Zhuangzi

In sesshin, we are fish moving in and out of the depths. The treasure lies in the realm you do not wish to investigate. If you can face your fear and go there, a great watery tenderness arises as the heart opens.

John remarks on being freed from the hospital after a brush with Covid and more, and feeling our ties to the birds, symbolizing freedom through their ability to take off at will. Also: The legend of the painter who disappeared on the back of a painted crane, and the Zhuangzi’s fish named Kuhn who becomes a bird. Recorded April 23, 2023

“Feeling the time,” is a line from the poet Du Fu—the time is always with us. And it’s always too early to despair. We’re just here. Not wanting anything to be different. Objections are full of knowing! You step out of the way you are perceiving the world, the dream of who you are, you turn the light backward. Recorded February 26, 2023.

A guided koan meditation with John Tarrant, recorded Sunday May, 2021. PZI Zen Online. 6 minutes.

John Tarrant begins with a wild Daoist story from the Zhuangzi, about a giant fish named Kun. The freedom is in your own breast and the koan path opens the way. Includes meditation segments, music from Michael Wilding, vows from Jordan McConnell & Amaryllis Fletcher, Cantor. PZI Zen Online. As recorded May 2, 2021.

Handing Things On in the Dark. The dark silent time of this year has lasted for 9 months, in Covid. “The whole meaning of your life is in the current matter happening now.” No explaining it. “To be deeply in Zen is to be deeply in how to express it.” The first vaccines are here. The mysterious freedoms of this time, welcoming the new year, and a tour of the deep thick dark of midnight. John reads poems by Gerard Manly Hopkins, Anna Swir, Czeslaw Milosz, and more. Music from Jordan McConnell & Amaryllis Fletcher. PZI Zen Online, as recorded Jan 3, 2021.

Solstice and the big wheels turn. Juneteenth celebrations & demonstrations are encouraging. Navigating and feeling the covid bardos of long confinement. Has nothing happened? Maybe all sorts of things are happening? “We can’t stay here long.” What is a border? Old injustices are looming. Readings from Slave Narratives, poetry of Li Bai, Alberto Rios, Czeslaw Milosz. Sunday Zen session recorded June 21, 2020.

John Tarrant talks about Chan’s encounter with Daoism and the Zhuangzi, replete with strange characters like “Crooked Carriage” and his friends. Chan took on their difficult times with stories and koans. Upheaval from Covid quarantine, riots over racism—koan meditation is a vessel for our times. Who’s concerned about the world? Who’s sad? We are in it together, so let’s vow to set endless heartache to rest. Koans and stories are ancient vials of light that help us now. PZI Zen Online, as recorded May 31, 2020.

David tells the story of Zhuangzi and his dream of transformation: gaining the capacity to dream yourself into anything—butterfly, dung beetle, peacock, cockroach—finding yourself in the dream in whatever form. We can’t know we are in a dream or not until we wake—we are constantly changing and transforming.