PZI Teacher Archives
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Allison Atwill -
David Parks -
David Weinstein -
Eduardo Fuentes -
Jesse Cardin -
John Tarrant -
Jon Joseph -
Michelle Riddle -
Tess Beasley
Shitou Xiqian
We Are Interwoven
It’s a noble thing to gather together for the Dharma. It has hidden effects, that if we thought about it from afar, we’d think, Ah, I don’t know. But when we’re together, we can feel, Oh, yeah, it’s happening. I can feel it in my heart and my soul and my fingers.
Taking Part in the Gathering: Opening Talk
John Tarrant’s opening dharma talk in Summer Sesshin at Santa Sabina. Recorded June 13, 2022.
Summer Sesshin: We Are Interwoven – Welcome to Sesshin
John Tarrant welcomes Summer Sesshin participants and introduces a stanza of Shitou’s long poem: Taking Part in the Gathering, as an opening koan. The poem comes from the inception of Chan and is described as a Daoist current on the nature of reality – how emptiness pervades form. Koans, Art, Meditation & Conversation are part of waking up together in PZI Culture. June 13, 2022.
Summer Sesshin: We Are Interwoven – Welcome to Sesshin
John Tarrant welcomes Summer Sesshin participants and introduces a stanza from Shitou’s song-poem, Taking Part in the Gathering, as an opening koan. The poem comes from the inception of Chan as a Daoist current on the nature of reality. Koans, art, meditation & conversation are part of waking up together in PZI culture. June 13, 2022.
Summer Sesshin: Shitou’s Teachers
David tells the story of Jiashan’s awakening, after being sent by Daowu to find the Boat Monk. David also guides a revealing exercise in picking and choosing. Complete talk given in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 37 minutes.
Dharma Theme: Taking Part in the Gathering – Summer Sesshin 2022
Here is our curation of full-length Summer Sesshin dharma talk audios on a single page, for easy finding and listening. A sesshin is more than the sum of its parts or recorded talks—there are personal interviews and deep meditation, teaching talks and conversations, old friends and new, ceremonies, brilliant teachers, music, great enlightenment, mistakes, and delight. The play of the universe. Recorded at Santa Sabina Center, June 13-19, 2022.
Summer Sesshin: Front Foot & Back Foot Walking
John Tarrant’s dharma talk on June 17, 2022, in Summer Sesshin. Complete session. 45 minutes.
Summer Sesshin: Taking Part in the Gathering
John Tarrant’s dharma talk on the first day of Summer Sesshin. He reads Shitou’s poem, Taking Part in the Gathering. Complete session. 38 minutes.
Forms of Awakening
Kensho is a real thing—and you can’t pin it down. Awakening takes many and varied forms. Long to really understand reality, and have the joy of that. From a talk given during Summer Sesshin on June 17, 2022. 12 minutes.
What Is It To Be Here?
Video clip: What is it to be here? Weaving and interweaving go on and on, while each thing stands in its own place. From a talk in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 3 minutes.
Our Part in the Gathering
It’s all here—we’re already taking part in the gathering. We each hold our part so we can experience it together. Recorded during Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. 4 minutes.
What It Is to Take Part in the Gathering
Sesshin is an opportunity to experience your own true nature, to help hold the retreat vessel for yourself and everyone else, and for not skipping out on what is troubling you. From a talk on the first day of Summer Sesshin, June 14, 2022. 10 minutes.
The Mysterious Source of the Bright
John Tarrant talks about the mysterious source of things at Summer Sesshin. Recorded on June 14, 2022. 3 minutes.
On Shitou’s Life & Poem: What Is in the Way of Freedom?
From John Tarrant’s opening talk on Taking Part in the Gathering, Shitou Xiqian’s song-poem on the nature of reality. Recorded at Summer Sesshin on June 14, 2022. 9 minutes.
Summer Sesshin: Opening Dharma Talk
Great Summer Sesshin, opening eve: Our first in-person sesshin in over 2 years, due to Covid. John Tarrant introduces Shitou’s song, Taking Part in the Gathering, his translation together with Joan Sutherland. In this sutra, Shitou is trying to say what reality actually is. The myriad things are your own self—you look at the world and the world looks back. Whatever appears, enter there! No being for countless eons has ever fallen out of Buddha nature. Recorded June 13th, 2022, at Santa Sabina Center.
Taking Part in the Gathering
This is 8th century Zen ancestor Shitou Xiqian’s great song, the Sandokai—or Taking Part in the Gathering, as translated by Joan Sutherland and John Tarrant. This foundational text is often read at Winter Solstice. “When you let these words in, you encounter the ancestors.” Winter Sesshin January, 2020.