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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230926T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230926T193000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230912T175940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230924T191000Z
UID:10001473-1695751200-1695756600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:TUESDAY ZEN: Wasting Time – with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nShitou came upon Yaoshan meditating and asked him\, “What are you doing?”\nYaoshan said\, “I am not doing anything.”\nShitou asked\, “Why are you sitting here wasting time?”\nYaoshan replied\, “If I was wasting time\, that would be doing something.”\nShitou asked\, “What is this ‘doing nothing’ that you are talking about?”\nYaoshan replied\, “Not even the ten thousand sages know.” \nI often feel like I’m a sloth. They move slowly traveling an average of forty yards a day and snooze about fifteen hours a day. They spend a majority of time in the canopy of trees\, coming down only once a week to relieve themselves … that sounds good\, no waking up multiple times a night. They spend most of their lives hanging upside-down— eating\, sleeping\, and even giving birth. Their curved claws allow them to hang from branches effortlessly. Sometimes they continue hanging from a branch even after they have died. I was surprised and happy to find that sloths are excellent swimmers\, which is another way I feel connected to them. \nWe have an online retreat beginning this week. There are all kinds of activities that go on during a retreat. Meditating\, eating\, sleeping\, having conversations about practice\, going for walks\, and deepening connections with friends. And yet\, it feels very much like what Yaoshan was talking about when he said he was doing nothing. \nThat effortless way sloths hang from branches is like the effortless way my meditation practice keeps me company\, especially when I’m doing not-doing anything. Just hanging around with a koan. \n—David Weinstein \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US us on Tuesdays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \nDavid Weinstein Roshi\, Director of Rockridge Meditation Community \n  \n\n 
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/tuesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-4/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wastingTimeCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230919T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230919T193000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230915T170840Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230916T115441Z
UID:10001472-1695146400-1695151800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:TUESDAY ZEN: Who Has Bound You? with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA monk asked\, “What is liberation?”\nShitou said\, “Who has bound you?”\nAnother monk asked\, “What is the Pure Land?”\nShitou said\, “Who has polluted you?”\nAnother monk asked\, “What is nirvana?”\nShitou said\, “Who has given you birth and death?” \nAs we’ve been spending time with Shitou this week and last\, I’ve been struck by a couple of things. First\, the way he sounds Jewish to me. Asking all those questions\, “What makes you think you have lost it?”; “Why are you asking me?”; and then all these questions about “Who has … ?”—I can hear him speaking with a Yiddish accent\, saying\, “Nu\, who’s bound you?” \nI was raised Jewish and have wondered if that is connected to the way my mind generates so many questions. My parents told me that my first words were “wat dat?”  \nThe Jewish tradition has been about asking questions from the beginning. Abraham asking God questions about his desire to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah as he attempted to persuade God not to do it. I can feel a resonance with the Chan spirit of inquiry and questioning of koan practice. I also like the idea of being able to argue with God. In the Jewish tradition some of the highest praise you can receive is to hear someone say to you\, “That’s a good question.” \nThe second thing I was struck by was the way I found Shitou sounding like Socrates—that Socratic method of asking questions in response to questions\, as a way of directing the questioner back to themselves for the answer. The method of answering questions with questions\, in order to let the questioner realize that they can find the answer that was in them all along is called maieutics. It comes from the Greek word that means “to give birth.” \nAgain\, I’m reminded of koan practice. Appreciating that Socrates was practicing his questioning inquiry style of teaching a thousand years before Shitou. Awakening has no time or country. \nWhat does this conversation with Shitou stir up for you? What resonates in your life? \nGo ahead\, you can’t be wrong. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David Weinstein\, Director of Rockridge Meditation Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/tuesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-6/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bound-ropeCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230912T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230912T193000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230908T211910Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230908T231941Z
UID:10001471-1694541600-1694547000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:TUESDAY ZEN: I Don't Understand – with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nNEW DAY & TIME: TUESDAYS\, 6–7:30 PM Pacific Time \n\nA student asked\, ‘What is the meaning of the coming from the west?”\nShitou answered\, “Go and ask a stone pillar.” \nThe student said\, “I’m only a student\, I don’t understand.” \nShitou said\, “I don’t either.” \nI’m with Shitou\, I don’t understand either. Another koan comes to mind. That koan invites me to hide in a stone pillar. But I still don’t understand. Do you? \n—David Weinstein \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David Weinstein\, Director of Rockridge Meditation Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/tuesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/David-W_500X375.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230905T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230905T193000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230828T210338Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230904T021549Z
UID:10001462-1693936800-1693942200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:NEW DAY– TUESDAY ZEN: What's Lost? with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nNEW DAY & TIME: TUESDAYS\, 6–7:30 PM Pacific Time \n\nA student asked Shitou\, “What am I supposed to do?”\n“Why are you asking me?”\n“Where else can I find what I’m looking for?”\n“Are you sure you lost it?” \nIn this conversation between Shitou and a student\, I can hear echoes of the conversation he had\, as a student himself\, with Qingyuan—the teacher he went to after studying with Huineng (the six patriarch)\, after Huineng died. \nQingyuan asked\, “Where have you come from?”\nShitou said\, “From Huineng’s in Caoxi.”\nQingyuan asked\, “What did you bring with you?”\nShitou said\, “That which had never been lost even before I went to Caoxi.”\nQingyuan said\, “Then why did you go there at all?”\nShitou said\, “If I hadn’t gone there\, how could I have realized that it had never been lost?” \nIn his conversation with this monk\, Shitou knew very well himself about the experience of thinking that something had been lost\, missing\, or lacking.  \nAs I have been sitting with this koan\, others have come to keep me company\, like this one from Doushuai: \nPeople go to wild places to search for their true nature.\nWhen you do this\, where is your true nature? \nAnd this one from Linji: \nIn your life right now\, what is it you lack\, what is it that practice must mend? \nIt feels a bit like playing dominoes\, or more accurately\, like dominoes playing itself. Each koan is different\, like each domino tile\, but they share something in common\, like we do. \nDoushuai was the head monk at Dahui’s temple when he led a group to visit another teacher named Zhi. Upon arrival at Zhi’s temple\, the conversation between Doushuai and Zhi went something like this: \nZhi said\, “Have you seen Zen master Dongshan Wenhe?”\nDoushuai said\, “His disciples don’t have any brains. If you put on a cotton garment that smells like piss\, what good is it?”\nZhi said\, “You should go and practice at that place that smells like piss.” \nFinding myself in Doushuai’s shoes at that moment\, I can’t help but feel that although I am the head monk at a famous teacher’s temple\, when hearing my own harsh assessment turned back on myself\, in that wild place I don’t know where my true nature is. \nAs I think about Linji\, and how he was literally kicked out of his teacher’s interview room the only three times he went in for a conversation\, how could he not think there was something lacking in him? \nWhat we are drawn to teach reveals what we need to learn. \nWhat do you need to learn? \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David Weinstein\, Director of Rockridge Meditation Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/tuesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/David-W_500X375.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230830T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230830T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230706T191451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230726T180046Z
