Description
What you can conceive of might take away your life. On the other hand, what you cannot conceive of will give you your life.
Meeting the Inconceivable
Links to Audio, Video, & Text on the topic
What you can conceive of might take away your life. On the other hand, what you cannot conceive of will give you your life.
Rhinoceros
TEXT: Meeting the Inconceivable – John Tarrant, excerpt from his book, Bring Me the Rhinoceros
TEXT: 1, 2, 3, 4, Rhinoceros – John Tarrant interviewed in Inquiring Mind magazine, Spring 2005
Once upon a time in China, the governor gave a rare fan carved of rhinoceros horn to a Zen Master, who forgot about it. Then he remembered.
He called to his assistant, “Bring me the rhinoceros fan.”
The assistant said, “It is broken.”
The master said, “In that case, bring me the rhinoceros.”
ARTWORK: Meeting the Inconceivable – PZI Art Card by Dharma Dog Productions
Mysterious Meetings
When there is no moon and you can’t find your path in the usual way, you are bound to have some unusual encounters.
It’s past midnight, the moon has not risen.
In the thick, deep dark, you meet a face from long ago but you don’t recognize them.
No need to be surprised by this.—First of Dongshan’s Five Ranks
VIDEO: Dongshan: Meeting a Face from Long Ago – John Tarrant, Sesshin 2014
AUDIO: Free & Easy Wandering: Mysterious Meetings in Mysterious Times
—John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Spring 2021
VIDEO: Dreaming & Meeting What Appears – Tess Beasley, Summer Sesshin 2022
AUDIO: Before There Is Moonlight: First of Dongshan’s Five Ranks – Jon Joseph, Monday Zen, Spring 2020
A student asked Dalong, “What is the mysterious?”
He answered, “The breeze brings the water’s voice close to my pillow.
The moon carries the mountain’s shadow near my bed.”
MINI-COLLECTION from MAGICAL MEETINGS: Sunday Zen, Summer 2022
AUDIO: Magical Meetings – John Tarrant, Complete Sunday Zen Audio
VIDEO CLIP: Magical Meetings: Past Midnight – Koun Yamada’s Awakening — John Tarrant
VIDEO CLIP: Magical Meetings: Whatever Arises, Is It! — John Tarrant
What Is It to Meet Things?
AUDIO: The Ink Dark Moon: What Is It to Meet Things? – Tess Beasley, Sunday Zen
When Will You Meet Today?
KOAN: When Will You Meet Today? – PZI Inquiry Koan
AUDIO: When You Stop Chasing About – John Tarrant, Fall Sesshin 2020
AUDIO: Walking Together in Chaos Times: Meeting Impossible Problems
– John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Summer 2022
Related Materials & Koans
TEXT: The Power of Koan Practice – John Tarrant, Shambhala Sun magazine, Spring 2003
TEXT: The Nature of Practice – John Tarrant, Summer Sesshin 2017