant’s Sunday Session on May 22, 2022.

You can feel happy despite your stories. The world and human life are never still—you are on the Way, carried by the great current of the Dao. Allowing koans to have you, when you work with them, is the same as opening to your life—there are no steps. You are already free, and there is unexpected help on difficult paths. Music from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding. Complete Sunday session recorded August 7, 2022. 81 minutes.

The beauty and magnificence are in the smallest thing. Are tanks more important than pears? There is nowhere that the Way does NOT exist. It is even in the things you do not want to look at, or are repulsive. Enter the world in some intimate way. Complete Sunday talk. July 24, 2022.

Shitou says the dark and bright are both part of the deep work. When times are tough, trusting your koan and the deep current carrying us all, is the way forward. Mazu tells us we came here to make a way out of no way—koans help. Trust in this valuable process. From a talk given at Summer Sesshin in June 2022. 5 minutes.

We can fairly easily see that not picking and choosing will help free us from some entanglements. At first you might think it’s about not caring, but actually it’s the opposite. It’s to do with befriending reality, listening to reality with a tender care. Complete dharma talk from Sunday, June 26, 2022. 43 minutes.

You can feel happy despite your stories. The world and human life are never still—you are on the Way, carried by the great current of the Dao. Allowing koans to have you, when you work with them, is the same as opening to your life—there are no steps. You are already free, and there is unexpected help on difficult paths. Music from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding. Complete Sunday session recorded August 7, 2022. 81 minutes.

There is a marvelous living side-by-side when we show each other the greatest possible trust—not trying to rush away the feeling of the eternal, together. John Tarrant’s complete Sunday session from July 17, 2022.

From a talk given by Tess Beasley in Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. 3 minutes.

Kensho is a real thing—and you can’t pin it down. Awakening takes many and varied forms. Long to really understand reality, and have the joy of that. From a talk given during Summer Sesshin on June 17, 2022. 12 minutes.

From an evening talk given in Summer Sesshin on June 17, 2022. 3 minutes.

John answers a question at Summer Sesshin about the Sutra, and the Bodhisattva Guanyin’s importance in Zen. 3 minutes.

From a talk in Summer Sesshin on refuge and vows, given by Tess Beasley. Recorded June 15, 2022.

An encounter, a magical meeting, is the essence of koan practice. Sunday Talk on July 10, 2022. Complete session. 70 minutes.

It is mysterious how we can avoid the Way, even when we most want to enter it. It’s good to know we have a vessel that carries us. We can listen to everything that arises. From Not Picking & Choosing Part 1, a PZI Sunday Talk from June 26, 2022. 7 minutes.

John Tarrant reads Chan poet Su Dongpo (Tung-po) and comments on his journey through bright and dark. From a talk given in Summer Sesshin on June 17, 2022. 4 minutes.

Tess Beasley describes touchstones of the journey for participants taking refuge vows at Summer Sesshin. Refuge entails committing to the vows as koans, a ceremony with teachers and community, and receiving the rakusu. Complete talk in Summer Sesshin on June 18, 2022.

We are more interwoven when noticing and appreciating the particular qualities of things. When you see yourself in all things, you are seeing with your ears and hearing with your eyes. From a talk in PZI’s Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 11 minutes.

David tells the story of Jiashan’s awakening after being sent by Daowu to find the Boat Monk. From a talk given in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022.

Things talk to us and the right moves appear, and then we doubt them! From a talk in Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. 6 minutes.