UID:10001403-1693422000-1693427400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Wednesday Zen with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:No Meditation & Talk today \nDavid is away throughout August. \nNEW DATE & TIME begins September 5th\, 2023:\nTuesdays\, 6–7:30 pm Pacific Time \n\n \n  \nZen with David Weinstein is on break throughout August.\nCome join us for koan meditation and conversation again on Tuesday\, September 5th. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-2/2023-08-30/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cat-Meditating_500X375.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230823T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230823T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230706T191451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230726T180046Z
UID:10001402-1692817200-1692822600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Wednesday Zen with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:No Meditation & Talk today \nDavid is away throughout August. \nNEW DATE & TIME begins September 5th\, 2023:\nTuesdays\, 6–7:30 pm Pacific Time \n\n \n  \nZen with David Weinstein is on break throughout August.\nCome join us for koan meditation and conversation again on Tuesday\, September 5th. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-2/2023-08-23/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cat-Meditating_500X375.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230816T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230816T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230706T191451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230726T180046Z
UID:10001401-1692212400-1692217800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Wednesday Zen with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:No Meditation & Talk today \nDavid is away throughout August. \nNEW DATE & TIME begins September 5th\, 2023:\nTuesdays\, 6–7:30 pm Pacific Time \n\n \n  \nZen with David Weinstein is on break throughout August.\nCome join us for koan meditation and conversation again on Tuesday\, September 5th. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-2/2023-08-16/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cat-Meditating_500X375.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230809T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230809T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230706T191451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230726T180046Z
UID:10001400-1691607600-1691613000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Wednesday Zen with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:No Meditation & Talk today \nDavid is away throughout August. \nNEW DATE & TIME begins September 5th\, 2023:\nTuesdays\, 6–7:30 pm Pacific Time \n\n \n  \nZen with David Weinstein is on break throughout August.\nCome join us for koan meditation and conversation again on Tuesday\, September 5th. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-2/2023-08-09/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cat-Meditating_500X375.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230802T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230802T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230706T191451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230726T180046Z
UID:10001334-1691002800-1691008200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Wednesday Zen with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:No Meditation & Talk today \nDavid is away throughout August. \nNEW DATE & TIME begins September 5th\, 2023:\nTuesdays\, 6–7:30 pm Pacific Time \n\n \n  \nZen with David Weinstein is on break throughout August.\nCome join us for koan meditation and conversation again on Tuesday\, September 5th. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/on-break-wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-2/2023-08-02/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cat-Meditating_500X375.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230726T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230726T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230720T180647Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230726T171648Z
UID:10001333-1690398000-1690403400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Taking Care of That One - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nWhen Dongshan was not feeling well\, he was asked\, \n“You are not feeling well. Is there one who doesn’t get sick?”\nDongshan said\, “Yes\, there is.”\nThen he was asked\, “Does the person who doesn’t get sick take care of you?”\nDongshan said\, “The timeless monk is taking care of that one.”\nThen he was asked\, “What happens when you take care of that one?”\nDongshan said\, “At that time\, I don’t see sickness.” \n—Book of Serenity Case 94 \nThough this is not the same Dongshan as the Dongshan from last week’s koan about the place of no grass\, it sounds like the same Dongshan to me. This Dongshan lived about one hundred years after the earlier Dongshan and was a student of Yunmen. We met him in the Gateless Barrier when he said Buddha was three pounds of flax. \nHere\, he is saying that Buddha is not feeling well. That would be from the perspective of grass being everywhere. But from the perspective of no grass for ten thousand miles\, there is no sickness. I hear echoes of his teacher Yunmen’s saying that sickness and medicine exactly correspond and that the whole world is medicine. \nI am reminded of a time that I spent at the Kopan Monastery in Nepal\, where there was a dog with two crippled hind legs named Sasha. She would drag herself around\, and though her tail was also crippled and she couldn’t wag it\, you could see her wagging it in her eyes—those eyes that saw no illness\, no grass for ten thousand miles. \nI am also reminded of Lungtan\, who blew out Deshan’s candle\, plunging him into darkness so he could see the light. When Lungtan died\, he cried out repeatedly\, “It hurts! It hurts!” Grass everywhere. Echoing the earlier Dongshan’s saying\, “When it’s hot let the heat kill you\, when it’s cold let the cold kill you.” Here he might say\, “When you’re sick let the sickness kill you.” \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-taking-care-of-that-one-with-david-weinstein/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/illnessCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230719T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230719T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230713T164407Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230715T192115Z
UID:10001332-1689793200-1689798600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: No Inside or Outside the Gate with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nDongshan said to the assembly\,“It’s the beginning of autumn\, the end of summer\, and you brothers will go\, some to the east\, some west: You must go where there’s not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles.” And again he said\, “But where there’s not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles\, how can you go?”\n\nShishuang said\, “When you go out of the gate\, there is grass all over!”\n\nDayang said\, “I would say: Even if you don’t go out of the gate\, the grass is everywhere.” \n—Book of Serenity Case 89 \nDongshan is speaking to people who had gathered for a retreat. The retreat had lasted for ninety days\, encompassing the rainy season during the summer when pilgrimage was not preferable. At the end of a retreat\, whether it be ninety days or seven days\, the question that is often asked is\, “How can I keep this going after I leave?” How can I keep this way of experiencing when I go out of the gate? \nGrass and weeds are often used as images of our ideas and concepts and delusions. Dongshan appears to be encouraging the assembly to go to a place where there are no delusions\, no concepts. Perhaps they have had glimpses of that place during their long retreat. They might hear his encouraging words as a recommendation to hold on to those glimpses tightly as they go out of the gate\, if they are attached to those glimpses. They might feel that inside the gate is such a place but outside the gate is not. \nWhen we began to have retreats online\, via Zoom\, the question about bringing the place of no grass back home was eliminated\, physically\, at least. Sitting at home together with others sitting in their homes leads to that same place of no grass but I’m already home. \nThe whole question about inside and outside of the gate would seem to be eliminated. But rather than eliminated\, it becomes clear that it’s not about my physical location\, or what I am doing. There is no inside or outside of the gate. \n—David \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate.
