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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251002T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251002T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250813T171739Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250926T184540Z
UID:10002128-1759420800-1759426200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Turning Over the Kettle
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-53/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/kettle.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250918T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250918T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250813T171940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250913T134957Z
UID:10002127-1758211200-1758216600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Compassion: It’s like Reaching for a Pillow in the Night
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-54/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/hand-reaching_500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250904T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250904T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250813T172116Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250827T142713Z
UID:10002126-1757001600-1757007000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: A Hidden Wholeness
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nSabbath and Meditation — Opening to What is Here \nLet’s call it a vacation\, a break\, or maybe even a Sabbath time. It’s a chance to escape the usual week-end and week-out routine I follow the rest of the year. You know\, the one where I’m busy writing the newsletter\, packing the truck with statues and cushions\, my focus on our Thursday Bluegrass Zen meeting in Lexington. Now at the end of my time away\, I’d like to call it Sabbath time. \nSabbath \nIn Abrahamic religions\, Sabbath is a designated day of rest\, marking the 7th day of creation when God took a rest from the other six days of creation. Before time\, God was busy\, you know\, the spirit over the waters\, the light\, the dark\, the separation of the land from the water\, plants\, animals\, human beings. It had been a busy few days\, so it was time for a rest. Likewise it was determined over years of tradition\, that such a day of rest might be good for the community as well. And so\, Shabbat. Sabbath. This day of rest became so important to the Hebrew people\, that its observance became a cornerstone for Jewish law and practice. \nSabbath is a time when activity stops. As labor ceases\, so do its fruits. I cannot point to anything and attach to it as mine. Labor stops and no attainment. From this place\, the heart at rest\, it is possible to notice the life all around and through\, to notice the crow call\, the wind in the pine branches\, the yellows of the sunflowers as they track the sun making its course through the day. Too\, it is a time to notice the interior textures of life as they open\, flow and cascade\, a rumble and thrum\, thoughts and feelings\, a sense of opening before and beyond time. Inside\, outside\, and in between fade and there is “just this.” Sabbath opens time within time\, one taste\, eternity (or as those mystics of the Abrahamic faiths might call it\, God)\, the wholeness hidden in plain sight\, moment by moment. Thomas Merton writes\, in his poem\, Hagia Sophia (wisdom of God)\, a later poem of his influenced by his encounter with DT Suzuki and Rinzai Zen: \nThere is in all visible things an invisible fecundity\, a dimmed light\, a meek namelessness\, a hidden wholeness. This mysterious Unity and Integrity is Wisdom\, the Mother of all\, Natura naturans. There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity\, a silence that is a fount of action and joy. It rises up in wordless gentleness and flows out to me from the unseen roots of all created being\, welcoming me tenderly\, saluting me with indescribable humility. This is at once my own being\, my own nature\, and the Gift of my Creator’s Thought and Art within me\, speaking as Hagia Sophia\, speaking as my sister\, Wisdom. \nIn this I find the practice of Sabbath\, a noticing and welcoming of the wordless gentle as it rises up in all things\, pointing and participating in life\, in the Dao or if you prefer\, the wisdom of God. Also\, at least for me\, this is the practice of zazen\, seated meditation\, an alertness and a noticing of what is here—right down to the bones. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-55/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/soft-light_500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250528T173240Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T173240Z
UID:10002074-1755792000-1755797400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:David Parks is not teaching today\, but will return on September 4th. We hope you join us then!\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-on-break-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250807T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250807T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250528T173125Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T173321Z
UID:10002073-1754582400-1754587800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:David Parks is not teaching today\, but will return on September 4th. We hope you join us then!\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-on-break-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250724T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250724T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250528T172704Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T172704Z
UID:10002072-1753372800-1753378200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:David Parks is on break until September 4th. We hope you join us then!\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-on-break/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250710T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250710T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250528T172930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T172930Z
UID:10002071-1752163200-1752168600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-50/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DPR-Headshot_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250626T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250626T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250416T201555Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T201555Z
UID:10002066-1750953600-1750959000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-49/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DPR-Headshot_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250612T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250612T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250416T201521Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T201521Z
UID:10002065-1749744000-1749749400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-48/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DPR-Headshot_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250529T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250529T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250416T201443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T201443Z
UID:10002064-1748534400-1748539800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-47/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DPR-Headshot_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250515T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250515T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250416T201408Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250513T152133Z
UID:10002063-1747324800-1747330200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Not an Inch of Grass for 10\,000 Miles
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-46/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/deathvalley500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250501T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250501T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250416T200906Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250425T170814Z
UID:10002062-1746115200-1746120600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: In the Dark? Darken Further.
