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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250320T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250320T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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:20260426T075935
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240829T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240829T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240708T194632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240708T222556Z
UID:10001807-1724947200-1724952600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Thursday Zen with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:NO THURSDAY ZEN TODAY \nDavid Parks is on break throughout August\, returning to Thursday Zen on September 5th. Come join us then! \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US at 4 pm on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation.\nRegister to participate. All are welcome. \n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-thursday-zen-with-david-parks-5/2024-08-29/
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:20240815T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240815T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240708T194632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240708T222556Z
UID:10001806-1723737600-1723743000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Thursday Zen with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:NO THURSDAY ZEN TODAY \nDavid Parks is on break throughout August\, returning to Thursday Zen on September 5th. Come join us then! \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US at 4 pm on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation.\nRegister to participate. All are welcome. \n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-thursday-zen-with-david-parks-5/2024-08-15/
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:20240801T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240801T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240708T194632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240708T222556Z
UID:10001805-1722528000-1722533400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Thursday Zen with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:NO THURSDAY ZEN TODAY \nDavid Parks is on break throughout August\, returning to Thursday Zen on September 5th. Come join us then! \n\n\n\n\n\n \n  \nCOME JOIN US at 4 pm on Thursdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation.\nRegister to participate. All are welcome. \n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\, Director of Bluegrass Zen \n\n\n\n 
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-thursday-zen-with-david-parks-5/2024-08-01/
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:20240725T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240725T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240712T180614Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240723T171845Z
UID:10001767-1721923200-1721928600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Dharma at the End of Summer
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\nSummer is more than halfway done. Already I am starting to grieve. Every year I look forward to the blueberries in May\, and then it is a joy to greet ripe blackberries towards the end of June. Now\, the blackberries are finished and the blueberries are only a memory. Now we are picking tomatoes and cantaloupes. Our summer garden is soon done. When I look at the trees\, they seem tired\, the pawpaw already dropping its leaves. Now just half way through\, Genevieve said to me last night\, “It is beginning to feel like fall\,” as the cooling wind blew our faces.  \nDongshan’s big question as he practiced under Nanquan was whether inanimate objects preach the dharma or not. Well\, yes\, rocks and sticks\, and pawpaws and blueberries\, too; tomatoes and cantaloupes and peppers\, all preach\, practice the dharma\, and accompany us on the Way. So\, the end of the summer practice period is in the air. \nSummer is a time for practice. Just as Pacific Zen Institute gathered in retreat in June and Bluegrass Zen went on retreat in early July\, the monks of Tang Dynasty gathered in monasteries all summer to practice the Way. That’s what we have been doing\, all summer we bodhisattvas have practiced the Way of the Open Heart in person and in the online practice of the PZI Open Temple. Now\, it’s in the wind\, in the whitening leaves – the summer practice is winding down.  \nThis brings me to today’s koan\, from the Blue Cliff Record\, Case 8. It was at the end of a summer practice period that Cuiyang (Kingfisher-Cliff Mountain) engaged his dharma brothers\, Baofu (Prosper-Nurture Mountain) Changqing and Yunmen (Cloud-Gate Mountain) in a conversation. Here is a mash up of the koan using David Hinton’s translation and others: \nInstructing the assembled sangha at the end of summer session\, Kingfisher-Cliff Mountain said: “I’ve been here all summer for you\, my friends. I’ve talked and talked. Now\, look closely at this Kingfisher-Cliff: Did my eyebrows fall out?”\n“It takes an empty mind to be a thief\,” observed Prosper-Nurture Mountain.\n“Revealed\,” quipped Reward-Perpetua Mountain.