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-no-inside-or-outside-the-gate-with-david-weinstein/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Dongshans-Gate_500X375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230712T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230712T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230707T171349Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230710T174657Z
UID:10001331-1689188400-1689193800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Each Stitch Spewing Flames - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nShenshan was mending clothes when Dongshan asked\,\n“What are you doing?”\n“Mending\,” said Shenshan.\n“How is it going?” asked Dongshan.\n“One stitch follows another\,” said Shenshan.\n“We’ve been traveling together for twenty years and that’s all you have to say?” said Dongshan. “How can you be so clueless?”\n“How do you mend\, then?”\n“With each stitch the whole earth is spewing flames.” \nShenshan’s “one stitch follows another” style of practice/mending reminds me of the way I approached my meditation practice at the beginning. There’s another translation that has  Shenshan saying\, “One stitch is like the next\,” and that translation also reflects my attitude at the beginning; I assumed meditation was about stability\, equanimity\, control. Like the beginning of the Ox-herding pictures\, I had to tame and train my mind/ox. The structure of the Tibetan sadhana\, the methodical practice of meditation and the repetition\, one mantra after the other\, each like the next\, gave me a sense of control and groundedness. \nThen I encountered koan practice and my mind spewed flames. The serenity I had been cultivating melted in the heat of the flames spewing forth. Though it was hot and uncomfortable\, the heat loosened everything. Hakuin’s words come to mind\, “Awakening in the midst of chaos is a million times more powerful than awakening in the midst of serenity.” \nWhere Dongshan calls Shenshan “clueless\,” in another translation it is rendered as\, “How can there be such craftiness?” And I find myself appreciating the difference between a craft and an art. Shenshan\, and I\, at the beginning\, were practicing as craftspeople; Dongshan was an artist who let the heat of the flames spewing forth kill him. How about you? \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/new-day-tuesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/fireSpews01CALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230705T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230705T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230628T221225Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230706T024445Z
UID:10001254-1688583600-1688589000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Now It Is Me\, I Now Am Not It - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nJust don’t seek from others or you’ll be far estranged from yourself.\nNow I go on alone\, but everywhere I meet it. It now is me; I now am not it.\nOne must understand in this way to merge with suchness. \n — from the Record of Dongshan \nSo far\, what has grabbed my attention is the irony of Dongshan saying we shouldn’t seek from others\, and then telling us what we must do to understand suchness. Don’t I risk being estranged from myself if I listen to what he tells me? It reminds me of Zhaozhou being accused of picking and choosing by a student when he said\, “The great way is not difficult\, it just avoids picking and choosing.” Zhaozhou’s response was that he did not abide in clarity.  \nHaving a relationship with a koan requires us to find our place in the koan. To become intimate with a koan is to become intimate with everything and everyone in the koan.  \nSo\, in the case of this koan\, as I become more and more intimate with Dongshan\, my feeling of “otherness” in relation to Dongshan diminishes until there is none. There is no other\, and so no possibility of estrangement from myself. One feature of an awakening experience is the sense of remembering something that I didn’t know I had forgotten. It is something we all have\, remember? \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-now-it-is-me-i-now-am-not-it-with-david-weinstein/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Now-It-Is-Me_CALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230628T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230628T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230516T182845Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230626T172223Z
UID:10001234-1687978800-1687984200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Cuckoo! with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nFor whom do you bathe and make yourself beautiful?\nThe voice of the cuckoo is calling you home.\nHundreds of flowers fall\, yet the voice is not stilled;                                            \neven deep in jumbled mountains\, it is calling clearly.  \n—Dongshan \nThe first thing that jumped out to me\, from this koan\, is the cuckoo. The cuckoo is a brood parasite\, meaning it lays its eggs in other birds’ nests. They do not build their own nests\, and instead rely on other birds to raise their chicks. During the breeding season\, a female cuckoo will deposit eggs in up to fifty different nests. A cuckoo can dart into an unattended nest\, snatch up an egg\, lay a close copy and be gone within ten seconds. After hatching cuckoo\, chicks instinctively shove their foster siblings and remaining eggs out of the nest\, to have all the food to themselves. \nNot exactly the kind of example I would aspire to\, and perhaps that is exactly the point. \nThe one that I bathe and make myself beautiful for is the cuckoo. The cuckoo that doesn’t have a home. The cuckoo who is not at home in himself and is concerned about appearances. The cuckoo who pushes the other birds and eggs out of the nest so he can have it all. Though flowers have fallen hundreds of times\, I have been unable to still its calling me home to the jumbled mountains of my mind. \nTrying to still its call doesn’t work. \nDongshan was interested in the question of whether non-sentient beings can teach or not. I imagine asking that question to be something that would arise amidst the awareness of someone who appreciated that all sentient beings are teaching us\, including cuckoos\, and that his choice of cuckoos—brood parasites that they are and were in Dongshan’s time—was not an accident. \nAs the fox koan of our recent retreat showed us\, to be free from the body of a fox we must be the fox that we are. Similarly\, to still the call of the cuckoo\, we must be the cuckoo that we are. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-25/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cuckooRobinCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230621T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230621T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230516T182728Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230620T200539Z
UID:10001233-1687374000-1687379400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: A Well Sees A Donkey - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nXaoshan asked Elder De\, “The body of reality is like space.\nIt responds to things—manifesting its forms the way the moon appears in the water.\nHow do you explain this responsiveness?”\nDe said\, “It’s like a donkey looking into a well.”\n“That’s most of it\, but not the whole thing.”\n“What’s it like for you?”\n“It is like a well looking at a donkey.” \n—Book of Serenity Case 52 \nThis koan about a donkey and a well brought the peach blossom koan to mind\, in which reality is met\, just as it is\, without any of our overlay—nothing but peach blossoms. That sounds like a donkey seeing a well. There’s a me seeing the well but without the overlay—the way the empty sky receives whatever passes through it. \nIn our practice\, we cultivate a mind that reflects what comes in front of it—without putting up filters\, without putting up projections or ideas—like the moon in water. \nThe student’s response is good\, as far as it goes. But it leaves out the other side of the coin. To say that awakening is like a donkey seeing a well speaks to the way something is still being held onto: the donkey. Caoshan’s response of “a well sees a donkey\,” takes away that which is being held onto. \nWhen you experience “a donkey sees a well\,” there is nothing to know. When you experience “a well sees a donkey\,” there is no one who knows. No subject\, no object: your body and mind are like the vast sky. \nThe donkey is the donkey and the well is the well\, and simultaneously the donkey is the well and the well is the donkey\, and all the barriers come down. Life is not something to be observed from a corner. Seeing by being seen\, being seen by seeing. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-24/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/donkeyWellCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230614T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230614T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230516T183410Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230610T024808Z
UID:10001235-1686769200-1686774600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Quick\, Don't Get Ready! with Guest Host Jesse Cardin
