Featured Koan: Zhaozhou's Great Way Is Not Difficult - Blue Cliff Record Case 2

A student asked Xiangyang, "What is the Way?"
Xiangyan said, "Dragon murmurings in a withered tree."
"What is a person of the Way?"
"Eyes in a skull."
Later, the student asked Xishuang, "What are 'dragon murmurings in a withered tree'?"
Xishuang replied, "I still have joy."
Later still, the student asked Caoshan, "Who can hear these dragon murmurings?"
Caoshan replied, "There is no one in the world who isn't hearing it."
"What book is 'dragon murmurings in a withered tree' from?"
"I don't know what book it's from, but everyone who hears it dies."

—from Xuedou's verse commentary on Blue Cliff Record Case 2

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Summer 2019 sesshin

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Text August 6, 2020

Knock on Any Door – Daoist Masters & Zen Koans

John Tarrant

Koans

Abiding Nowhere the Heartmind Comes Forth (MK65b), Bankei's Miracle, Dragon Singing in a Withered Tree, Huineng's Original Face (GG23), Knock On Any Door (Preface to BCR), Nothing Holy (BCR1)(BS2), Stone Hitting Bamboo, Vast Emptiness

Tags

Blue Cliff Record, Book of Serenity, buddha nature, Daoism, Diamond Sutra, Du Fu, emptiness, no trace, not knowing, out of nowhere, Summer 2019 sesshin

Category

Whatever your condition is, you can see the “I have joy.” Out of that emptiness, out of what seems unpromising—the dark material, the valley spirit, the enigma, out of the mystery, out of what I don’t understand—it just appears. The joy just appears.

3034 Words

Video August 17, 2019

Where Impurity Meets Purity

Jon Joseph

Koans

Dogen’s Storehouse of Treasures (MK66)

Tags

Chuang tzu, Daoism & Zen, Jon Joseph, Mt. Madonna Center, purification, Summer 2019 sesshin

Category

Jon Joseph talks about delusion and awakening in Zhuangzi. The treasure house of heaven. (Some sound anomalies we are striving to correct – but wanted you to have access to the talk after Summer Sesshin. – KALPA Team)

0' 0"

Video August 15, 2019

Listening to Your Own Heart

John Tarrant

Koans

Jiashan Wields some Gardening Tools (BC68), Yunmen's Day of the Full Moon (BCR6)

Tags

Chuang tzu, John Tarrant, Summer 2019 sesshin

Category

Listening to Your Own Heart recorded by John Tarrant at Mt Madonna Summer Sesshin 2019

17' 36"