\n“Barrier\,” declared Cloud-Gate Mountain. \nThis is an interesting koan. First\, about those eyebrows: there is a Chinese folk tale that says when someone distorts the dharma their eyebrows fall out\, and as they communicate with wisdom and insight they grow. Is Cuiyan really concerned? And Cuiyan’s dharma brothers\, what of them as they make their response? “Barrier!” called out Yunmen. \nI think of the ways I check myself as I approach the end of something\, a season\, a relationship\, the ways that I evaluate as good or bad\, my behavior\, actions\, thoughts\, feelings. Is this what Kingfisher-Cliff Mountain is up to? Here he is with his dharma siblings\, all students of Xuefeng and all renowned Chan Masters. Is he checking himself\, calling himself out as wrong? Or are the four of them having what we might call a good time? But mostly\, I just can’t get over Kingfisher Cliff and those eye brows\, him sticking his face out\, asking everyone to look\, “Now\, look closely at this Kingfisher-Cliff: Did my eyebrows fall out?” Which face do they see? Do you remember this koan\, also from the Blue Cliff\, Zhaozhou’s Stone Bridge: \nA monk said to Visitation-Land: “I’ve long heard talk about how Visitation-Land is a stone bridge. But now I’ve come\, all I see is a little plank.”\n“Well\, if all you see is a little plank\,” replied Land\, “Of course you don’t see a stone bridge.”\n“What is this stone bridge?” asked the monk.\n“Mules cross-beyond over it. Horses cross-beyond over it.” \nLet’s get together on Thursday and have a conversation about Kingfisher-Cliff Mountain and his eyebrows at the end of the summer practice period. \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-31-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/fruit-on-ground.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240711T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240711T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240708T185658Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240920T011350Z
UID:10001766-1720713600-1720719000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Bathing in the Mountain Forest
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\n\nIn the old days there were sixteen bodhisattvas. When it was time to bathe they got into the bath together. They suddenly realized the cause of water and said\, “This subtle touch releases the brightness. We have become the sons and daughters of the Buddha.” \n—Blue Cliff Record\, Case 78 \nLast week\, Bluegrass Zen made a trip into the Eastern Kentucky Mountains for a summer retreat. We were fifteen bodhisattvas\, who over five days—waking\, sleeping\, eating\, walking—meditated and practiced with koans. We were joined by a canine companion\, Shadow\, and accompanied by sweet mountain birds\, who sang us to and to the meditation hall every morning and evening. Their song resounded throughout the mountain forest. \nOne day a fierce storm bore down: lightening flashing\, wind blowing\, and thunder rolling. Birds\, storms\, songs\, walks up steep mountain hillsides\, breath heaving and heart beating along with the songs and storms alive in our hearts. We welcomed the fullness of what it is to be alive. \nIn the words of Thursday’s koan\, we got into the bath together immersing ourselves in the fullness of abundant life. \nComplete and full immersion in what life might bring\, beyond good and bad\, reveals the light that shines in all things. That is what we’ll be exploring on Thursday. \nJoin us. \n\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-31-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/bathers.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240627T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240627T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240621T190430Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240625T170415Z
UID:10001737-1719504000-1719509400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: What Is It You Lack?
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nIt is said that we mingle eyebrows with the ancestors. Yep\, that can happen. In fact\, sitting down in the basement\, up pop two such ancestors\, Linji and Zhaozhou\, their words echoing across mountains and hills. \nOnce\, when addressing the assembly\, Linji posed an interesting question. He brought up the topic of lack\, that fear of missing out\, of being somehow deficient in body\, mind\, and spirit in the ability to love or be loved\, in not having enough money\, or not being wise enough. What do you lack? Speaking the word “lack\,” Linji conjures up a world of hurt as you put your lack between yourself and the simplicity of being here. \nIn your life right now\, what is it you lack\, what is it that practice must mend?  \nThis from Linji reminded me of Zhaozhou. Once\, a student thinking that they were somehow left out\, came looking for the true Dharmakaya\, the body of reality\, that which might put their mind to rest. That’s what you do when you think there is something to get\, something that you don’t have: you go looking. The student ends up at Zhaozhou’s place and asks: \nWhat is the true Dharmakaya of the Buddha? \nI love Zhaozhou’s response. He puts the student right back on themselves—their dissatisfaction\, their suffering\, their lack.  \nHe answered\, Is there anything else you don’t like?  \nDislike and lack. When this happens to me\, I dislike the feeling of lack. What is it called? Sometimes it is FOMO\, the fear of missing out. Like a wallflower at the dance\, I feel life is going on around me and I am not included. Ouch. \nWhen Zhaozhou and Linji actually met\, way back in the day\, Zhaozhou\, on pilgrimage\, was not quite as clueless as Linji’s assembly. Zhaozhou came upon Linji\, just as he was washing his feet. In Entangling Vines Case 207\, we eavesdrop on the meeting of two worthies. This is how it went: \n Zhaozhou asked\, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?”\n“Right now I happen to be washing my feet\,” replied Linji.\nZhaozhou came closer and made a show of listening.\nLinji said\, “Do I have to toss out a second ladleful of dirty water?!”\nZhaozhou departed. \nLooks like a meeting to me. A moment in and outside of time where nothing is missing\, no lack. The sound of water running into the basin\, a tilting of the head\, a cocking the ear to listen\, and then a quick upside-down appreciation. I’d leave\, too. There is nothing to get here. Nothing else to do. \nJoin us Thursday. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-30-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/empty-bowl-.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240613T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240613T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240603T212540Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240627T215448Z
UID:10001736-1718294400-1718299800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Mujaku and Her Bucket
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\nLast week we sat with the young widow\, Mujaku. Inconsolable at the age of 32\, she becomes a nun and begins her practice with her teacher\, asking\, “What is Zen?” He responds\, “The heart of the one who asks is Zen\, you can’t get it from someone else’s words.”  \nAs they are talking\, a deer calls out from a nearby stream. Mujaku perceives the intimacy of this call\, sensing it deeply in her own heart. Later\, as she is filling her bucket down by the same stream\, a poem comes to her.  \nThe bucket catches the stream\,\nthe pure moon through the pines\nappears in the water. \nWhen her teacher Bukko sees the poem\, he gives it a glance and says\, “Take the Heart Sutra and go.” Here is an invitation for Mujaku to deepen her practice in an exploration of the inner depths of her heart\, to undertake the solitary pilgrimage through the Dragon’s Gate into reality’s vast sea. Traversing this path with Bukko\, she is moved to write a second poem: \nThe bottom fell out of my bucket;\nnow there is no water and no moon. \nThis week we will continue our journey with Mujaku and Her Bucket. \nJoin us. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-30-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/woman-and-bucket-2.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240530T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240530T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240520T171434Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240529T020752Z
UID:10001716-1717084800-1717090200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Searching for the Sacred Bones
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\n\nDaowu and Jianyuan Make a Condolence Call \nDaowu and Jianyuan went to a house to offer condolences.\nJianyuan struck the coffin with his hand and asked\, “Alive or dead?”\nDaowu said\, “I’m not saying alive\, I’m not saying dead.”\nJianyuan asked\, “Why won’t you say?”\nDaowu said\, “I’m not saying! I’m not saying!”\nOn the way home Jianyuan stopped in the middle of the road and demanded\, “Tell me right now\, Teacher. If you don’t say\, I’m going to hit you and leave.”\nDaowu said\, “You can hit me\, but even if you do\, I still won’t say.”\nJianyuan hit him. \nAfter Daowu died\, Jianyuan went to Shishuang and told him the story.\nShishuang said\, “I’m not saying alive\, I’m not saying dead.”\nJianyuan asked\, “Why won’t you say?”\nShishuang said\, “I’m not saying! I’m not saying!”\nAt these words\, Jianyuan had an insight. \nOne day Jianyuan took a spade and went into the teaching hall.\nFrom the east he crossed to the west\, and from the west he crossed to the east.\n“What are you doing?” asked Shishuang.\nJianyuan said\, “I’m searching for our old teacher’s sacred bones.”\nShishuang said\, “Floods reach the horizon\, whitecaps drown the sky. What sort of teacher’s sacred bones are you looking for?” \n(Xuedou comments: “Blue heavens\, Blue heavens!”) \nJianyuan said\, “This is really good; it makes me strong.” \nLater\, Fu of Taiyuan said\, “Our teacher’s sacred bones are still here.” \nToday is a beautiful day in Central Kentucky. The temperature is about 75 degrees and the humidity has lifted. Days like this will capture you. Out walking the dogs through the fields you are drawn further with each step. As you walk by the wild blackberries\, you notice small hard green berries on the branch\, promising juicy goodness in a few weeks. Your hike takes you up a hill to the top of the property. You hear turkeys in the woods and look up at the hawks riding thermals. \nDays like this will capture you with their beauty\, but more just by their feel. Pausing for a moment: It is good to be alive. Just as you find yourself awash