PZI Teacher Archives
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Allison Atwill -
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Michelle Riddle -
Tess Beasley
ordinary mind
Buddha Was Not Afraid of His Own Mind
Every time you sit, you are Buddha under the bodhi tree, having some portion of his enlightenment night. From a talk in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 5 minutes.
My Average Life
“I like finding features of popular culture that point the way out of the mind’s prison. It is as if a trail of breadcrumbs had been left where least expected.”
Ordinary Life Is the Way
It is natural to look for the things you want outside of where you are now. That is the whole point of a journey. Yet this moment is all anyone has. So if freedom, love, beauty, grace, and whatever else is desirable are to appear, they must appear in a now.
When All Buddhas Are Destroyed, What Remains?
PZI Zen Online: Zhaozhou said, “Clay Buddhas cannot pass through water; metal Buddhas cannot pass through a furnace; wooden Buddhas cannot pass through fire.” Which Buddha survives? The mid loves its ideas, structures, concepts and so does society. Some of those constructs are always dissolving. Discomfort of change in society norms and our own personal norms. As recorded June 10, 2020.
Deshan’s Journey out of Suffering
Deshan’s story of Mirror Bright Mountain, a Diamond Sutra scholar and his journey to awakening. His meeting with the Zen teachers Tea Shack Lady and Dragon Pool. How his journey transforms everything, including his destination. Suffering from expertness and holding onto views. Music Jordan McConnell, Michelle Riddle, Sarah Bender, Amy Fletcher. PZI Zen Online. Audio as recorded May 17, 2020.
The Bird Path
John says birds open the sky for us when we watch them fly—everything just appears, and then is gone, with no trace. If we trust whatever appears, that’s a taste of the bird path. Might it be true that no matter what, you’re not having the wrong moment, that you don’t have to disapprove? When it’s difficult, it’s good to know that it’s for us, it’s ours. Life is blessing us all the time. Our thinking and feeling “This isn’t it,” is what we call loneliness. John talks about how our practice asks us, “What’s it like to be alive, to be me? What’s it like to be a tree? A bird? What if I’m a fire? What if I’m river?” My mind and the universe—not much difference.
Ordinary Mind is the Way
David Weinstein gives a dharma talk at the 2011 spring sesshin, on “Ordinary Mind” as path of awakening.