Description
Meet Great Ancestor Linji: “A nine-colored Phoenix, a thousand-mile horse.” That’s how Linji was described in early Chan times.
Great Ancestor Linji
Links to Audio, Video, & Text on the topic
Meet Great Ancestor Linji: A nine-colored Phoenix, a thousand-mile horse. That’s how Linji was described in early Chan times.
Linji , like Yunmen, became one of the founders of one of the great five schools of Chan. Every transmission document in our PZI school has calligraphy or a painting of a dragon, and Linji’s name on it.
Stream-enterers, followers of the Way,
the problem is that you just don’t have faith in yourselves.
You rush about wondering whether you should have doubts or not.
You rush about looking for things,
but what you look for you do not trust—and it is here.
And there is nobody who does not have it.—Linji
It Is Here
Linji asks, In your life right now, what is it you lack,
what is it that practice must mend?
CEREMONY: A Selected Reading from the Record of Linji
STORY KOAN: Peach Blossom Journey – Guided Meditation from John Tarrant, Spring Sesshin 2021
TEXT: Awakenings of Linji & the Great Chan Teachers – John Tarrant, Fall Sesshin 2019
VIDEO: Awakenings of Linji & the Great Chan Teachers – John Tarrant, Fall Sesshin 2019
It Is Yours
The solitary brightness with no fixed shape or form is yours.
If you only don’t object, or exclude reality, the brightness is there.
(John Tarrant)
AUDIO: I Carry Silence & Light: Muses in the Midst of Turmoil
– Allison Atwill, Sunday Zen, Summer 2020
AUDIO: Solitary Brightness: Nothing to Hang Onto – John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Summer 2020
There’s a solitary brightness without fixed shape or form.
It knows how to listen to the teachings,
it knows how to understand the teachings,
it knows how to teach.
That solitary brightness is you.—Linji
MINI-COLLECTION from SUMMER SESSHIN 2016:
AUDIO: That Solitary Brightness Is You – John Tarrant
AUDIO: The Brightness of the Blockage – Allison Atwill
VIDEO: The Dark Closet – Allison Atwill
VIDEO: Hoping for Enlightenment – Allison Atwill
VIDEO: Solitary Brightness Has No Fixed Shape or Form – John Tarrant
Only This
When the world comes to meet us we realize there is only this.
(John Tarrant)
There is nothing I dislike.
—Linji
MINI-COLLECTION from SUMMER SESSHIN 2016:
AUDIO: There’s Nothing I Dislike! – John Tarrant
AUDIO: Who Are You Anyway? – John Tarrant
VIDEO: Numinous Moments – John Tarrant
VIDEO: There Is Nothing I Dislike – John Tarrant (tw: assault)
No Rank
The true woman, the true man, has no status, no color—it’s beyond that.
We’re just on the bodhisattva path. Doing as close to nothing as we can.
(John Tarrant)
There is a true person with no rank who is always coming and going through the portals of your face.
—Linji
AUDIO: A True Person of No Rank, No Color, No Gender: Seeing through All Distinctions
– John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Summer 2020
TEXT: A True Person of No Rank, No Color, No Gender: Seeing through All Distinctions
– John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Summer 2020
TEXT: The True Person Has No Rank: The Zenosaurus Course in Koans #7
—John Tarrant, Fall 2020
VIDEO: The True Person of No Rank – John Tarrant, Fall Sesshin 2013
Being the Host
It’s not ours to decide what time we’re in. It’s ours to be in the time we’re in.
(John Tarrant)
AUDIO: Surprising Happiness in the Midst of It All – John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Summer 2022
AUDIO: Emptiness in the Role of Host – John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Summer 2020
AUDIO: Stories from the Interior: Solitude & Loneliness – Allison Atwill, Sunday Zen, Spring 2020
AUDIO: Be the Host – John Tarrant, Fall Sesshin 2010
Wherever you are, just take the role of host, and that place will be a true place.
—Linji
MINI-COLLECTION from SUMMER SESSHIN 2016:
TEXT: Hosting the Life You Have – John Tarrant
VIDEO: Take the Role of Host – Allison Atwill
VIDEO: Tyger, Tyger – Allison Atwill
VIDEO: I Was Only Two Hands – John Tarrant
Being a Blockhead
If you don’t reach out to fix it, you’re the host. If you chase about, you’re a blockhead.
(John Tarrant)
Linji, quoting an ancestor, said, “People who try to do something about what is outside themselves are nothing but blockheads.”
If wherever you are, you take the role of host, then whatever spot you stand in will be a true one.
AUDIO: Linji & Me, Finding the Way – David Weinstein, Summer Sesshin 2016
VIDEO: Linji’s Blockhead – John Tarrant, Summer Sesshin 2010
Nothing To Do
I’m just a person with nothing to do.
—Linji
More on Linji
TEXT: The Great Collaborators of the Blue Cliff Record – John Tarrant, Summer Sesshin 2020
VIDEO: Linji’s Was I at Fault or Not? – Jon Joseph, Winter Sesshin 2020
AUDIO: Setting the Mind to Rest – John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Winter 2022