PZI Teacher Archives

turning into the difficulty

Text October 30, 2023

You Can’t Cage a Koan – Make It a Raft!

John Tarrant, PZI Teachers

In the Blue Dragon’s cave, everything is there. If you think you haven’t seen a dragon, you may be wrong. In fact, who says you’re not a dragon? And if you think you don’t know about koans, you may be wrong, too. Who says you’re not a koan? Transcript of a dharma talk in Summer Sesshin 2020.

9009 Words
Audio June 1, 2022

What Is Most Urgent for Me? What Should I Do?

Tess Beasley

What next? I am up against it. How can I do what is needed or know which direction to go? The direction is inward. A turning toward everything inside the self is required. Like the Buddha—his urgency amplified his situation. Facing pain, loss, injury, or grief, we want direct and appropriate action to release us. The only way forward is toward the inner world. Tess Beasley Sensei’s Sunday Talk on May 29, 2022.

27' 37"
Audio September 13, 2021

A Spell for Passing Through Danger

John Tarrant

“You must in the destructive element immerse…” You have to go through it otherwise you can’t have real resolution. Not fleeing the difficulty of things, and orienting yourself to the infinite. “A person on a raft flows on the stream by throwing themselves away.” The importance of the smallest things in the this-is-it dream.

68' 28"