Free and Easy Wandering

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KOAN:

In the dark sea of the north there is a fish; it is named the Kun. The Kun is so huge no one knows how many thousand li he measures. Changing, it becomes a bird; it is named the Peng, so huge no one knows how many thousand li he measures. Aroused, it soars aloft, its wings like clouds hung from the sky. As the sea shifts, it turns to set its course toward the dark sea of the south, the Pool of Heaven.

—The Peng Bird, Free and Easy Wandering, Chapter 1, The Zhuanghzi (the Daoist text) written by Zhuanghzi

Audio October 27, 2022

Fall Sesshin 2022: Dahui’s Journey, Bodhidharma’s Response, & the Marvelous Duke

John Tarrant

Koans

Dahui's Great Doubt, Emperor Wu Questions Bodhidharma (BCR1)(BS2), Free and Easy Wandering, Jiashan's State of Mind (EV99), What Is It You Lack (MK38e), Yunmen's East Mountain Walks on the Water (EV49)

Category

Audio

Sesshin is an embrace which allows greater freedom to appear, and it is deeply mysterious. We don’t do it for a particular outcome or we would be constraining ourselves. We are free and easy wandering. In the koan, Emperor Wu wants a method and a first principle of the holy teaching. Bodhidharma answers, There isn’t a principle! You can’t confine it. Chan is trusting uncertainty, it is not something to be believed. Vows from Amanda Boughton, closing words from Tess Beasley. Complete session recorded on October 7, 2022.

72' 59"

Audio May 7, 2021

Free & Easy Wandering Series: Meditation

John Tarrant

Koans

Following the Scent of Flowers (BCR36), Free and Easy Wandering