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nAt times of vulnerability\, when tough times visit\, this koan takes me to the place I would rather not go—straight into the dilemma\, into the vulnerability itself. Where I might want to take what I know\, an explanation or a solution\, off the shelf\, the koan counsels\, “Darken further\,” inviting me into the vastness of what I don’t know. \nThis is to let go of the barriers that I use to define myself\, these walls that I use to define the borderlines between myself and the places I dare not go. Unencumbered\, out beyond knowing\, the dark is a place of discovery and acceptance. Herein is the shift. Mystery opens into life\, the luminous dark moves through all. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-45/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Dusk500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250417T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250417T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250211T223012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250414T164101Z
UID:10002000-1744905600-1744911000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Suddenly It’s Midnight
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nOnce a student of Dongshan was asked\, “What does your teacher teach?” The student replied\, “He teaches in three ways: the dark way\, the bird path and the open hand.” In the last weeks\, we have been using koans that seem to arise from the dark way. First\, we sat with Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu\, then with the stone woman giving birth in the middle of the night. This week we will sit with Yunmen’s Midnight: \nYou come and go by daylight\, you make people out by daylight. But suddenly it’s midnight and there’s no sun\, no moon\, no lamp. If it’s a place you’ve been to\, then of course it might be possible\, but if it’s a place you’ve never been\, how will you get hold of something? \nAs Yunmen says\, mostly we travel\, make our way through life in the sunlight of a bright day. We know where we are going\, we see our goal off in the distance\, and we make our way. And then\, it is almost inevitable\, it’s midnight and the light\, the clarity of our goal disappears\, and we find ourselves in the dark\, unable to see our own hand in front of our face. This can happen in any area of our lives: relationships\, job\, life plans. We knew where we were going\, what we were doing\, and now\, we don’t know. \nYunmen asks\, “How will you get hold of something?” We might say\, “How do I navigate?” \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-41/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/dusk500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250403T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250403T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250211T223119Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250401T235334Z
UID:10001999-1743696000-1743701400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: The Stone Woman Brings Forth
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nThe stone woman gives birth in the middle of the night. \n—PZI Miscellaneous Koans Case 33 \nHere is a koan for transitions. In the darkest hour of night\, in the depths of your not knowing\, there is a quickening\, a stirring. The womb\, or should we say the womb-of-origins\, churning as it awakens to bring forth the new. \nIt could be said that the stone woman in the middle of the night is a koan for winter—the bare trees\, the cold ground\, the seamless cover of snow. In life we have those barren times\, like a woman unable to bear a child\, to bring forth. Here is a koan for the dark of night\, without sight or knowing. And yet\, against all expectation that which is bare is full of life. There is a stone woman giving birth\, a quickening\, the aliveness made manifest. As there is a light inside the dark\, there is a spring in every winter. \nAlso\, I found this in Wendell Berry’s essay\, “A Native Hill.” It could easily serve as a reflection on the stone woman. Employing all the senses Berry finds his place in the pattern of things. \n“Perhaps then\, having heard that silence and seen that darkness\, he will grow humble before the place and begin to take it in—to learn from it what it is. As its sounds come into his hearing\, and its lights and colors come into his vision\, and its odors come into his nostrils\, then he may come into its presence as he never has before\, and he will arrive in his place and will want to remain. His life will grow out of the ground like the other lives of the place\, and take its place among them. He will be with them—neither ignorant of them\, nor indifferent to them\, nor against them—and so at last he will grow to be native–born. That is\, he must reenter the silence and the darkness\, and be born again.” \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-42/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/stonewoman.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250320T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250320T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250211T223210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250211T223210Z
UID:10001998-1742486400-1742491800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-43/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DPR-Headshot_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250306T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250306T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20250211T223317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250304T182918Z
UID:10001997-1741276800-1741282200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Loving Your Life
