PZI Teacher Archives

The Valley Streams Run Deepest Indigo

KOAN:

There was a student who asked a teacher, the teacher was Dalong [long means dragon, dragon teacher] and the student said,
“This physical body perishes, decays. What is the imperishable, what is the hard and fast body of reality? What is the body that doesn’t decay? This physical body decays, what is the everlasting body of the real?”
And the teacher said, “Mountain flowers bloom like brocade. The valley streams run deepest indigo.” 

—Blue Cliff Record Case 82

Video January 25, 2023

Loving the World That Carries Us

John Tarrant

The body of form changes, but what is everlasting? Q: “What endures?” A: “Mountain flowers bloom like brocade. The valley streams run deepest indigo.” We are on a journey with no fixed destination, and the moment we’ve been looking for is here. What carries us, if not the world around us? With solo flute improv from Micheal Wilding.

62' 52"