meditation
Harmonizing with the Dao – Nothing Has To Be Wrong
A guided koan meditation from John Tarrant. Allowing the koans to have you when you work with them is the same as opening to your life. There are no steps to the Way. You are already free, and there will be unexpected help on difficult paths. August 7, 2022. 10 minutes.
Control Is Not Your Friend
Relax into your meditation like a bird falls into the air. Practice is always here for you. We’re having this dream, now—we can’t hold onto it. Recorded at Summer Sesshin on June 14th, 2022. 4 minutes.
Points of Practice: Getting Stuck, Getting Free
In our Zen practice, there comes a time when you can feel stuck. John Tarrant talks about how to navigate this. Recorded June 12, 2022. 3-minute video.
How Is My Hand Like Buddha’s Hand? Music for Meditation
Jordan McConnell on guitar. Music for meditation, recorded June 5, 2022. 7 minutes.
The World Catches Us Every Time
Distraction can have a long arc, and until the end of the story, you can’t say what’s a distraction and what’s a calling.
A Beautiful Wish (You Are the Sun…)
The desire for a more beautiful life is ancient and enduring. In medieval times it meant dressing in bright silks and having long and colorful processions; the desire was poured into objects, too, into paintings and cathedrals with stained glass windows. Inside the desire for a more beautiful life is the desire for a more beautiful character.
Surprises on the Way: Article by John Tarrant
Meditation offers a path out of the burning house, without abandoning the promise and good-heartedness of being human. Practice is the last best hope of living up to that good-heartedness, the only thing that never hurts and usually helps. And even at the beginning of the meditation path, on a good day it’s exciting. It actually makes you happy.
Meditation: Abiding Nowhere the Heartmind Comes Forth
A 32 minute Meditation: The tale of the Diamond Sutra with John Tarrant. Koan meditation, as recorded March 21st 2021.
One Day, My Child, All This Will Be Yours
Australia’s ancient forests were burning in September 2020. In the face of unfathomable loss John Tarrant writes, “It’s too early to despair, it’s always too early to despair. The world itself is a mystery school and teaches us what it needs. It gives us impossible tasks and impossible journeys, and all we can say is that we love the world without knowing outcomes, because it is the only world we have, and because we never do know outcomes.” Article for Lion’s Roar magazine, published September 14, 2020.
Guided Meditation: Mazu’s Current Matter
Guided meditation with John Tarrant. Who is sitting? Who hears the bell? Always a good start for a meditation. John shares Master Ma’s comment on “the current matter”— this very moment of your life as a most important gate. Audio excerpt recorded Feb. 7 2021, PZI Zen Online. 25 minutes.
Guided Meditation with Jon Joseph: Falling into a Well
Jon Joseph Roshi gives an overview, then the koan “What is the Way?” leading into meditation with Baling’s “A clearly enlightened person falls into a well.” Or does a well fall into that person? Audio excerpt as recorded Feb. 1 2021, PZI Zen Online. 28 minutes.
Guided Koan Meditation with John Tarrant: The Whole Purpose of Your Life
John Tarrant guides a 9-minute meditation with Master Ma’s koan, “The whole purpose of your life is contained in the current matter.” Audio excerpt as recorded at a Sunday Meditation & Talk on February 9, 2021.
Not Knowing Is Most Intimate
PZI Zen Online Audio: Sarah Bender Roshi reflects on the intimacy of not knowing, the nearness of all of us in this dreamy emergent time. Wandering and not knowing are allies now. Includes Sarah’s intro & dharma talk, silent meditation segments, and sharing. As recorded April 3 2020.
Your Life is Right Here
John’s evening talking is brief, yet poignant. There is a light and a joy and they are here now. It doesn’t wait until you improve yourself, your partner, enemy, or live in a different colored state.
Hindrances and Gates
In meditation whatever arises in the mind or in your life is the gate. The hindrances are the gates; when they appear, it might be an indication that meditation is going well.
Meditation as a Basis for Healing
“What are the essentials of the meditation path as a basis for this healing — healing of both person and culture?” August 2006.
The Light Inside the Dark – Part One of Four
In this landmark guide to the spiritual journey, respected Zen teacher and psychotherapist John Tarrant brings together ancient Eastern traditions and the Western passion for the soul. Using real-life stories, Zen tales, and Greek myths, The Light Inside the Dark shows how our darkest experiences can be the gates to wisdom and joy. Tarrant leads us through the inevitable descents of our journey—from the everyday world of work and family into the treasure cave of the interior life—from which we return with greater love of life’s vivid, common gifts. Written with empathy and a poet’s skill, The Light Inside the Dark is the freshest and most challenging work on the soul to be published in years. Paperback published November 3, 1999.
The Light Inside the Dark – Part Two of Four
In this landmark guide to the spiritual journey, respected Zen teacher and psychotherapist John Tarrant brings together ancient Eastern traditions and the Western passion for the soul. Using real-life stories, Zen tales, and Greek myths, The Light Inside the Dark shows how our darkest experiences can be the gates to wisdom and joy. Tarrant leads us through the inevitable descents of our journey—from the everyday world of work and family into the treasure cave of the interior life—from which we return with greater love of life’s vivid, common gifts. Written with empathy and a poet’s skill, The Light Inside the Dark is the freshest and most challenging work on the soul to be published in years. Paperback published November 3, 1999.
The Light Inside the Dark – Part Three of Four
In this landmark guide to the spiritual journey, respected Zen teacher and psychotherapist John Tarrant brings together ancient Eastern traditions and the Western passion for the soul. Using real-life stories, Zen tales, and Greek myths, The Light Inside the Dark shows how our darkest experiences can be the gates to wisdom and joy. Tarrant leads us through the inevitable descents of our journey—from the everyday world of work and family into the treasure cave of the interior life—from which we return with greater love of life’s vivid, common gifts. Written with empathy and a poet’s skill, The Light Inside the Dark is the freshest and most challenging work on the soul to be published in years. Paperback published November 3, 1999.
The Light Inside the Dark – Part Four of Four
In this landmark guide to the spiritual journey, respected Zen teacher and psychotherapist John Tarrant brings together ancient Eastern traditions and the Western passion for the soul. Using real-life stories, Zen tales, and Greek myths, The Light Inside the Dark shows how our darkest experiences can be the gates to wisdom and joy. Tarrant leads us through the inevitable descents of our journey—from the everyday world of work and family into the treasure cave of the interior life—from which we return with greater love of life’s vivid, common gifts. Written with empathy and a poet’s skill, The Light Inside the Dark is the freshest and most challenging work on the soul to be published in years. Paperback published November 3, 1999.
16 Bodhisattvas Soaking in a Bath
Soaking in the meditation bath with other students of the way is the topic of this dharma talk. October 17, 2012.
Taking Care of Yourself on Retreat
Rachel Boughton, Sensei, talks about working with koans and being kind to yourself at a long meditation retreat. July 14, 2014.
Radical Transparency and Koans as Frenemies
Rachel Boughton, at the June-July sesshin held at Land of Medicine Buddha, talks hackers, privacy, and zen koans in an age of technology.