Sunday Talks

MIchale Wilding plays music for meditation and riffs on the Summertime theme. Recorded during the September 4, 2022 Sunday Session with 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.

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.

Disorderly karmic consciousness is always in the mix. John Tarrant’s Sunday dharma talk recorded March 6, 2022.

There is a secret quality of friendship that is very close to enlightenment. Friendship is a state of freedom—you don’t want each other to be different. You and everything you touch share the same heart mind. Deep friendship has a long arc. Buddha realized that Mara would miss him if he left. Recorded August 14, 2022.

We can fairly easily see that not picking and choosing will help free us from some entanglements. At first you might think it’s about not caring, but actually it’s the opposite. It’s to do with befriending reality, listening to reality with a tender care. Complete dharma talk audio from Sunday, June 26, 2022. 43 minutes.

There is a marvelous living side-by-side when we show each other the greatest possible trust—not trying to rush away the feeling of the eternal, together. John Tarrant’s complete Sunday session audio from July 17, 2022.

The James Webb telescope is showing us new images of galaxies in deep space. The infinite is in the microbial and the galactic—trees are made of stars. Complete Sunday session. 1 hour, 19 minutes.

The beauty and magnificence are in the smallest thing. Are tanks more important than pears? There is nowhere that the Way does NOT exist. It is even in the things you do not want to look at, or are repulsive. Enter the world in some intimate way. Complete Sunday talk. July 24, 2022.

You can feel happy despite your stories. The world and human life are never still—you are on the Way, carried by the great current of the Dao. Allowing koans to have you, when you work with them, is the same as opening to your life—there are no steps. You are already free, and there is unexpected help on difficult paths. Music from Jordan McConnell & Michael Wilding. Complete Sunday session recorded August 7, 2022. 81 minutes.

Koans and poetry tumble over each other. Good poetry has an objective quality and is related to koanville in that way. It does not try to persuade or recruit. Not knowing always supports us—you are always in the jeweled net. Music for meditation and the four vows with Jordan McConnell and Amaryllis Fletcher. Participants create poetry from a few momentary observations. Poems by John Tarrant and others.

Jesse Cardin gets a phone call about a warrant for his arrest and enters the realms of clarity and confusion. Who can wait quietly till the mud settles? It’s not our business if we’re clear or confused. Whatever arrives carries us through. Stories and koans from the Odyssey, Daodejing, Yunmen, and a hermit who enters the jumbled mountains without a backward glance. As recorded April 24th, 2022.

We abide in the inexplicable amnesty of hereness. Amnesty is also a metaphor for awakening. You allow your awakening to go all the way through. And you can be free, then caught, then free again. Recorded April 17, 2022. Music from Michael Wilding. Todd Geist sings vows.

A quest, a treasure hunt, through cities overtaken by sands and ghosts and overwhelmed by the sea. We search for hidden teachings in scrolls, clay tablets, or dreams. Being lost is primary. In the koan lands we side with being lost when we turn toward uncertainty and wait, and whether we can bear it or not, a path opens. There is no end to this opening.