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nQuick\, don’t get ready!\n\n—Miscellaneous Koans \nLingyun was wandering in the mountains and became lost in his walking. He rounded a bend and saw peach blossoms on the other side of the valley. This sight awakened him and he wrote this poem: \nFor thirty years I searched for a master swordsman\,\nhow many times did the leaves fall\,\nand the branches burst into bud?\nBut from the moment I saw the peach blossoms\,\nI’ve had no doubts. \n—Miscellaneous Koans Case 37 \nLife Practice\nSpiritual practice/Zen practice is life practice\, a laboratory for paying attention to what arises in the day to day of our living. Your life is a gift. In welcoming the gift\, you participate in the great flux\, the endless changes that living brings. \nIt is uncertain how or where a gift might come. Arising from a source not known\, a gift is a surprise to the one who receives. The people you meet\, the opportunities that come as you arise from the unknown source. Surprise! Doors close\, other doors open. Who knew? At times when you are uncertain where to turn or what to do\, a path opens and you take the next step. \nIn meditation and with koans it is much like this. It is best to allow meditation to come to you\, you will meditate as you meditate. Too\, koans will come to you. No need to figure them out or explain them to yourself. What will come\, will come\, as you open to meditation\, koans and life. This life practice is simply to notice and pay attention to what arises here in this moment. \nThe bottom line? You are here. Your practice is to notice\, to pay attention. And what you notice is never what you expected. This gift of life\, from the moment you are born until you die\, is unexpected\, a surprise. \nAs you are opened by life’s surprises\, your heart will recognize something beyond surprise\, beyond imagining: you are not separate. Indeed you live\, breath and have your being in relationship to everything else. So\, one day Lingyun went out into the mountains\, losing his way. He rounded a corner and saw peach blossoms in full bloom across the valley. From that moment on he had no doubts. There was no one to harbor doubt. It was just this. He was awake. Who can prepare for that? So\, “Quick\, don’t get ready!” \nPaying Attention\nI remember time and again being called out by teachers in elementary school. They wrote notes home\, put it in their comments on my report cards\, “Does not pay attention in class.” There is a style of attention that is alert and focused\, the sort of attention that learns multiplication tables\, hears directions for the next assignment\, sticks to the task at hand. Yes\, and elementary school teachers like that sort of attention. However\, attention can go the other way. Alert\, yes\, and open\, casting a wide swath\, noticing connections and relationships as things arise\, including my place in the dance of things. \nIn her most famous poem\, Mary Oliver comes with big questions: \nWho made the world?\nWho made the swan\, and the black bear? \nOnly to be drawn out of speculation into life\, as it come to her in a grasshopper: \nThis grasshopper\, I mean —\nthe one who has flung herself out of the grass\,\nthe one who is eating sugar out of my hand\,\nwho is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —\nwho is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.\nNow she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.\nNow she snaps her wings open\, and floats away. \nShe brings it home confessing that she does not know much about much; prayer\, paying attention\, on how to be idle and blessed…the very actions that have made up her day: \nI don’t know exactly what a prayer is.\nI do know how to pay attention\, how to fall down\ninto the grass\, how to kneel down in the grass\,\nhow to be idle and blessed\, how to stroll through the fields\,\nwhich is what I have been doing all day. \nMy 6th grade self rejoices\, she does not know how to pay attention\, the attention that narrows and focuses. Instead\, outside of knowing\, her heart is blessed in its idleness\, receiving what comes. This is attention as well\, alert and open\, in connection with what comes (like meditation.) I believe we can call this love. \nLove your Life\nYou have heard it read at most every Christian wedding you have attended. First Corinthians 13\, wherein the writer\, Paul of Tarsus\, speaks of a most excellent way\, the way of love. I have paraphrased this passage a great deal to fit our context: \nLove is patient and kind. It does not envy\, it does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others\, is not self seeking\, nor is it easily angered. It keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not hold separate\, but opens to life as it comes. Love receives everything\, trusts\, and abides in all. \nSurely love can be our approach to one another\, but more broadly love is an approach to living\, welcoming and trusting what comes. Patient and kind\, love includes\, welcomes. Love will not boast—there is no thing to promote over anything else. It will not seek for self\, for in love there is no self to seek or grab hold of\, or add to what is here. Nor is love easily angered\, there is no thing to protect. We can appreciate life—no\, love life—all of it as it comes our way. That which a separate self might call “good” or “bad\,” all of it is included in our full lives\, endlessly changing and in flux. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-44/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/grasshopper500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250220T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250220T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241220T211834Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250217T182206Z
UID:10001968-1740067200-1740072600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Thursday Zen with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:David Parks is not teaching today\, but will return on March 6th. We hope you join us then!\n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response.  \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-40/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250206T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250206T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241220T211721Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250204T204208Z