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nQuick\, don’t get ready. \n—PZI Miscellaneous Koan \nI’d like to continue David Weinstein’s recent tradition of taking up the Open Temple koan of the week\, but I don’t know what it’s going to be yet. “Oh crap\,” I thought to myself\, “I need to write some copy for Karin and Corey today so they can make the posts—what will I do?” You’re reading the result right now. \nAlthough I’ll admit I’m being a bit cheeky\, this is also a great point of practice. There are some things we can prepare for in life (and it would be advisable to do so)\, but much of it is improvised on the spot. And actually\, at least as often as not\, I find my preparation getting in the way. And any moment of true open-heartedness or clarity I’ve ever experienced hasn’t come by my own machinations anyway. \nSo why don’t we meet this week’s koan together\, fresh\, naked (figuratively\, please) and unprepared? We’ll sit a bit\, I’ll talk a bit (maybe)\, and we’ll have a chat about what comes unannounced from our hearts when we’re together. I’m looking forward to meeting you there. \n—Jesse \n\n \nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, and conversation. All are welcome. Register to participate. \nCOME JOIN US Wednesday at 7pm Pacific Time \n 
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-quick-dont-get-ready-with-guest-host-jesse-cardin/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/dontGetreadyCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230607T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230607T193000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230516T182603Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230605T173612Z
UID:10001232-1686160800-1686166200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Poisonous Snakes of the Path - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\nA student asked Qinglin\, “When a student goes along the path\, what about that?”\nQinglin said\, “There’s a poisonous snake on the path. I advise the student not to run into it.”\n“What about when the student runs into it?”\n“She must mourn her life.”\n“What about when she doesn’t run into it?”\n“But there is no way to avoid it.”\n“Then how about at that moment?”\n“It completely disappeared.”\n“I wonder where it went.”\n“The grass is so deep that we can’t find it anywhere.”\n“You too should protect yourself against it.”\nQinglin rubbed his palms together and said\, “Both you and I are poisonous snakes.” \n—Book of Serenity Case 59 \nI have been enjoying the various ways this koan has been translated regarding the word “snake.” The title of this piece sums it up. There are two characters in question: one means “dead” or “death\,” and the other means “snake.” In a number of places\, the title is translated as “Dead Snake;” in others\, it is translated as “Snake of Death” or “Death Snake.” \nThe word “poisonous” does not appear; it is an interpretation by the translator. I imagine the thinking was something along the lines of\, “If it is a snake of death\, it must be poisonous.” While my mind played around with these words\, their various permutations and combinations\, I noticed some questions arising: \nWhat is this in my life? \nHave I run into a snake on my path?\nHad I ever been bitten and died? \nWhat came to mind was my first meeting with Yamada Roshi. I went in prepared to die when I told him that I did not practice with koans. Instead\, the one who thought he was going to die died. \nIt was an act of kindness that was the coup de grace: not something harsh\, but no less surprising than getting struck or yelled at. It was Yamada listening to me tell him that I did not practice with koans\, a practice that he was a master of\, and his responding by encouraging me to follow my own path to awakening. At that moment\, the one who felt alone\, unseen\, and misunderstood “completely disappeared” and didn’t go anywhere at all. \nThis brought up the way the “Dead Snake” translation struck me. As I go along the path\, I not infrequently run into dead snakes. The snakes\, that when they were alive\, had hindered my progress. I couldn’t figure out how to get past them. Now\, they are still here\, like the one who felt unseen and misunderstood\, but they’re not alive. All I have to do step over them. Admittedly\, sometimes I step on them and they’re slippery and sometimes I fall. \nMore to come … \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-23/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/snake-melon-hokkei-CALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230531T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230531T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230313T194210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230530T185223Z
UID:10001207-1685559600-1685565000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Buffalo Window - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\nWuzi (Wuzu) said\, “It is like a buffalo jumping through a window. \nIts head\, horns\, and four legs all pass through. \nWhy can’t its tail pass through?”  \n—Gateless Gate Case 38 \n\nThe koan for this week stopped me in a couple of different ways. First of all I thought the teacher’s name was Wuzu\, not Wuzi. Every translation that I looked at has Wuzu as the name except for Joan Sutherland’s version\, which has Wuzi except in one place where it is Wuzu. “A rose by any other name”… but it was interesting to notice the way it stirred my mind. Interesting to notice the tail that did not pass through whether by jumping or otherwise. \nThe other way the koan stopped me was the word “jumping.” In every other translation that I could find the word that is used is “passing” which led me to sit with the difference that I felt between “passing” and “jumping.” \nThat word “jumping” brought along another koan about taking a step off the hundred-foot pole and how it says “take a step” and not “jump.” How it feels more like I find myself one step off the hundred-foot pole and I don’t know how I got there. Whether taking a step or jumping it seems entirely too much of me involved. \nI suppose it is the same with the buffalo\, though the image that I found to go along with the koan perhaps speaks to another possibility. It is a picture of the running of the bulls in a town in Spain where one of the bulls got so confused and frightened it tried jumping through a window. I suppose that happens for us to\, we get so confused and frightened that we jump\, without even knowing what we’re doing. Ever have that happen? \nSo\, whether it’s Wuzu or Wuzi\, whether it’s passing or jumping\, what about that tail? \n—David \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-21/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/buffalo-CALENDAR.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230524T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230524T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230518T163809Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230522T225524Z
UID:10001249-1684954800-1684960200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Where Will You Find It? with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\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.  —Linji \nI am writing this while in Kyoto\, Japan\, which seems appropriate. For me\, traveling has been an opportunity to practice letting go of what I believe. I left the states to travel in Europe for what I believed to be a summer\, but didn’t return for sixteen years. \nI still remember my first night in Europe—in Amsterdam. I went out for a beer. When the bartender presented me with a glass that was one-third foam\, I was about to complain\, when the person standing next to me leaned over and said\, “That’s the way they do it here.” Having just finished a season working as a bartender in a ski resort at Lake Tahoe\, I believed I knew what a correctly poured beer looked like. That experience in that bar in Amsterdam was an opportunity for me to not believe what I believed to be true. \nShortly after beginning my job as an English teacher in Tehran\, I was walking down the street and thought I would try hitchhiking\, so I stuck my thumb out. After a short time\, someone pulled over\, a young Iranian\, who not only gave me a ride\, but also gave me advice. He told me that sticking your thumb out the way I had\, in Iran\, was the equivalent of holding up your middle finger and he encouraged me not to do that again.  \nThe thing is that we are all travelers. And if we can remember that\, we wouldn’t hold on so tightly to what we believe. You don’t have to leave your country to encounter other cultures\, we are each our own culture.  \nWhen I returned to the states I experienced a kind of culture shock\, which was very disorienting. I felt like a foreigner in my own country. Then\, as if a switch had been flipped\, I found that my disorientation became curiosity. The curiosity of being in a foreign country and so feeling like a foreigner in my own country became an opportunity rather than a problem.  \nA couple of other koans came along as I’ve been hanging out with this ‘not believing.’ First\, there was last week’s koan about rank and how believing is a kind of rank. The other was Case 68 in the Book of Serenity\, in which we are told\, “Awakening has no country\, where will you find it?”  \nThat is exactly where we find it. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-26/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/japanStreetFashionCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230517T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230517T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230313T191705Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230515T223955Z
