PZI Teacher Archives
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Allison Atwill -
David Parks -
David Weinstein -
Eduardo Fuentes -
Jesse Cardin -
John Tarrant -
Jon Joseph -
Michelle Riddle -
Tess Beasley
It Just Avoids Picking & Choosing (BCR2)
KOAN:
Zhaozhou taught, “’The greatest way isn’t difficult if you don’t pick and choose.’ As soon as I speak, you’ll think, ‘That’s picking and choosing,’ or ‘That’s clear.’ But I don’t identify with clarity. Can you live like that?”
A student asked, “If you don’t identify with clarity, what do you live by?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you don’t know, why do you say that you don’t identify with clarity?”
“When you ask the question you already have it. Make your bow and step back.”
—Blue Cliff Record Case 2 (transl. John Tarrant & Joan Sutherland)
Not Picking & Choosing
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.
Mysterious Avoidance of the Way
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.
VIDEO: Do You Abide in Clarity? with Jesse Cardin
Jesse Cardin talks about confusion and clarity: Where do you abide, or want to abide, and how do you move in the world? Clarity isn’t going to save you. A 10-minute excerpt from a longer dharma talk given April 24th, 2022, when Jesse guest-hosted John Tarrant’s regular Sunday meditation session.
Roshification – What Is This?
Becoming a Roshi, Jesse Cardin’s thoughts on the eve of his transmission ceremony.