UID:10001969-1738857600-1738863000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Withered Trees Come Into Flower
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nOne day Changsha went wandering in the mountains. When he returned\, the head of practice met him at the gate and asked\, “Where have you been?”\n“Wandering in the mountains.”\n“Where did you go?”\n“I went out following scented grasses and returned chasing falling blossoms.” “That’s so much the feeling of spring\,” said the head of practice.\n“Still\, it’s better than autumn dew dripping on lotus flowers\,” said Changsha. \nXuedou comments: “Thanks for your reply.” \n—Blue Cliff Record\, Case 36 \nBarefoot\, bare-chested\, he walks into town.\nDusty\, spattered with mud\, how broadly he grins!\nHe has no need of magic powers. Near him\nThe withered trees again come into flower. \n—Ox-Herding\, verse from Tenth Picture\, “Entering the Village with Gift Giving Hands\,” Lewis Hyde\, trans. \nOn Sunday\, the groundhog\, the proverbial groundhog\, Punxsutawney Pennsylvania’s claim to fame—call him Phil\, left his tree stump\, took a look around and saw his shadow. Through human handlers he proclaimed 6 more weeks of winter. That’s the ground hog’s take. On the other hand\, I awoke on February 2nd\, opened my eyes\, sniffed the air\, heard the bird song—I did not even search for my shadow. I knew the feel of spring. The feeling of an intimate aliveness as the air warms\, the crow caws\, the tiny buds on the peach tree emerge from the branch. And something awakes. Perhaps it is the springing of the heart\, heart’s opening to verdant hues. The old hymn comes to mind\, \nMorning has broken like the first morning\nBlackbird has spoken like the first bird\nPraise for the singing\, praise for the morning\nPraise for them springing fresh from the world \nThe feeling of spring. Awakening on Groundhog Day\, a veiled celebration of the Celtic celebration of Imbloc (the day halfway between winter equinox and spring solstice)\, I embrace the smell of the warming earth\, the blooming\, the budding\, the greening\, earth’s invitation\, a gateway into vitality\, diversity and blessing. Ah\, the feel of spring! A good day for a stroll into that feel\, into the liveliness of spring. \nOne day Changsha wakes up\, catches the feel of spring and goes a’wandering\, a’roving in the hills. His is an aimless gait\, a saunter\, with no destination nor purpose. He holds on to nothing at all. He is wandering. First here and then there. What is that lovely fragrance? And on the way back\, “Oh\, the flowers are falling in the apple orchard.” Having stepped off\, out of his sense of self\, Changsha steps fully into the hills and into life\, finding no distance between himself and his surroundings. Strolling\, in the wild\, budding\, blooming warmth of spring\, he is engaged with it all. In the words of another koan\, he has taken a step off the hundred foot pole and everything in every direction is his body! Everything. In. Every. Direction. Bees work the clover. The pear tree buds and blooms. All one body \nWe awaken in the budding\, the teeming\, the clustering of life. We can trust spring\, our trusting itself becoming that which we trust. No separation at all. We awaken to the warm body next to us as we garden\, frolic and work. No separation. We offer our love to the one we once called other. Why? Well\, could it be any other way? \nYes\, spring. This is good. Though I’d say not different but still better than the autumn dew falling on the lotuses or the bare branch cold against the winter sky. Spring\, the flowering of our awakening. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-39/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/apple500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250123T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250123T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241220T211603Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250121T204716Z
UID:10001970-1737648000-1737653400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Taking Care of the One Not Sick
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\n\n\nWhen Dongshan was not feeling well\, someone said\, “Teacher\, you are not feeling well. Is there anyone who doesn’t get sick?”\nDongshan said\, “Yes\, there is.”\n“Does the person who doesn’t get sick take care of you?”\nDongshan said\, “I have the opportunity to take care of the person.”\n“What happens when you take care of that person?”\nDongshan said\, “At that time\, I don’t see the sickness.” \n—Book of Serenity\, Case 94 \nI have been revisiting the shoulds of life. I should go see so and so\, call this person\, do this thing. The other day\, it was as simple as this: I should go feed the chickens and horses. What I have noticed is that the pay off for thinking should puts me farther away from the thing I should be doing. Oh\, I can feed the animals later\, or make that phone call tomorrow. \nThis works into my practice as well: I should meditate at least an hour a day. Even with my practice\, should leaves me an arm’s length away from my actual life. Should points to the life that stands apart from the life I am currently engaged in. \nShould binds me to the conventional\, what I believe my life should be\, what I believe others might want from me. With should\, I am a ghost living in a ghost world\, distant and far off. \nEven while his teacher is ill\, the student earnestly asks\, “Is there one who is not ill?” “Yes\,” he is told\, “there is.” Here\, the teacher points to that which in all of us is in accord with the Dao\, the vast interconnected nature of things. Conventionally\, we might think that this might have something for us\, something that can fix the dis-ease\, so with the student we might ask: “Does the person who doesn’t get sick take care of you?” That’s what we might