UID:10001200-1684350000-1684355400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Just Who Do You Think You Are? with Guest Host Jesse Cardin
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\nWednesday Zen with Guest Host Jesse Cardin\nThere is a true person of no rank who is always coming and going through the portals of your face.  \nWho is that true person of no rank? \nWe’ve all got an image to uphold. Don’t lie\, you’ve got one too! And oh my\, all the ways I scheme and manipulate and maneuver to keep that image going. The Good Father\, the Good Teacher\, the Good Neighbor (I’m seeing a lot of the word Good in there…think that could mean something?). \nBut there is someone who doesn’t worship at the altar of the self. This person moves freely throughout the world\, unhampered by thought\, emotion\, or even physical form. They can be a God\, a buddha\, a bodhisattva\, an ordinary person\, a demon\, a tree–whatever is needed. \nWhat is the image you are sworn to uphold? \nAt what altar of the self do you worship? \nWhat are the consequences of violating the code of your order? \nAnd what is it like to forget all that\, even for a moment? \nI have questions. \nSee you Wednesday! \nJesse \n\n \nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—Jesse Cardin
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-19/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/whoDoUThink-CALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230503T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230503T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230313T191544Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230501T191557Z
UID:10001199-1683140400-1683145800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: A Change of Heart: Muzhou & Linji – with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nLinji asked Huangbo\, “What is the great meaning of the Dharma?”\nHuangbo hit him.\nThis happened three times.\nLinji then took his leave and went to see Dayu.\nDayu asked\, “Where have you come from?”\nLinji said\, “From Huangbo.”\nDayu said\, “What did Huangbo have to say?”\nLinji said\, “I asked him three times\, ‘What is the great meaning of the Dharma?’ and I got his stick three times. I don’t know if I was at fault or not.”\nDayu said\, “Huangbo was overly gentle like an old grandmother; he completely exhausted himself for your sake. Yet you come here and ask if you were at fault or not!”\nWith these words\, Linji came to great enlightenment. \nLinji had been sitting at Huangbo’s place for three years without ever going in to have a conversation with him when this interaction occurred. But it was not the first time they had met. There is another story that takes place early on in Linji’s stay at Huangbo’s. \nIn that story\, Huangbo had come into the meditation hall for the daily morning greeting to walk around the hall passing in front of each person sitting in meditation. Though called “the morning greeting\,” it also had the air of inspecting the troops. As Huangbo progressed down the line of meditators\, he came to Linji\, who was bobbing and weaving\, nearly falling off his cushion as he surfed the edge of being asleep and awake. \nHuangbo walked with a staff of appropriate proportions to his seven-foot frame\, and when he slammed that staff down to the ground in front of Linji\, the sound reverberated through the hall like a great drum. I imagine a number of people jumped off their cushions at hearing that sound. But not Linji. Without missing a bob or a weave\, he looked up from his cushion to Huangbo and said\, “Good morning teacher!” and continued his bobbing and weaving. \nHuangbo’s response was to do an about-face and return to the head of the line where the person in charge\, Muzhou\, was sitting. Huangbo stopped there\, bent down\, and while whispering into Muzhou’s ear\, he pointed down the line to the bobbing and weaving Linji. Muzhou shook his head and said to Huangbo\, “I don’t know what we’re going to do about that one.” Once again\, Huangbo slammed his staff to the ground and not whispering at all said\, “He’s doing good meditation\, why are you sitting here asleep?” \nIn the current koan\, it is Muzhou who notices that since arriving\, Linji had not gone in to speak with Huangbo. Projecting my own small-mindedness onto Muzhou\, it is hard not to think that Muzhou might have been getting a little revenge on Linji by having him upbraided by Huangbo so publicly in the meditation hall. We are told that Muzhou asked Linji why he hadn’t gone in to speak with the teacher. Linji replied that he didn’t know what to ask. Rather than saying\, “Then go in without knowing what to ask\,” Muzhou suggested something that Linji could ask\, and I suspect Muzhou knew very well what Huangbo’s reply would be. \nEach time Linji went in and asked the question\, Huangbo hit him and threw him out. Each time Linji was thrown out\, Muzhou picked him up and encouraged him to go back in until Linji decided to leave\, feeling he had no karmic connection with Huangbo. \nThen something interesting happened. \nMuzhou seemed to have had a change of heart regarding Linji. Perhaps Linji’s willingness to go in again and again with the same question only to be beaten and thrown out again and again touched Muzhou’s heart. He tells Linji that he should go in one last time and say goodbye to the teacher before he leaves. \nMuzhou then went in to speak with Huangbo to arrange Linji’s exit interview\, telling Huangbo that he thought Linji was extraordinary and asking Huangbo to advise him accordingly. Hence Muzhou’s grandmotherly kindness. Huangbo heeded Muzhou’s advice\, perhaps remembering his encounter with Linji’s bobbing and weaving: Huangbo’s grandmotherly kindness. \nDayu’s confronting Linji about not appreciating the grandmotherly kindness he had been shown at Huangbo’s place was Dayu’s grandmotherly kindness. Linji’s realization that there was no fault to be found in his interaction with Huangbo was Linji’s own grandmotherly kindness towards himself\, which can be the hardest to allow. \n—David Weinstein \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-18/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/linji-ChangeOfHeartCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230426T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230426T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230313T191414Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230424T171822Z
UID:10001198-1682535600-1682541000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Falling Flowers - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nOne day\, Changsha went wandering in the mountains.\nUpon returning\, when he got to the gate\, he was asked\, “Where are you coming from?”\nChangsha said\, “From wandering in the mountains\,”\n“Where did you go?”\nChangsha said\, “I went pursuing the fragrant grasses; I returned following the falling flowers.” \n—Blue Cliff Record\, Case 36 \nLast week\, my plan to bring this koan was interrupted by my catching a cold—I’d forgotten about colds these last three years and my resultant inability to speak without coughing. Since Chris Gaffney kindly filled in for me and hosted an exploration into this koan\, this week I was planning on continuing to bring the koan of the week from the morning meditation. However\, that plan has been interrupted by a couple of things. \nFirst\, the koan of the week hasn’t been announced yet. Second\, I received a video of the ongoing prayers for the quick return of Lama Zopa that are being offered at the Kopan Monastery in Nepal. \nOnce again\, life has interrupted my plans for life\, and I find myself wanting to bring this koan again as part of my own ongoing prayers\, remembering how the Lamas often spoke about the way meditation and prayer are the same. \nThat’s what meditation practice does\, it interrupts our habitual way\, our plans\, for moving through life. I learned about Lama Zopa’s death during a retreat last weekend. At the time\, we were sitting with this koan about scented grasses and falling flowers\, which are words often quoted to accompany a person as they leave this world. \nIn the past\, when I’ve spoken about my time with the Lamas\, I usually talk about Lama Yeshe. But it was Lama Zopa whom I first saw at my first meditation retreat. He entered the meditation tent to give the first talk on the first morning\, and my immediate impression was\, “This is a holy person.” \nNot the kind of thought I would usually have. But he somehow fit a teacher archetype I didn’t know I had in me. He was slight of build and looked fragile as he walked towards the high seat. I couldn’t tell if the way he looked down came out of being humble or from being careful to not step on insects\, or perhaps both. \nWhat he spoke about was death. And the way he spoke about it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Not in alarm\, though there was something about the matter-of-fact way he spoke about death that was alarming. There was also the thrill of hearing someone talk about something I had often thought about since early childhood\, but had never spoken about: that we’re all going to die. \nWhen I had questions\, I went to Lama Yeshe. Nonetheless\, I felt a great affinity for Lama Zopa. I participated in two three-month meditation retreats with the Lamas in that first year of my practice. I also went on a short trip with Lama Zopa to a lake considered a manifestation of Padmasambhava. I trekked with him and others to his home village of Lawudo to participate in a retreat in his cave. Lama Zopa was considered the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama\, a hermit monk who had lived in that cave. He was also considered a reincarnation of Padmasambhava. \nHearing about Lama Zopa’s death\, together with this koan about scented grasses and falling flowers\, reminded me of all the other fallen flowers: My other first teacher\, Lama Yeshe\, my first Zen teacher\, Shibuya-san\, my first koan teacher\, Kusan\, my second koan teacher\, Aitken Roshi\, and my “three is a charm” koan teacher\, Yamada Roshi. \nI met Lama Zopa when I was “wandering in the mountains” and I “followed the scented grasses” with him and Lama Yeshe. Now I’m returning\, following the fallen and falling flowers\, appreciating their scent. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-17/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/lamaZopaCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230419T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230419T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230313T192347Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230417T210654Z