in the day\, the small dog at your feet shoves her nose in a tuft of grass and pulls out a baby rabbit. She shakes it and snaps its neck. You recall the two crows and the frog\, old Dongshan’s\, “For your benefit.” It is good to be alive and this is part of it. \nA day will capture you. A koan will capture you\, will insert a pause. That is the way it was for me this week with Daowu and Jianyun’s “Condolence Call.” I am looking for koans with gardening implements and stumbled upon this one\, complete with a shovel\, and a shovel ritual: the student in the dharma hall carries the shovel west to east\, east to west. Good enough on the tools\, but for this student the desperation of his life and practice is decades long. \nAs I read through the koan it takes me back to my early days with PZI \, encountering this koan in real life. I was on retreat in the redwoods of Sonoma County when I received a call informing me that a parishioner had died. I got into my car for the trip into town. Arriving a the home\, the dialogue was internal\, “Alive ordeaad?” I can’t say\, I can’t say. Even now\, I cannot. \n\n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-29-4/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/oldTeachersBonesCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240516T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240516T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240506T175151Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240516T175211Z
UID:10001715-1715875200-1715880600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN with David Parks: Garden with No Path and No Borders
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA student asked Jiashan\, “What if you sweep away the dust and see the Buddha?” Jiashan said\, “You have to wield your sword. If you don’t\, you’ll be like a fisherman stuck in a tangle of reeds\, unable to catch a single fish.” \nThe student then asked Shishuang\, “What if you sweep away the dust and see the Buddha?” Shishuang said\, “The Buddha has no country. Where will you meet her?” \nThe student reported this to Jiashan. Jiashan stepped up to the rostrum and said\, “As far as gardening tools go\, Shishuang is inferior to me\, but for discourse on the deepest reality\, he’s a hundred steps ahead of me.” \n—Book of Serenity Case 68 \nIn the koan I hear echoes of the poetic duel between Huineng and the head monk of 5th ancestor Homgren’s monastery—the winner was to become the 6th ancestor. The head monk posts this poem: \nThe body is the Bodhi-tree\nThe mind is a bright mirror on a stand\nClean it carefully\, moment by moment\nAnd let no dust alight. \nNo other monk dares compete with the head monk. Huineng\, a rice pounder in the kitchen\, cannot read and hears someone reciting the head monk’s poem. He asks them to write a verse on the wall\, next to the head monk’s: \nBodhi really has no tree\nNor is the bright mirror a stand\nOriginally there is no thing.\nSo where can the dust collect?  \nHomgren\, hearing Huineng’s verse\, passes the robe and bowl to Huineng. \nIn our koan a student is shopping their question around to Jiashan and Shishuang. “What if you sweep away the dust and see the Buddha?” they ask. “What if\, through practice\, I have a deep awakening?” \nJiashan\, echoing Linji and Wumen\, suggests the student wield the sword to cut away the delusion of attainment. Sounds a bit like the head monk’s “Clean it carefully\, moment by moment.” When Shishuang says\, “The Buddha has no country. Where will you meet her?” It sounds like Huineng’s “Originally there is no thing.” \nWhen practicing with my first koan\, “NO\,” I did my best to follow Wumen’s instructions: “Exhaust all your life energy on this one word\, NO.” I put great energy into NO\, an effort beyond what I thought possible. \nI remember tending the sweet potatoes last year. At first it was a huge effort keeping ahead of the weeds. Then the sweet potato vines blocked out the weeds—they took care of themselves until harvest: thirty pounds from five plants. \nA dog\, Buddha-nature—the whole\nkit-and-caboodle revealed in a flash.  \n—Wumen’s Verse on the Koan NO (transl. David Hinton) \nI expended effort on NO until I allowed the koan to care for itself. With that\, the whole kit-and-caboodle was revealed in a flash. These garden tools\, this great effort are helpful and not a bad thing. And yet. \nGathering in Santa Rosa in the time before the pandemic\, in some sort of workshop gathering—I don’t remember the koan or the purpose of our gathering\, but I remember this thought\, like a revelation: “I am interested in a Christianity without belief.” Thirty plus years in the Christian ministry and it had come to this. That was then. Now I might say it like this: “There is nothing to hold onto\, no belief\, no technique\, no savior\, no guru—nothing.” \nI like this from Japanese poet\, Matsuo Basho: \nThe temple bell\nstops ringing —\nbut the sound keeps coming\nout of the flowers. \nBuddha has no country. Where will you meet her? \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-29-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Rice-fields_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240502T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240502T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240423T231759Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240430T004741Z