think\, “Shouldn’t that person take care of you?” \nDongshan turns the whole conversation around at this point by saying\, “I have the opportunity to take care of the person.” This is an alternative to the convention that the well take care of the sick. One teaching upside down\, says Yunmen. As Dongshan turns things around\, I find myself leaving the shoulds of life and instead finding an opportunity\, as Dongshan puts it\, to be present to the moment\, the unfolding of the Dao\, here and now. This is before any sickness. Here\, in the midst of coughing and sputtering with RSV I can find no sickness\, no dis-ease. \n—David Parks \n\nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-38/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/stethescope500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250109T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250109T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241220T211446Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250107T230652Z
UID:10001971-1736438400-1736443800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Elemental Zen: Water
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nThis past weekend we here in Kentucky were visited by winter storm Blair. What can be politely called a wintry mix fell on Sunday and Monday here on Panola Ridge. You can say we were inundated with water in all its forms but steam. It began with a soft snow accumulating up to about 6 inches\, followed by an inch or two of sleet and freezing rain\, and then finishing off with another two inches of snow on Monday. \nThe weather changed how things are done around here. The animals were fed in the barn\, chainsaws were readied for falling trees\, and batteries were charged in the event of a prolonged power outage. What is the Scout’s motto? Be Prepared. This water all around\, falling out of the sky\, is all rather basic\, elemental. \nThe elements. Before the periodic table or quantum physics\, there were the elements. In the West\, four—water\, earth\, fire\, air. And in the East\, China adds one more—wood. Or if you are from Japan\, the void. Everything is made of these elements: the rain\, the snow—yes\, and also the grass\, the cattails that grow in my ponds—the fire in the fire pit\, wood and fire. \nYour body\, too\, is elemental. Your physical form is earth; your breath\, air; your body temperature\, fire. Sometimes we burn with passion. And water throughout—blood\, urine\, tears and yes\, sweat in the summertime. Your body is earth filled with water\, 60%. \nIt’s elementary\, Watson. All that we see\, touch\, taste\, the air we breathe is elemental. For the Chan/Zen ancestors viewed all that comes into form as a gate into the formless and unknown. When we look at the record that comes to us from their sayings and doings—koans—each of the elements makes a showing. \nWater: \n\nThis is the stone (earth) drenched with rain (water)…\nBeautiful snowflakes…\nKicks over the water pitcher…\n\nFire: \n\nExtinguish the fire across the river.\nThe fire at the end of the age…\nThe god beneath the hearth…\n\nEarth: \n\nI’ve built temples and monasteries. What merit?\nBuild me a seamless monument.\nThe stone woman gives birth in the night.\n\nAir: \n\nBe an ancient tree in a high wind.\nIt is not the wind that moves\, it is not the flag…\n\nWood: \n\nThe wooden man dances…\n\nOn Thursday evening\, we will begin an occasional series looking at the elemental images of the koans as gateways into the vastness. In honor of winter storm Blair\, we will begin with water and the koan: \nThis is the stone\nDrenched with rain\nThat points the Way.\n\n—Taneda Santoka \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-37/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/water2_500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241226T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241226T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241220T210944Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241220T210944Z
UID:10001963-1735228800-1735234200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:David Parks is not teaching today. Come join us next on January 9th! \n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-thursday-zen-with-david-parks-8/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241219T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241219T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241120T161752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241218T160954Z
UID:10001917-1734624000-1734629400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Don't Believe It! Solitary Brightness
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDon’t Believe It! Solitary Brightness \nLinji was a Chan (Zen) Master who lived in 9th Century China. He was known for his iconoclastic ways. His clear presentations of the dharma included anything\, even shouts and blows\, to loosen a person’s grip on things. All designed to open the heart to reality\, here and now. Of course\, he is the founder of one of the great schools of Zen: the Linji School\, or in Japanese: the Rinzai School\, with its emphasis on awakening and use of koans. Here is what might be described as Linji’s root teaching: \nWhatever confronts you\, don’t believe it. \nWhen something appears shine your light on it.