PZI Teacher Archives

Predicament Koans

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Dharma Theme October 30, 2023

Dharma Theme: Stop Suffering!

PZI Teachers

We’re always looking for a recipe or data points to get a handle on happiness. The most profoundly simple but difficult challenge is to let ourselves transform into ourselves. We imagine a different, better self “after awakening.” Every stroke, even the most difficult or painful, is part of the piece. Our journey through suffering transforms everything, including the destination.

36 Words
Video September 30, 2022

Hanging from a Branch by Your Teeth

John Tarrant

Predicament koans give a nod to the perilous, loony nature of life right now. It is the dangerous situation of being alive—anything can happen. Linji said, “We can’t stay here long,” so relish it! Even in the middle of a disaster you can have a marvelous time. What constitutes a predicament? You oppose what is happening, by overlaying what should be going on. Music for meditation from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding. Recorded in the Sunday Temple on September 11, 2022.

74' 47"
Video September 30, 2022

Opening Talk on the Great Kalpa Fire Predicament Koan

John Tarrant

The 3rd of John Tarrant’s Sunday series on predicament koans. John talks about the Great Kalpa Fire koan. A kalpa is a great age, eon, or universe. Opening Talk excerpted from Sunday Zen on September 18, 2022. (Complete Sunday Zen video also available.)

18' 29"
Video September 27, 2022

The Great Kalpa Fire – A Predicament Koan

John Tarrant

The great cataclysmic fire at the end of the universe is us, is in our hands, because there is no separation. A student asks three teachers the same question: “At the end of the universe, will everything be destroyed?” and gets different answers. It is like asking, “Do you think I am really going to die?” and then getting three opinions. Complete Sunday Talk recorded September 18, 2022.

74' 47"
Audio September 23, 2022

Hanging from a Branch by Your Teeth

John Tarrant

Predicament koans give a nod to the perilous, loony nature of life right now. It is the dangerous situation of being alive—anything can happen. Linji said, “We can’t stay here long,” so relish it! Even in the middle of a disaster you can have a marvelous time. Music for meditation from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding. Recorded in the Sunday Temple on September 11, 2022.

73' 35"
Audio September 6, 2022

The Goose in the Bottle

John Tarrant

A woman raises a goose in a bottle—when it is grown, she wishes to remove it without breaking the bottle, or killing the goose. How do you get the goose out of the bottle? What is the glass between you and the world? This koan offers a chance to taste life. Complete session recorded September 4, 2022.

72' 40"
Video September 6, 2022

Predicament Koans: The Goose in the Bottle

John Tarrant

A predicament koan for our times. A woman raises a goose in a bottle. When it is grown she wishes to remove it without breaking the bottle or killing the goose. How do you get the goose out of the bottle? What is the glass between you and the world? This koan offers a chance to taste life. Music from Michael Wilding, Amaryllis Fletcher, and Jordan McConnell. Complete session recorded September 4, 2022. 1 hour, 12 minutes.

72' 39"
Text August 23, 2020

Predicament Koans – John Tarrant 2013

John Tarrant

So, rather than thinking a predicament is something we’ve got to get rid of, it’s just life—and it has its own dynamism. Maybe we have to walk through it, not run the other way. It’s all right to weep about it, or be frustrated and angry. You can’t be someone else, you are who you are. The gateway is yours, not someone else’s. From recording at Summer Sesshin, July 11 2013, Santa Sabina.

2261 Words
Audio April 15, 2020

10,000 Feet Down, the Stone

John Tarrant

John takes us further into our lockdown descent with a predicament koan that interrupts our usual ways of navigating, into the Sea of Ise, 10,000 feet down, to a single stone. Session includes John’s talk and koan, meditation segments, closing music, and participating teachers’ comments. As recorded April 5, 2020.

80' 53"