UID:10001202-1681930800-1681936200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Flowers Fall - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nOne day\, Changsha went wandering in the mountains.\nUpon returning\, when he got to the gate\, he was asked\, “Where are you coming from?”\nChangsha said\, “From wandering in the mountains\,”\n“Where did you go?”\nChangsha said\, “I went pursuing the fragrant grasses; I returned following the falling flowers.” \n—Blue Cliff Record\, Case 36 \nMy plan to bring the Open Temple koan-of-the-week to Wednesday Zen has been interrupted by the recent death of my first teacher\, Lama Zopa. That’s what happens: life interrupts our plans for life. That’s what meditation practice does\, it interrupts our habitual ways of moving through life. \nI learned about Lama Zopa’s death during a retreat this weekend. The koan we were sitting with was this one about scented grasses and falling flowers\, words often quoted to accompany a person as they leave this world. \nIn the past\, when I’ve spoken about my time with the Lamas\, I usually talk about Lama Yeshe. But it was Lama Zopa whom I first saw at my first meditation retreat. He entered the meditation tent to give the first talk on the first morning\, and my immediate impression was\, “This is a holy person.” \nNot the kind of thought I would usually have. But he somehow fit a teacher archetype I didn’t know I had in me. He was slight of build and looked fragile as he walked towards the high seat. I couldn’t tell if the way he looked down came out of being humble or from being careful to not step on insects\, or perhaps both. \nWhat he spoke about was death. And the way he spoke about it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Not in alarm\, though there was something about the matter-of-fact way he spoke about death that was alarming. There was also the thrill of hearing someone talk about something I had often thought about since early childhood\, but had never spoken about: that we’re all going to die. \nWhen I had questions\, I went to Lama Yeshe. Nonetheless\, I felt a great affinity for Lama Zopa. I participated in two three-month meditation retreats with the Lamas in that first year of my practice. I also went on a short trip with Lama Zopa to a lake considered a manifestation of Padmasambhava. I trekked with him and others to his home village of Lawudo to participate in a retreat in his cave. Lama Zopa was considered the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama\, a hermit monk who had lived in that cave. He was also considered a reincarnation of Padmasambhava. \nHearing about Lama Zopa’s death\, together with this koan about scented grasses and falling flowers\, reminded me of all the other fallen flowers: My other first teacher\, Lama Yeshe\, my first Zen teacher\, Shibuya-san\, my first koan teacher\, Kusan\, my second koan teacher\, Aitken Roshi\, and my “three is a charm” koan teacher\, Yamada Roshi. \nI met Lama Zopa when I was “wandering in the mountains” and I “followed the scented grasses” with him and Lama Yeshe. Now I’m returning\, following the fallen and falling flowers\, appreciating their scent. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-20/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/lamaZopaCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230412T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230412T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230313T191132Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230411T171017Z
UID:10001197-1681326000-1681331400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: To Bow or Not To Bow - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nHuangbo was at Yanguan’s temple performing rituals. At that time the future emperor Tang Xuan Zong was serving as a novice monk in the temple. The future emperor asked Huangbo\, “Not seeking Buddha\, not seeking Dharma\, not seeking Sangha—when the master bows\, what is it you’re seeking?”\nHuangbo said\, “Not seeking Buddha\, not seeking Dharma\, not seeking Sangha—one always bows in just this manner.”\nThe novice said\, “Then why bow?”\nHuangbo hit him.\nThe novice said\, “You’re really too crude!”\nHuangbo said\, “What place is this we’re in? Is it for idle chatter?”\nHe then hit the novice again. \n(from Transmission of the Lamp) \nThis koan with Huangbo led me to remember when I first encountered bowing during a “meditation course” at the Kopan Monastery outside of Kathmandu. I thought I was heading into a one-month study of what meditation was that would involve lots of talking about meditation and maybe a little meditation. As it turned out\, it involved a lot of meditation\, and not only meditation but a lot of bowing—full-length prostration kind of bowing. I questioned what I had gotten myself into. But my faith in and trust of the friend who recommended I check out the “meditation course” kept me from bolting from what at first sight appeared to me to be some kind of cult. \nIt helped that I was told that there was no obligation to bow. That left me more open to hear the gentle suggestion that I might try it and see what happens. “Make an experiment\,” was a phrase the Lamas often used. So\, I made an experiment. At first\, I found myself holding the prostrations as a kind of warm-up exercise before sitting down and not moving for a couple of hours. Conversely\, they were a welcome way of getting the kinks out after sitting for a couple of hours. Gradually\, I noticed that my meditation was quieting down. It seemed like doing the prostration “warm-ups” helped me settle in. It felt familiar\, like the way I warmed up before playing tennis or working out with weights\, or any of the sports that I participated in. \nThen I made another experiment with a practice called the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas. It involved doing one prostration for each Buddha\, while holding a visualization of the Buddha and saying their name. The combination of physical\, imaginative and cognitive components felt like I was doing a martial art\, linking body and mind in action. \nI had studied Psychology in college. My advisor was a Skinnerian behaviorist. Bowing seemed to me like arranging the contingencies of reinforcement involved in cultivating a meditative mind. I thought of Pavlov’s dog: ring the bell every time the dog gets fed and eventually ringing the bell alone\, without food\, elicits salivation. Do prostrations before and after each meditation and prostrations get linked with the cultivation of the meditative mind and the meditation begins before the meditation begins as I’m doing the prostrations. When I explained to Lama Yeshe that I felt like I was brainwashing myself\, arranging these contingencies of reinforcement\, his response was\, “Very good\, carry on.” I think Huangbo would have hit me. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-16/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ToBowCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230405T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230405T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230313T191014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230404T210246Z