\nHave confidence in the light that is always working inside you. \nWhatever Confronts You… \nThere is a vastness to my life\, to your life. This immensity extends beyond my ability to comprehend. It is before good and evil\, before birth and death. And it is home. There is consciousness before content\, life before the life we hold onto\, with which we find our separate identity. We all know this\, and we all have caught a glimpse as the sun sets\, the flower opens\, as we sit beside the bed of a sick friend. Within this vastness\, thoughts arise\, personalities arise\, things around us change—there is no-thing apart from the vast expanse of reality\, no change that is not a part of the whole. Yet\, when something comes\, in an effort to make sense of life\, we grab hold\, identify with it—reify it\, literally\, “make it into something.” For this reason Linji says… \nDon’t Believe It. \nAs thoughts are held\, they begin\, like newly poured concrete\, to set and harden. They become belief—about reality\, about ourselves in relationship to the vastness. We set ourselves up\, defining ourselves apart from the larger life\, a self separate from\, far away from\, home. \nSometimes we dare to cut into the mystery and proclaim to “know who we are.” Enter Linji—“If it pops up\,” he shouts\, “if a thought comes\, if it confronts you\, don’t believe it!” Wisely\, he admonishes us to eschew anything with which we might separate ourselves from life\, anything that might shrink our world. This is something we all confront. Human beings\, each one of us\, develops a personal reality filled with belief\, about ourselves\, about others\, and about the larger life\, the reality within which we swim. \nRecently\, I came face to face with one of my core beliefs: \nNo-one loves me. \nI am not sure where this thought first emerged\, not sure when I took hold. Perhaps as a child when I was chosen last for kickball. Or perhaps coming when I was being reprimanded by some adult for some action done or left undone. Or maybe\, or maybe\, or maybe…With this belief\, I learned that I could\, and needed to\, charm my way through my life; that I could work hard and earn folk’s love. Indeed\, work really hard and procure the love of God. As I carried this belief and worked to impress others\, to charm Reality itself\, I actually cut myself off from others and became less available\, not more; less vulnerable\, unapproachable. \nThis is how attachment to a core belief works\, causing Hakuin to write\, \nPeople miss what’s in front of them\nand go searching far from home.\nIt’s sad\, like someone standing in water\nand crying out in thirst\,\nor a child from a rich family\nstruggling among the poor. \nIt is this very sadness\, this loneliness\, that calls me to spiritual practice. \nWhen Something Appears Shine Your Light On It. \nHere is the heart of spiritual practice. Usually we don’t want to question our beliefs. We take them for reality—they are set hard in our lives\, the concrete upon which we stand. Because of our hard identification of ourselves with the contents of our consciousness\, we take these “things” to be our reality. We will fight and die for our perceptions of the world. For this reason we have a big “No Trespassing” sign on our beliefs — no one need question them\, least of all ourselves. We assume that if we question our beliefs the world as we know it might end (it will)\, and we live in fear of losing our identity. So\, to the no trespassing sign\, Linji’s teaching takes it the other way\, “Shine your light on it.” \nLinji also gave a koan that points to your light\, to my light. He calls it a solitary brightness. Here you go: \nThere is a solitary brightness without fixed shape or form. \nIt knows how to express the teachings and listen to the teachings.\nThat solitary brightness is you\, right here before my eyes. \nBefore there was belief\, before any self-image or identification\, there is a solitary brightness. A name for the vast reality of Life as-it-is\, is solitary brightness. This is your light\, you are that light. This is the light before you even gave a thought to yourself. This is the light that shines in all things—even your beliefs about things. This light of larger life\, is present. In practice\, we are present to this light. As things arise in this life\, as we are confronted with thoughts\, perceptions\, etc…they shine with this light. Perceiving this\, the bottom drops out of our identifications and are apprehended\, seized by the light. As Linji says\, “That solitary brightness is you.” \nFor me\, this meant holding this big sadness\, this no-one-loves-me-I-think-I’ll-eat-worms mind. It meant daring to trespass into the my self-imposed exile from reality and to live into a naked trust. For me this meant sobbing on my cushion\, it meant living within energies that seemed at times overwhelming. And yes\, the bottom drops out of all that\, as the doors never shut\, now beckon. Linji’s voice resounds\, “That solitary brightness is you.” \nAnd that is the last word\, that and\, “Always have confidence in that light which is working inside you.” \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-36/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/lantern500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241212T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241212T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241120T161315Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241209T180615Z
UID:10001916-1734019200-1734024600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Koan Leavening
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nQuickly\, before thinking good and evil\,\nwhat is your original face before your parents were born? \n—Huineng \nFor the last fifty years I have baked bread. By my mother’s side\, I learned to bake bread that looked less like a chemistry project when you read the label and more like food. Flour\, yeast\, water and salt—simple ingredients for the staple of life. Of these ingredients\, yeast is the catalyst. It brings about the transformation. \nThere is a parable that notices this: It is like the yeast a baker uses in making bread. Even though she puts only a little yeast in three measures of flour\, it permeates every part of the dough. Domesticated or wild\, it will bring about transformation. \nA few things about the yeast: \nIt is all around us. Yeast is in the air. I have a friend who visited us here in Kentucky and collected yeast at the Buffalo Trace Distillery by leaving a little flour out on the grounds of the distillery. The flour receives the yeast\, the whole loaf is transformed. \nIt is alive. \nYeast grows and as it does change happens. \nThe vast web of interconnection