PZI Teacher Archives

The Coin Lost in the River (MK64)

KOAN:

The coin lost in the river is found in the river.

—PZI Miscellaneous Koans, Case 64

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Dharma Theme November 4, 2021

Dharma Theme: Zen Luminaries, A Series of Conversations with Jon Joseph Roshi

Jon Joseph

Modern Zen Luminaries: A series of Zen Buddhist scholars, writers, poets, translators, and practitioners join PZI’s Jon Joseph Roshi for lively discussions online, with a focus on our Chan lineage. Includes all recordings beginning with the series’ launch in September 2021.

811 Words
Audio October 8, 2021

Zen Luminaries: A Conversation with Buddhist Translator Thomas Kirchner & Jon Joseph

Jon Joseph

Thomas Kirchner has translated, annotated, and edited great works in our Chan lineage, including Entangling Vines: Zen Koans of the Shumon Kattoshu, The Record of Linji, and more. He is a longtime Zen practitioner, was born in the US, and has lived most of his life in Japan. He joins Jon Joseph for a wide-ranging conversation about his life in Zen.

71' 25"
Text October 8, 2020

11 The Coin Lost In The River – The Zenosaurus Course In Koans

John Tarrant

Zenosaurus Curriculum 11: This koan offers offers the chance of finding that there is a home in traveling, in the smell of toast, the chill of the morning air and even in the feeling of being far from home.

1192 Words
Audio November 14, 2019
47' 55"
Text September 18, 2019

Lost And Found

John Tarrant

The practice part of it is that it doesn’t matter if you think you lost the coin and start to be unhappy about life. That is another theory. And it doesn’t matter how many times that theory rises. Even that theory is the coin. A koan practice means that you go back to the river over and over again and you can trust that process.

1204 Words
Misc December 17, 2017
Misc December 17, 2017
Audio November 27, 2017
47' 55"

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Article November 24, 2017

How to Practice Zen Koans

John Tarrant

A koan is a little healing story, a conversation, an image, a fragment of a song. It’s something to keep you company, whatever you are doing. There’s a tradition of koan study to transform your heart and the way you move in the world. Article by John Tarrant published in Lion’s Roar magazine, March 2016 and September 2018.

15 Words