UID:10001196-1680721200-1680726600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: You Can't Drink Dregs - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nHuangbo said\, “You’re all gobblers of brewers dregs. If you run around like this\, where will you meet today? Haven’t you figured out that in the whole country there is not a single Chan teacher?” \nSomeone stepped forward and asked\, “But what about all those places where people are guiding students and leading gatherings?” \nHuangbo said\, “I didn’t say no Chan\, only no Chan teachers.”  \n—Blue Cliff Record Case 11 \nHuangbo originated this expression\, “gobblers of brewer’s dregs\,” which became a popular saying in reference to people whose practice imitated what they had read in texts and what they heard from teachers\, but never making it their own by integrating it into their lives. The literal meaning is that you eat what’s left over from making rice wine\, and then think that you have had a taste of the real thing. \nHuangbo’s warning for going on pilgrimage seeking wisdom was something he had learned from experience. Like most young monks\, following his ordination\, Huangbo went looking for a teacher. Finding the right teacher never comes easy\, but he met a woman who suggested the person he was looking for was Mazu. Mazu was the dharma heir of the Sixth Patriarch’s dharma heir\, Huairang\, and was living a thousand kilometers to the southeast. By the time Huangbo got there\, Mazu had died. Although Mazu was gone\, his dharma heir Baizhang was a mere two days’ walk away. This happened in their first meeting: \nBaizhang said to Huangbo\, “Magnificent\, imposing\, where have you come from?”\nHuangbo replied\, “Magnificent\, imposing\, from the mountains.”\nBaizhang asked\, “Magnificent\, imposing\, why have you come?”\nHuangbo replied\, “Magnificent\, imposing\, not for anything else.”\n\nIt is said that Huangbo was seven feet tall\, but I don’t think that’s what Baizhang was referring to when he said\, “Magnificent\, imposing.” When Huangbo replied\, “Magnificent\, imposing\,” I think he was talking about everything. Everything is magnificent and imposing if we get out of the way of our thinking. Especially the thinking that says that we lack something and need to get it from someplace outside ourselves. \nYunmen was born fourteen years after Huangbo’s death\, but the spirit of Huangbo was more than alive in him. He took Huangbo’s “brewer’s dregs” and pushed it beyond the beyond when he said\, \n“You’re making pilgrimages all over the place\, studying Chan and asking about the Dao. Let me ask you: What have you managed to learn in all those places? Try presenting that!”  \nThen he said\, \n“In the meantime\, you cheat the Master in your own house. Is that all right? When you manage to find a little slime on my ass\, you lick it off\, take it to be your own self\, and say: ‘I understand Chan\, I understand the Dao!’ Even if you manage to read the whole Buddhist canon—so what!?”\n\nDeshan\, the expert on Diamond Sutra texts which he pulled around in a cart\, said upon his realization\, \nI will never doubt any more what the old master has said to me. \nHe was not talking about Longtan\, the teacher who blew out Deshan’s candle\, allowing him to see the light. He was talking about the “old master\,” the “Master in your own house” who is reading these words. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-15/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/brewers-dregsCALENDA.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230329T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230329T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230310T203523Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230329T011505Z
UID:10001195-1680116400-1680121800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Barriers or Gates? with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\nA student asked Zhaozhou\, “What is Zhaozhou?”\nZhaozhou replied\, “East Gate\, West Gate\, South Gate\, North Gate.”\n\n—Blue Cliff Record Case 9 \nIn this koan\, it is hard to know whether the student is asking about Zhaozhou the teacher\, or about Zhaozhou the town that was the source of the teacher’s name. Xuedou\, the original compiler of the one hundred cases comprising the Blue Cliff Record\, comments on this by saying\, “There are thorns in the soft mud. If it’s not south of the river\, then it’s north of the river.” If Zhaozhou answers about the city\, the “thorn in the mud” is the student saying he was asking about Zhaozhou the teacher\, and vice versa. Zhaozhou is unfazed as he responds to both possibilities with one answer. In a longer version of the same koan\, after Zhaozhou responds\, the student does indeed pursue the question by saying “That’s not the Zhaozhou I was asking about.” To which Zhaozhou replies\, unfazed again\, “Which Zhaozhou were you asking about?” And it ends there. \nCase 52 in the Blue Cliff has a similar flavor to Case 9; it involves Zhaozhou and a different student: \nA student asked Zhaozhou\, “For a long time I’ve heard about the stone bridge of Zhaozhou. But now that I’ve come\, I see only a log across the river.”\nZhaozhou said\, “You just see the log bridge\, you don’t see the stone bridge.”\n“What is the stone bridge?” asked the student.\n“Donkeys cross\, horses cross.” replied Zhaozhou.\n\nAs in Case 9\, it is hard to tell if the student is referring to Zhaozhou the teacher or to the bridge of Zhaozhou. As in Case 9\, Zhaozhou is unfazed as he responds. Again\, Zhaozhou responds by pointing to an activity\, not a thing. Zhaozhou is the four gates in the four directions; you can enter from anywhere. It is about the entering and leaving\, whether it is the town or the teacher. Zhaozhou is the activity of donkeys crossing and horses crossing—anyone can cross freely. \nThe Chinese character used for “gate” can also mean “obstacle” or “barrier.” That is what Zhaozhou is and that is what we are: barriers that are gates. Six hundred years before Zhaozhou and five thousand miles away\, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius\, wrote\, “What stands in the way becomes the way.”  \nWhat is standing in your way? \nimage: painting by Rene Magritte \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-14/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/barrierGateMagritte-CALENDAR_500X375.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230322T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230322T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230116T184828Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230322T182948Z
UID:10001191-1679511600-1679517000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Do As the Lady Says - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nThere is a fork in the road on the way to Mount Tai\, which is where an old granny had set up her teashop. Whenever a pilgrim came and asked directions\, she would say\, “Go straight.” After they had taken a few steps\, they would hear her muttering under her breath\, “Just another common temple-goer.”  \nThis was reported to Zhaozhou\, and he went to investigate. He asked her the same question and she gave him the same answer and muttered the same comment. When he returned to his community Zhaozhou reported\, “I have seen through the old granny at the fork in the road.” \n—Gateless Gate\, Case 31: Zhaozhou and the Old Woman Investigate Each Other \nMount Tai was\, and still is\, one of the great pilgrimage sites in Chinese Buddhism. Even before Buddhism\, it was a great Daoist site. For Buddhists\, it is a sacred mountain said to be the abode of Manjusri\, the embodiment of wisdom. There is a statue of Manjushri in the temple and it is believed that whoever climbs the mountain and pays homage to the statue will be endowed with wisdom. Even Zen monks would sometimes be found there\, hoping that a miracle would save them the work required to free themselves. \nLike Mount Tai\, “old grannies” have been a feature of Chinese culture since before Buddhism. In China\, this kind of character refers to an old woman and also suggests a person of wit and resourcefulness who is usually marginal\, ambivalent in social status\, and who crosses social boundaries. Sometimes such a person is depicted as a witch or sorceress. Is that what Zhaozhou saw when he “saw through” her? Wumen’s comment about this case in the Gateless Barrier is that both she and Zhaozhou had their faults. \nWhen he was young\, Zhaozhou himself planned a pilgrimage to Mount Tai hoping to reap the benefits of such an undertaking. However\, one of his teachers wrote a poem for him about that: \nAll mountains are equally good.\nBlue ones afar\, and a green one near\,\neach one has a Manjushri enshrined.\nSo why go to Mount Tai in particular?\nThe sutras depict Manjushri riding on a lion.\nYou may see many illusions like that in the mountain clouds.\nIt is not real to the eye of a Zen person; it is not the happiness a Zen person seeks.\n\nIs that what Zhaozhou saw when he saw through the woman at the teashop? \nHer instructions were echoed by an American “old granny” named Yogi Berra who said\, “When you come to a fork in the road\, take it.” \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-12/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/goStraightTEST_16X9.png
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230315T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230315T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230310T200218Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230313T210013Z