and change is without bounds. It reaches everywhere. The koans\, too\, are a part of this vastness\, inviting us in. The koans are alive. \nAs yeast joins the flour\, the bloom begins. When you receive a koan\, sometimes from a teacher or sometimes it just arrives\, you welcome the koan into your body\, heart\, and mind. You begin to see your complete life reflected in the koan. Things come alive. You come alive. Your life begins to foam and bloom. \nAs the koan holds you\, a dialogue of sorts will ensue around who you think you are and what you think life is. Perhaps the koan will show you how with your concepts\, ideas and beliefs\, you hold yourself apart your life\, from the vastness. Your relationship with a koan is personal\, vibrant and direct — it is for you alone. It will move with you\, live with you. You and all that you do is “in” the koan. \nAs you awaken to life apart from your image of self\, things shift. You find yourself in the transformation ongoing from moment to moment. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-35/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/dough500.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241128T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241128T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241029T194049Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241120T181729Z
UID:10001912-1732809600-1732815000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:David Parks is not teaching today. Come join us next on December 12th! \n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-thursday-zen-with-david-parks-7/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241114T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241114T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241029T193823Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241120T181805Z
UID:10001910-1731600000-1731605400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Falling Down\, Together
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nWhat is the way?\nThe clear-eyed person falls into a well.\n \n—PZI Miscellaneous Koans Case 74b \nLayman Pang and his daughter Lingzhao were selling bamboo baskets. Coming down off a bridge he stumbled and fell. When Lingzhao saw this she ran to her father’s side and threw herself on the ground.\n“What are you doing?” cried the Layman.\n“I saw Daddy fall down\, so I’m helping\,“ replied Lingzhao.\n“Luckily no one was looking\,“ remarked the Layman. \n—From the Recorded Sayings of Layman Pang \nThese two koans take us places—down\, down\, down the well; falling\, falling\, and then off the bridge; stumbling\, falling into a ditch. \nThere is a magic in the moment when we meet. In unadorned meeting\, life meets life. Lingzhao throws herself down to the ground with her father. She takes the “exquisite risk” to fall down too\, to be there in life apart from her beliefs\, ideas\, the need to justify herself as kind or helpful. \nMany of us sang this nursery rhyme in kindergarten: \nRing around the Rosie\,\nA pocket full of posies\,\nAshes! Ashes!\nWe all fall down. \nAnd that’s it: If we are all in for life\, we will fall. \nWhen I fall it is always a surprise. I step onto the front sidewalk on a winter’s day\, a fleeting thought as I tumble down: “Black ice.” After the crash landing I look up\, laughing out loud: “That’s not what I expected.” Or I can be working in the kitchen with a new friend\, our hands accidentally touch\, and I find I care for her deeply even though we just met. Falling onto the ground\, falling in love. We all fall down\, bidding adieu to the realm of the expected\, the life we thought we had. The world becomes new\, uncertain and unpredictable. \nFinding myself in this place\, often I will say to myself\, “This is not what I signed up for.” A friend dies and I wake up in grief. A relationship ends; I am no longer who I thought I was. Your child is born and you fall into something you could not know: fatherhood\, motherhood. A friend of mine sits on the porch watching the sun rise\, and her world pivots: all is new. We fall into grace. \nThe truth? It is never what we sign up for. Life is uncertain\, dark. Expectations fall away\, desires shed. We fall into not knowing. And this is it—the vastness\, grace\, love\, God—doesn’t matter what you call it. As Dylan sang\, “It’s life and life only.” \nTogether we rest in the Dao\, the continual unfolding\, the life that is always changing. With luck we fall down together and wake up. The universe calls roll. “Here!” we respond. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-34/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Rosie-500x320-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241031T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241031T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241029T163927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241120T181851Z
UID:10001896-1730390400-1730395800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:David Parks is not teaching today. Come join us next on November 14th! \n\nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-thursday-zen-with-david-parks-6/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241017T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241017T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241009T215939Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241016T180726Z
UID:10001889-1729180800-1729186200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Surfing the Seas\, Living Life As It Comes
