Description
Our era is undoubtedly difficult, and even crazy. We are in an underworld time. We know that we’re cutting down ancient trees, burning fossil fuels, melting the sustaining ice, finding leaders who pretend that we have no part in the changes that overwhelm us. We are suffering from forces greater than us and also from ourselves; we too are forces beyond our control.
Fire – The Extremes of Climate Change
Links to Audio, Video, & Text on the topic
Our era is undoubtedly difficult, and even crazy. We are in an underworld time. We know that we’re cutting down ancient trees, burning fossil fuels, melting the sustaining ice, finding leaders who pretend that we have no part in the changes that overwhelm us. We are suffering from forces greater than us and also from ourselves; we too are forces beyond our control.
What’s it like to think the universe might end in fire?
Where does fire arise within us and what form does it take?
How do we live the life we have in the face of vast change?
TEXT: One Day, My Child, All This Will Be Yours – John Tarrant, Lion’s Roar, September 2020
Destroyed or Not?
GREAT KALPA FIRE KOAN: The Great Fire at Engakuji (or, The Fire at the End of the Universe)
MINI-COLLECTION on the KALPA FIRE KOAN from FALL 2022:
VIDEO CLIP: Opening Talk on the Great Kalpa Fire Predicament Koan – John Tarrant
VIDEO CLIP: Two Zen Teachers & Three Opinions on the Great Destruction —John Tarrant
VIDEO: The Great Kalpa Fire: A Predicament Koan – John Tarrant
A student asked Dasui, “The great fire at the end of the universe sweeps through and the universe is totally destroyed. I wonder, is this one destroyed or not?”
Dasui said, “Destroyed.”
The student said, “Will I go along with it?”
Dasui said, “Go along.”—Blue Cliff Record Case 29
Commentary: Because of a single phrase, (“It will be destroyed”), she traveled for a thousand miles, alone.
AUDIO: 10,000-Kalpa Fire – Allison Atwill, Winter Sesshin 2018
VIDEO: Ancestors and Fires – John Tarrant, Santa Rosa Zen, Fall 2019
VIDEO: Leaning Into the Ancestors – John Tarrant, Santa Rosa Zen, Fall 2019
The world itself is a mystery school and teaches us what it needs. It gives us impossible tasks and impossible journeys.
—John Tarrant
MINI-COLLECTION from GUANYIN in the PAVILION from SUMMER 2020:
AUDIO CLIP: The Great Temple Fire & Nothing Destroyed – Allison Atwill
AUDIO CLIP: Saving Houses: Fiery Guanyin – Allison Atwill
AUDIO: Fiery, Radiant Guanyin Under the Summer Moon – Allison Atwill
Stop the Fire
KOAN: Put Out the Fire Across the River – PZI Miscellaneous Koans, Case 2
VIDEO: Stop the Fire Across the River – Allison Atwill, Winter Sesshin 2014
VIDEO: Put Out the Fire: A Discussion Panel on Koan Practice & Pain – Jon Joseph, Monday Zen, Spring 2021
“Stop the fire on the other side of the ocean,” goes the koan, giving us an impossible task—that’s an honest description of what we have.
—John Tarrant
AUDIO: Australia Is Burning – John Tarrant, Winter Sesshin 2020
TEXT: One Day, My Child, All This Will Be Yours – John Tarrant, Lion’s Roar, September 2020
Walking in the Valley of This Time
VIDEO: Serenity on Fire – John Tarrant, Sesshin 2015
TEXT: Golden Delicious Qian: Everyone Is Living Two Lives – John Tarrant, Uncertainty Club, Fall 2020
This is our time to live. We don’t get another,
we have to love and enjoy each other and get enlightened right here.
—John Tarrant
Related Materials & Koans
KOAN: Deshan’s Enlightenment – Gateless Gate Case 28