Summer Sesshin 2022

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.

Shitou says the dark and bright are both part of the deep work. When times are tough, trusting your koan and the deep current carrying us all, is the way forward. Mazu tells us we came here to make a way out of no way—koans help. Trust in this valuable process. From a talk given at Summer Sesshin in June 2022. 5 minutes.

From a talk given by Tess Beasley in Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. 3 minutes.

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.

From an evening talk given in Summer Sesshin on June 17, 2022. 3 minutes.

John answers a question at Summer Sesshin about the Sutra, and the Bodhisattva Guanyin’s importance in Zen. 3 minutes.

From a talk in Summer Sesshin on refuge and vows, given by Tess Beasley. Recorded June 15, 2022.

John Tarrant reads Chan poet Su Dongpo (Tung-po) and comments on his journey through bright and dark. From a talk given in Summer Sesshin on June 17, 2022. 4 minutes.

Tess Beasley describes touchstones of the journey for participants taking refuge vows at Summer Sesshin. Refuge entails committing to the vows as koans, a ceremony with teachers and community, and receiving the rakusu. Complete talk in Summer Sesshin on June 18, 2022.

We are more interwoven when noticing and appreciating the particular qualities of things. When you see yourself in all things, you are seeing with your ears and hearing with your eyes. From a talk in PZI’s Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 11 minutes.

David tells the story of Jiashan’s awakening after being sent by Daowu to find the Boat Monk. From a talk given in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022.

Things talk to us and the right moves appear, and then we doubt them! From a talk in Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. 6 minutes.

What to do or say will be given from the whole of the situation. The more you include, without conditions, including your not-knowing, the more will be given. From a talk in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 9 minutes.

The exhaustion and effort of “making a me” often brings people to Zen. In retreat, we begin to see the contours of the self that causes us to suffer. From a talk in Summer Sesshin, June 16, 2022. 7 minutes.

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.

The universe pours through Indra’s jewels. No part of the world is walled off. From a talk in Summer Sesshin on June 16, 2022. 1 minute.

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.

Disturbances in sesshin are taking part in the gathering too. From a talk in Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. 5 minutes.

Tess talks about the unexpected coming to your aid. From a talk in Summer Sesshin on June 15, 2022. 1 minute.

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.