UID:10001714-1714665600-1714671000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN: Hoisting the Sail with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nThursday Zen with David Parks\n—Hoisting the Sail\n\nIn recent weeks Bluegrass Zen has taken up koans about crossing over to the distant shore\, the transition of perspective from a life lived in support and defense of self-image to a life lived awake\, alert and alive to what is. \nFirst was an encounter with a koan from the Rinzai curriculum: \nA student asked Yantou\, “How about when the old sail has yet to be hoisted?”\nYantou replied\, “A small fish swallows a big fish.”\nThe student said\, “How about after it’s been hoisted?”\nYantou said\, “A donkey grazes in the back garden.” \n—Entangling Vines Case 61 \nWhat is our experience with reality before and after the sail is hoisted\, before and after awakening? With this koan we hear echoes of Yunmen’s “Every day is a good day\,” and we remember Yantou\, who during the repression of Chan during the Tang dynasty\, took the symbolic role of ferryman taking folks “over to the other side\,” continuing his role as master while keeping a low profile. \nThis reminds me of those other incognito masters in koanworld\, the tea ladies—just ask Deshan or Zhaozhou. \nWith the next koan we enter the land of demons: your boat\, your life\, your practice\, is blown off course by the fierce winds of difficult circumstances. Your responses to life when things are not going your way can enter the realm of demons\, a sort of possession taken up to defend self image\, a preferred notion of self and world gets held up in the face of reality. This is the edge of practice\, what you have to work with as you make your way. \nA state minister asked a teacher\, “What is meant by\, ‘Because of unfortunate circumstances\,\nfierce winds blew the ship off course and set it drifting toward the land of the flesh-eating demons?’” \nThe master replied\, “Minister\, why are you so ignorant? Why are you asking about that?”\nThe minister’s face turned white. \nAnd the master said\, “Because of unfortunate circumstances\,\nfierce winds blew them off course and set them adrift toward the land of the flesh-eating demons.”\nAnd the minister understood. \n—Entangling Vines Case 42 \nLike the minister\, this we understand. We all know that place\, the land of the flesh-eating\, all-consuming demons. \nMaybe the sail is hard to hoist or perhaps the winds are just too fierce\, with flesh-eating demons on the horizon. There is no advance and the progress you have always pursued in practice is unattainable. Maybe you have given up. You cannot find hope. \nWhen Hakuin Ekaku heard the story of Yantou and his great scream while suffering a bloody death at the hands of bandits\, he entered such a place of no hope. At its dawning\, this great doubt permeates our whole lives. Perhaps now is the time to forgo our practice? Great horse master Mazu might suggest another way as we take a step away from self. \nWe’ll take up his koan on Thursday: \nTo advance from where you can no longer advance and to do what can no longer be done\,\nyou must make yourself into a raft or ferryboat for others. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-29-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Hoisting-the-Sail_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240418T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240418T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240411T011114Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240417T231104Z
UID:10001697-1713456000-1713461400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN: Little Fish Eat Big Fish with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA student asked Yantou\, “How about when the old sail has yet to be hoisted?\nYantou replied\, “A small fish swallows a big fish.”\nThe student said\, “How about after it’s been hoisted?”\nYantou said\, “A donkey grazes in the back garden.” \n—Entangling Vines Case 61\, The Sail Has Yet To Be Hoisted \nLately I have been sitting with koans from the Japanese Rinzai collection\, Entangling Vines. In Case 61 a student comes to Yantou asking about enlightenment\, before and after. I find Yantou’s answers particularly interesting—I hear echoes of Yunmen when he was asked about the nature of things: \nThen the student asked Yunmen\,\n“But when it’s not the things I can see\, and it’s not what they’re doing\, what is it?”\n“Say it upside down.”  \nYantou talks about enlightenment turning the tables\, moving into the impossible—it is not what you think—the little fish eats the big fish. He turns it over\, inverts meaning and says it upside down. Linji might say to him\, were he there\, “Thief\, thief!” or\, “He brandishes the sword that kills.” \nI think of my preconceptions about life: It is supposed to be like this: Big fish eat little fish\, you do things in this order\, when they act like that\, it means this. I come with concepts about the world that close off reality\, labeling things possible or impossible\, good or bad. \nThe little fish gobble up my big ideas and sweep them away. Thief\, thief! \nWhen we see it upside down we allow life to be what it is: the bird singing its morning song\, me waking to the dog licking my face. A donkey grazes in the back garden. That is just what a donkey will do. The chicken pecks at the grain. Who are you after all ideas have been taken away? \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-28-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/redbeanfish_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240404T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240404T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240327T020858Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240403T233849Z
