PZI Teacher Archives

What Is Your Light? (BCR86)

KOAN:

Yunmen taught, “Everybody has a light inside. When you’re looking for it, you can’t see; it’s dark, dark, hidden. What is this light that everybody has?”
He himself answered, “The kitchen pantry, the entrance gate.”
Then he said, “It’s better to have nothing than something good.”

—Blue Cliff Record Case 86 (PZI version)

See also: Yunmen’s Light, transl. by John Tarrant & Joan Sutherland

Video August 1, 2023

Carried by Kindness & Joy

Tess Beasley

The urgency of some questions and facing hidden truths help us discover our own true nature. We reveal ourselves at every turn. When we try to see our own light, we can’t—”it’s dark, dark,” says Yunmen. During sesshin, we sit and trust our own heart-mind to open, inquiring, “Who am I?” and, “How is this so?”

40' 32"