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nI’ve Got a Plan \nIf an enlightened person draws out the plan for a prison on the ground\, why can’t they get out? \n—Xutang’s Three Questions\, Entangling Vines\, Case 143 \nAt sixty-nine years of age the National Institutes of Health considers me “young-old.” If I lived in Japan\, I’d be “pre-old\,” and LinkedIn considers me to be middle-aged until age seventy-five. What I know is that I have lived enough life to know that things do not go as planned. Almost never. \nFor instance\, say I decide to go to the store fifteen minutes before it closes: I set my GPS\, find the fastest route and set out. I should be able to get there in five minutes\, leaving me ten minutes to shop. That’s a plan. However\, as I am driving to the store I get stuck in traffic\, a semi has driven off the road and the police send me on a detour. I get a little lost and arrive at the store five minutes before closing. As I walk up to the door there is a handwritten sign saying they had to close early because the store owner had to attend to some urgent business at home. \n“… the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” \nThat one line is from a poem by Robert Burns. In it\, Burns tells the story of a mouse who prepares for winter by making a nest in a field. A farmer comes along and accidentally destroys it while plowing the field. The mouse scolds the farmer\, who apologizes by saying\, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Indeed. \nA plan is an attempt to project a desired outcome into an unknown and uncertain future. It doesn’t work out like that. Ask the municipal planner. Her nightmare is the water project outside of town that comes in two years late and fifty million over budget. Plans do not work out. \nWhen I hold fast\, white knuckled\, onto my plan and it doesn’t work out and I don’t let go of the plan\, it is like a prison. No longer am I responsible\, able to respond to life as it comes. I suffer as I perceive that life is not working out the way I want. \nWhy hold on to that fiction? \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-33-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Wave_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241003T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241003T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20241007T181433Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241007T181433Z
UID:10001888-1727971200-1727976600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:LINK COMING SOON \n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-33/2024-10-03/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DPR-Headshot_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240919T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240919T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20240913T002912Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241120T181820Z
UID:10001827-1726761600-1726767000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:NO THURSDAY ZEN TODAY \nDavid Parks Roshi will return on October 3rd. Please join us then! \nDon’t grab hold\, just allow the meditation to come to you. Same with koans\, they will come. It is like a dance\, a call and response. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-32-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240905T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240905T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T062844
CREATED:20240903T190558Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240903T190558Z
UID:10001826-1725552000-1725557400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Utterly Useless Stuff!
DESCRIPTION:Utterly Useless Stuff!\nA pebble striking bamboo. A deer calling from a nearby stream. A glimpse of a flower in the corner of your eye. A shout:  Ha! A sound\, a taste\, a touch\, a smell\, something that cuts through the personal identifications and attachments as the heart opens to “just this.” Linji employed the shout\, at times calling out “Thief.” Yunmen often used a one simple word response to students’ questions: sesame rice cake\, barrier\, dried shit stick. \nOver my month long hiatus from teaching\, Yunmen has been coming to me in meditation\, as I worked in the barns and pulled weeds in the garden.  Early in the month it was the longer koans\, but as the month progressed Yunmen’s one word responses came\, one after another. Soon Yunmen began to speak his simple responses as I moved through the my day\, meeting the occasion with a word:  Honeybee\, Orange\, Ironweed\, Goldenrod – each word a gateway\, an opening into being here without regret or complaint. Utterly useless stuff. \nYunmen goes to visit the old teacher Muzhou\, walking up to the door: \nThe moment Muzhou saw Yunmen approach\, he shut the door. Thereupon Yunmen knocked at the door\, and Muzhou asked\, “Who is it?”\nYunmen replied\, “It’s me!”\nMuzhou asked\, “What are you here for?”\nYunmen said\, “I am not yet clear about myself. Please\, Master\, give me guidance!”\nMuzhou opened the door\, cast one glance\, shut it again\, and withdrew.\nIn this manner Yunmen went to knock at the door on three consecutive days. On the third day\, when Muzhou set out to open the door\, Yunmen forced his way in. Muzhou seized him and said\, “Say it\, say it!”\nYunmen hesitated.\nMuzhou pushed him out\, saying\, “Utterly useless stuff.”\nThrough this Yunmen attained awakening. \nWhat is remarkable to me about this story\, is that Muzhou is in accord with the Dao as he meets the moment\, his interlocutor\, so that finally\, the third time is the charm. Yunmen wakes up. The beauty of Zen is that we are guided by thieves — those who would take away our ideas and conceptions about life\, our self-identification\, and throw us into the deep end of life that we might learn to swim. Anything else\, “Utterly useless stuff.” \nAwakening is nothing.  It is not a thing among other things\, things that can be called out and fixed and manipulated like cars or political campaigns.  Yunyan\, Dongshan’s teacher says it like this: as one moves step by step through life – each moment\, each meeting\, “just this is it.” Nothing stands apart from awakening. \nJoin us Thursday. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/thursday-zen-with-david-parks-32-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/junk_500W.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
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END:VCALENDAR