UID:10001696-1712246400-1712251800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN: Life Meets Life with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nMaster Rock-Frost said\, \nOn top of the dharma-talk flagpole\, a thousand feet up\,\nhow do you step out beyond? \nAn old master of mirror-sight clarity said\, \n“If you sit grounded in meditation atop the dharma-talk flagpole\,\nyou’ve begun. But it’s far from clarity absolute. A thousand feet\nup on that flagpole\, at the top\, step out beyond—then you’ll see\nthese ten distances of time and space reveal your very self entire. \n—Life Meets Life\, No-Gate Gateway\, Case 46 (transl. David Hinton) \nAs many of you know\, I live on a farm in central Kentucky: sixty acres\, nine chickens\, three dogs and two horses. Lots of life—many beings\, quite a sangha. We live together\, and ever the bodhisattva\, I care for them\, blessing their lives as I can. \nI love my morning routine: \nGet up\, drink coffee.\nPull on the work clothes.\nFirst the chickens: I come to their gate\, they know me\,\nswarm around my feet as we go to the food.\nI throw out the feed; they cackle and eat.\nI notice what they like. \nI tramp across the dew covered grass to the horse barn. They are out in the paddock; I come to the fence to give them feed. Ruby comes the fence\, I lean in\, she smells me\, her warm breath on my arm—call and response. I place my hand on her neck\, she puts her head over the fence and then over my shoulder. \nI notice some dried mud on her coat\,  get into the paddock and begin to brush her. She leans into the brush\, into my body. That is how it goes for awhile; the horses are fed and loved and then I go to the small zendo in my basement and meditate with a koan\, sitting still in the morning air\, with David. \nThis is how it is with practice. How do you meditate? I don’t know how to tell you to meditate. Don’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. Life meets life. \n\n\nRoad of Compassion \nAs you know\, recently I stayed in the hospital for a total of five days receiving a pacemaker before I could be discharged. My time in the hospital and reaction to my illness is interesting for me. As I walked through the sliding doors of the hospital I can say now that I was actively engaged in a personal strategy to not engage with what was happening to me. When the ER doc told me that I’d be admitted\, my reaction was one of incredulity: “You are kidding me.” “Nope\,” was the reply\, “we have a place for you in the ICU. You’ll be getting a pacemaker on Monday.” \n\nIn the ICU\, while glad I was being watched\, I played some of the same games\, avoiding what was happening. That night my heartbeat went down to twenty-one bpm\, causing the nurse tending my needs to administer a drug to speed up the beat. I fell asleep to awaken anxious and afraid two hours later. “This is real\, the life you are having.” There was no drug this time. Instead\, the nurse talked with me a bit and I was able to meet the life I was having. It was like I had jumped into my body. \nLater\, my cardiologist let me know that I might have died that night. Here it was\, the question of life and death and here I was meeting it on the 3rd floor of St. Joseph’s East Hospital. \n\nOn Being All In \n\nThe first step for the bodhisattva on the road of compassion seems to be to have compassion for oneself\, a life lived in a body\, inside the question of living\, acknowledging the intimacy of life’s big question\, one’s personal living and dying. \n\n\nLike Alice as she falls down the rabbit hole\, picking things off the shelf as she falls\, we meet the circumstances of life\, responding to each in turn. After all\, our lives are in free fall. We don’t know what we will meet next. This free fall is ultimately mysterious our intimacy with our lives coming as we meet each moment\, as life meets life. \nAtop the pole\, we are not all in. We are in according to our terms. To step off the pole is the embrace this life that is mystery to us\, that is always coming to us. It is to embrace this life that has already embraced us and which finally cannot be avoided. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-28-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Gateway-to-the-Farm.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240321T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240321T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240312T204551Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240318T200146Z