UID:10001194-1678906800-1678912200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Choosing 'Here' with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nZhaozhou said\,  \n“The Great Way is not difficult\, it just refrains from picking and choosing. As soon as these words are spoken\, you might judge that this is picking and choosing\, or that it is clear. I do not dwell in clarity. Can you stand by this and give me a response?” \n—The Blue Cliff Record\, Case 2 \nI have been enjoying morning meditation in the Open Temple\, and have been particularly enjoying staying with one koan for the week. It gives me the chance to sink into the koan and let it sink into me. However\, I do miss the opportunity to have conversations about spending time with the koan. “No conversation about koans equals no Zen\,” was the opinion of the founding teacher (Yasutani) of the Sanbo Zen lineage\, whose DNA runs through our PZI practice. \nDuring the month preceding Winter Sesshin\, I brought the Open Temple koan to our Wednesday gatherings\, and appreciated the opportunity to have conversations with folks about their experience with it. \nBeginning this week\, I will be bringing the Open Temple koan (of the same week) to our Wednesday evening gathering\, and will continue to do so each week until the end of April\, when the Spring Open Temple closes. That way there’s time\, prior to our gathering and also afterwards\, to be with the koan\, noticing what we notice after having conversations with others about their experiences. \nThis koan about picking and choosing comes up four times in The Blue Cliff Record. No koan other than this one appears more than once. Xuedou\, who originally compiled the one hundred koans that later became The Blue Cliff Record\, must have found the message of this koan to be particularly important. I also find this theme prominent in the teaching of Yuanwu\, who took Xuedou’s one hundred koans and commented on them. It is Yuanwu’s compilation that we call The Blue Cliff Record. \nWhen Yuanwu encourages us to “… just let things be …” I hear echoes of “not picking and choosing.” If we are struggling with letting things be\, Yuanwu’s advice is to let that be\, too. It is not a quick fix toward serenity\, but it is the way to finding serenity in the midst of the struggle. This path is sometimes called the Middle Way\, but that is not some midpoint between two extremes. It is a middle way in the sense of being in the middle of it\, in the thick of life\, fully and completely. When Yuanwu points out that walking the Great Way and pursuing the mystery is “… right where you stand\,” any ideas\, any picking and choosing that I have\, about what the Great Way is\, don’t stick. Any ideas about who I am don’t stick\, either. \nZhaozhou expands further on what not picking and choosing looks like when he says he does not “dwell in clarity.” There is nothing wrong with clarity\, it is the dwelling\, the attachment\, that’s the problem. In a way\, this koan about picking and choosing is another version of the koan about not knowing being most intimate\, and I am reminded of the first instruction I received about koan practice\, “Make your mind a question mark.” \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-13/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/pickingChoosingCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230308T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230308T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20230116T184708Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230306T190730Z
UID:10001188-1678302000-1678307400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: One Who Is Not Busy - with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nOne Who Is Not Busy \nOnce when Yunyan was sweeping the ground\, Daowu said\, “Busy\, busy!”\nYunyan said\, “You should know that there’s someone who isn’t busy.”\n“If that’s the case\, there’s a second moon.”\nYunyan held up his broom and asked\, “Which moon is this?”\nDaowu remained silent and left. \n—Book of Serenity Case 21\n\nWhen I watch myself doing what I know is not in my best interests\, who is watching and who is being watched? Is it the same me as the one who is unskillfully doing whatever he is doing? Or are they different? The opening lines of the Heart Sutra come to mind\,  \nForm is emptiness\, Emptiness is form. Form is exactly emptiness\, Emptiness exactly form. The same is true of feeling and perception. The same is true of memory and consciousness.  \nThe one watching is exactly the one being watched\, the one being watched is exactly the one watching. That doesn’t make sense\, but then neither does life. How do we respond to that? \nWhen Yunyan responds to Daowu’s comment about being busy by saying\, “You should know that there is one who is not busy\,” it sounds as if Yunyan is chiding Daowu for not appreciating that there is one who is not busy—he should know better. In the course of their relationship\, starting with practicing together with Baizhang\, leaving Baizhang together\, then going to practice together with Nanquan\, and then leaving Nanquan together to go practice with Yaoshan; it is Daowu who again and again (and again) proves himself to be the one who knows better. \nFor his part\, Daowu seems to be checking his friend’s understanding about the relationship between the one who is busy and the one who is not\, between the one who is watching and the one who is watched. Yunyan seems to be saying that form and emptiness are separate from each other\, the one who is busy and the one who is not busy are not the same. The me who is watching me is not the same me who is being watched. Responding to this\, Daowu tells Yunyan that if he thinks they are different then that is the same as thinking there is a second moon. \nAre they the same? Are they different? Answering either way leave you hanging on one or the other of the horns of the dilemma. Yunyan cuts through the dilemma\, thrusting his broom into the air and asking\, “Which moon is this?” Tossing the ball back into Daowu’s court. In response Daowu was silent and then leaves. His way of cutting through the dilemma that Yunyan presented to him. \nForm and emptiness\, our phenomenal self and our true self\, are the same and different\, not two\, not one. Responding to that paradox is the integration of our practice into our life. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-11/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/both-broomsCALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230222T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230222T203000
DTSTAMP:20260430T023446
CREATED:20221213T174643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230220T222732Z
UID:10001061-1677092400-1677097800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:WEDNESDAY ZEN: Your Own Radiance with David Weinstein
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA monk said to Yunmen\, “The radiance serenely illumines the whole universe…”\nBefore he had finished the line\, Yunmen interrupted him and asked\, “Are those the words of Zhangzhuo?”\nThe monk said\, “Yes\, they are.”\nYunmen said\, “You have misspoken.” \n—Gateless Gate Case 39 \nI was recently asked to help find the origin of a koan involving Bankei\, a 17th Century Japanese Zen teacher. The version of the story I was asked about goes like this: \nBankei was approached by a priest who boasted that his master possessed miraculous powers. This master could take a brush and write Amida in the air and the word would appear on a sheet of paper in the distance. Challenged to equal this\, Bankei replied\, “My miracle is that when I feel hungry I eat\, and when I feel thirsty I drink.”\n\nI checked all the English translations of Bankei that I am aware of\, and found one place where he says something about eating when hungry and sleeping when tired\, but no miracle is mentioned. I also found that Yuanwu in the 11th century\, and both Dazhu Huihai and Linji in the 8th century\, also said something about eating when hungry\, sleeping when tired. \nSo\, the source of the ‘miracle’ of Zen became complicated. Was it Huihai and Linji because they are the earliest record of it? And what about the ‘miracle’ part? It was about then that Yunmen’s ‘You have misspoken’ paid me a visit. \nThis quote from Yunmen reminds me of a quote that is attributed to Picasso\, “Good artists borrow\, great artists steal.” Picasso had an ‘African Period\,’ when he painted in a style strongly influenced by African sculpture\, particularly traditional African masks. I wonder how Picasso would have responded had Yunmen asked him about his art being influenced by African sculpture and masks. I suspect Picasso would have answered in a way that would not have resulted in Yunmen saying\, “You have misspoken.” \nA couple of other koans involving Yunmen came along while keeping company with the ‘misspoken’ koan. One involved the question to Yunmen\, “How about when one makes a hole in the wall in order to steal the neighbor’s light?” to which he responded\, “That’s it!” Another koan that came along was the occasion of Yunmen advising a student\, “Forget about the light\, show me the reaching.” \nThere were also echoes of Yunmen’s teacher Muzhou’s teacher Huangbo\, who likened some students to ‘gobblers of brewer’s dregs’ in the way they practiced. In this koan about misspeaking\, I can hear Yunmen once again encouraging us to reach and even steal. Picasso was encouraging artists to reach beyond themselves\, beyond stealing\, or borrowing\, or even creating. \nThere are unlimited commentaries on koans that we can read—various people saying what they believe a koan is about. Looking to those commentaries as a way to become intimate with the koan is like trying to get to know somebody based only on what other people have written about them. You can’t really get to know somebody that way.  \nHowever\, having met the person\, reading what someone else may have written about them can be interesting\, as we agree or disagree with what someone else has to say\, we become more intimate with what we know to be true for ourselves. When we know what is true for ourselves\, it doesn’t matter where it came from\, it comes from us and then we are not misspeaking. \n\nDavid Weinstein Roshi\nJoin us for a koan\, meditation\, dharma talk\, & conversation.\nAll are welcome. Register to participate. \n—David
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/wednesday-zen-with-david-weinstein-10/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/radiance-CALENDAR.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="David Weinstein Roshi":MAILTO:dweinstein@pacificzen.org
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR