PZI Teacher Archives

The Great Koan NO (GG1) (BS18)

KOAN:

Someone asked Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have Buddha nature or not?”
Zhaozhou said, “No.”

—Gateless Gate, Case 1, & Book of Serenity, Case 18

Video July 13, 2023

Summer Sesshin: The Great Koan NO

John Tarrant

On some level, we are not human beings! Zhaozhou’s dog koan often leads off sesshins. When you throw yourself in with the dog, you make your whole body a mass of doubt. Your eyebrows are entangled with the Zen ancestors.

40' 29"
Audio July 13, 2023

Summer Sesshin: The Great Koan NO

John Tarrant

On some level, we are not human beings! Zhaozhou’s dog koan often leads off sesshins. When you throw yourself in with the dog, you make your whole body a mass of doubt. Your eyebrows are entangled with the Zen ancestors.

40' 29"
Audio September 30, 2021

Animal Heart Mind

John Tarrant

With all the crises of our time lined up, like a caravan demanding our attention, what if the moments of beauty, friendship and peace are the real, important moments? Animal koans are really about you, and the question, What is it like to have a self? Poem and haiku readings from John, Issa, William Merwynn, Walt Whitman, Christopher Smart, & PZI friends Jeanne Foster and Adam Walsh. Music from Jordan McConnell.

63' 43"
Text August 13, 2021

Enter Here, Step Through

John Tarrant

Day two of 2018 Winter Sesshin. John Tarrant introduces the great koan “No,” a gift from the ancestors. The gift is what happens when we hang out with the koan. “No” as the purest gate. When we step through, we find out we’re here! It’s not personal, you’re harmonizing with the universe. Transcript from a recording on January 17, 2018.

4957 Words
Audio August 10, 2021

Hearing Secret Harmonies: Koans & Dreams

John Tarrant

There is a rhythm in life that we sometimes hear face-to-face—but often it is like a melody playing somewhere and we can’t make it out. Our secret fidelity to what is most important allows us to hear it.

73' 33"