UID:10001679-1711036800-1711042200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN: Postcard from the Garden of the Heart with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\n\n\nThere is another world and it is inside this one. \n—A modern koan attributed to French surrealist poet Paul Eluard \nIn my last newsletter before going to the hospital with an exceedingly slow heartbeat\, my piece on koans was entitled\, Where Beauty Blooms and Demons Dwell: Uncovering the Garden of the Heart.  \nLittle did I know that that was exactly where I was heading. To be clear: the garden of the heart in not other than my life\, this life\, here and now. There are angels and demons\, beauty and that which I might not consider so beautiful. It is all here\, wherever we are in life. As we let down our armor and become vulnerable\, the encounter is whole: the vitality of life and transformation in all its forms. \nOn Thursday\, I’ll share with you what I discovered on this journey which includes a heartbeat below twenty-five beats per minute\, demons and angels encountered along the way\, culminating with the insertion of my small robot friend (pacemaker) last week. I think that makes me a cyborg\, just to say. I hope to tell you all about the change of heart\, physical and metaphorical\, that I observed in this one world of beauty blooming amongst demon dwellings. \nBy the second day in the hospital\, I began to see it as its own world and the world outside my window as a bit of a rumor. I was on the third floor and the portal into this rumored world was downstairs in the space marked “LL” on the elevator button. \nMy life was here\, now\, in “hospital world.” I shared this world with angels (mostly nurses) and demons (excepting the kitchen demons who kept bringing me beef\, pork and lamb\, despite my allergy to red meat). The angels were named Nadine\, Sean and Muwada; the demons\, who seemed to be in charge of a few things\, were Anxiety\, Fear\, and its near cousin\, Grave Doubt. Also\, Sadness appearing out of love of life\, and finally Denial\, whose message is\, “This is not happening.” \nThe angels taught me how to deal with the demons—facing and accepting them rather than making them into enemies—including the kitchen demons: me laughing\, as they served up a pile of pulled pork with a side of pork and beans\, asking them to take it away. Behind it all are the endless changes. \nI learned the portal swings both ways and there are not two worlds but one. I am still feeling vulnerable. Now with the surgery a week out\, I am beginning to sit dokusan with some of you. Here I discover the empathy at the heart of our practice together. I notice that the Dao\, you might call it Love\, shows the way. Our’s is an open-hearted Way. Let’s meet there. \nLove\, \nDavid \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-27-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Heartbinders_CALENDAR_500x375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240307T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240307T173000
DTSTAMP:20260426T075935
CREATED:20240228T174444Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240306T184913Z
UID:10001678-1709827200-1709832600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:THURSDAY ZEN: Beauty Blooms & Demons Dwell in the Garden of the Heart with David Parks
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFor ten years at sea\, I have sought my enemy; until I find my enemy I cannot rest. \nBlossoming peony flowers\, like bodhisattva’s faces;\nscattered palm fronds\, like demons’ heads. \n—Gushan Shigui’s Gatha\, Entangling Vines Case 56 \nQuickly\, before thinking good and evil\,\nwhat is your original face before your parents were born? \n—Huineng\, Gateless Gate Case 23 \nThe coin lost in the river is found in the river. \n—Yunmen\, Miscellaneous Koans Case 64 \nDoes this life make any sense? Sometimes things go my way\, sometimes not. I find myself adrift in preferences\, my likes and dislikes. I’ll grasp the pleasant or the positive; ignoring\, denying\, even throwing out the possibility that things can go another way. I’ll look for the peonies of late spring\, turning a blind eye to scattered palm fronds browning and rotting in the summer sun. \nI set forth seeking angel atoll\, only to we swept off to the land of the rakshasas.  \n—Demons\, Entangling Vines Case 39 \nThere are parts of myself I would avoid. There are demons I would cast out. Here come the slings and arrows: to prefer some experiences over others is to suffer. “There must be some way out of here\, said the Joker to the Thief.” (Bob Dylan\, All Along the Watchtower). One of our PZI Miscellaneous Koans says\, “Things are not as they seem\, nor are they otherwise.” The way out? To fully enter this one life embracing what is here\, now. \nGushan Shigui taught in the 11th century. The Chinese characters that Thomas Kirchner translates as “enemy” can also be translated as “lover.” Enemy\, lover. Lover\, enemy. Heads\, tails. In this time of fervent ideologies and making enemies\, in not clinging to judgments my preferences are thrown over. It is one coin after all. \nAs I move towards what I might avoid or seek to destroy\, I move towards integration\, towards accepting life as it comes\, nothing left out. \nJoin us on Thursday. \n—David Parks \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Parks Roshi\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-27-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Blooms-Demons_500X375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Parks Roshi":MAILTO:dparksbluegrasszen@gmail.com
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