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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250804T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250804T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250623T162332Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250801T173537Z
UID:10002100-1754330400-1754335800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Feast On Your Life
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nSit. Feast on your life.\n\nThese are the last lines of the Derek Walcott poem\, “Love after Love.” Walcott\, whose family was of English\, Dutch\, and African descent\, and who grew up in the Caribbean\, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. When Edward Espe Brown recently visited our Luminaries Series\, I asked him to read Walcott’s poem\, which he included in his latest book\, The Most Important Point. Edward recited it from memory. \nOn reading and then hearing the poem\, powerful thoughts and references welled up for me. This verse is often seen as a song of rediscovering oneself\, of finding a new self-acceptance after being awash in heartache and loss. \nThe time will come\nwhen with elation\,\nyou will greet yourself arriving\nat your own door\, in your own mirror\,\nand each will smile at the other’s welcome\n\nHere we meet Dongshan’s old woman from The Five Ranks\, who wakes up late one morning\, looks into a mirror\, and finds in her own face a new reflection. \nAnd the monk Jinniu\, who in The Blue Cliff Record laughs and dances heartily as he serves the monks food\, saying: “Bodhisattvas\, come eat your rice!” \nWalcott continues: \nand say\, sit here. Eat.\nYou will love again the stranger who is your self.\nGive wine. Give bread. Give back heart\nto itself\, to the stranger who has loved you\n\nall your life\, whom you have ignored\nfor another\, who knows you by heart.\nTake down the love letters from the bookshelf\n\nthe photographs\, the desperate notes\,\npeel your own image from the mirror.\nSit. Feast on your life.\n\n(Derek Walcott\, Collected Poems 1948-84) \nEdward recounts a private meeting with Shunryu Suzuki: \nThe roshi tells him: “The most important point…” and he paused as I prompted\nmyself to listen intently as the words came out slowly\, “is… to find out… what is… the most important point.”\n\nGoing into our Luminaries chat\, I asked myself\, as I do daily: \nWhat is the most important point? \nWhat is my inmost desire? \nWhy am I practicing? \nWho am I? \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-63/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Derek_Walcott_500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250728T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250728T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250623T162624Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250623T162624Z
UID:10002098-1753725600-1753731000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is on break for Pacific Zen Luminaries. Join us again on August 4th!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250728T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250728T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250519T200519Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250729T235410Z
UID:10002068-1753725600-1753731000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:PACIFIC ZEN LUMINARIES: How to Cook Your Life – No Recipe! Jon Joseph in Conversation with Author and Zen Teacher Edward Espe Brown
DESCRIPTION:  \n\nEdward Espe Brown found his way to Zen practice in 1965\, and dove in whole-heartedly. He was the first head cook\, or tenzo\, at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center\, and in 1970 his best-selling book\, The Tassajara Bread Book\, was published. \nHis teacher\, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi\, ordained him as a priest in 1971\, giving him the dharma name Jusan Kainei (“Longevity Mountain\, Peaceful Sea”). \nIn the years since\, Edward helped found Greens Restaurant in San Francisco\, worked with Deborah Madison in writing The Greens Cookbook\, and has written several other cookbooks\, including The Complete Tassajara Cookbook\, and Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings. He edited Not Always So\, a collection of Suzuki Roshi’s lectures\, and in 2007\, he was the subject of a critically acclaimed feature-length documentary film entitled How to Cook Your Life\, directed by Doris Dörrie. \nIn 2018\, No Recipe: Cooking as a Spiritual Practice\, Edward’s book about finding our own way in the kitchen – and in life – was published. One of Edward’s students\, Danny Parker\, put together a book of his lectures\, selected from 30 years’ worth of teaching; The Most Important Point was published in 2019. \nIn addition to studying Zen\, Edward has also done extensive vipassana practice\, yoga\, and chi gung. He leads regular sitting groups and meditation retreats in Northern California and offers workshops in the U.S. and internationally on a variety of subjects\, including cooking\, handwriting change\, and Mindfulness Touch. \nSource: peacefulseasangha.org \n“Suzuki Roshi once said\, ‘The most important point is to find out what is the most important point.’ After a lifetime of practice inspired by his teacher\, Suzuki Roshi\, Ed Brown has discovered that the most important point is love and acceptance. No one expresses this most important point better than Ed. His simple\, soulful\, honest talks will melt your heart.” \n―Norman Fischer\, poet\, Zen priest\, and author of Experience: Thinking\, Writing\, Language\, and Religion \n“It was the wish of Ed’s teacher\, Shunryu Suzuki\, that Zen Buddhist practice might be transformed into a vibrant and new form in coming to North America. Ed exemplifies that transformative view.” \n—Danny S. Parker\, editor \n\n \nJon Joseph Roshi of San Mateo Zen and PZI created this series to support the hardworking innovators and shining voices of modern Zen: scholars\, writers\, poets\, translators\, activists\, artists\, teachers\, and more. \nAll proceeds for each event\, including teacher dana\, go directly to the guest speaker. Event attendees are encouraged to give as generously as you are able\, so we can offer deep thanks to Luminaries guests. \nOur suggested donation is $10 for PZI Members and $12 for Non-Members\, but the scale slides from zero depending on one’s ability to contribute. We also greatly appreciate Patrons\, who help support the program with larger gifts of $25—$250.
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/zen-luminaries-with-edward-espe-brown/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Edward-Espe-Brown500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250721T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250721T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250623T162406Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250718T185954Z
UID:10002099-1753120800-1753126200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Why Wait? We Can Have It Right Now
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nOne day\, Huangbo went into the kitchen and asked the cook what he was doing\, and the cook said he was sorting rice for the monks. Huangbo asked how much rice they were eating. \n\nThe cook replied\, “Two-and-a-half measures.”\n“Isn’t that too much?” asked Huangbo.\n“I’m afraid it isn’t enough\,” said the cook.\nHuangbo struck him.\n\nLater\, the cook mentioned this to Linji\, who said\, “I’ll test the old fellow for you.” As soon as Linji came to attend Huangbo\, Huangbo told the story and said that the cook didn’t understand.\n\nLinji asked\, “Isn’t that too much?” And then he said\, “Teacher\, kindly give a turning word in place of the cook.”\n“Well\, why not say\, ‘We’ll eat a meal again tomorrow!’”\nLinji slapped Huangbo and said\, “Why talk about tomorrow—eat it right now!”\n“This lunatic has come here again to pull the tiger’s whiskers\,” said Huangbo.\nLinji shouted and went out.\n\n—The Record of Linji\, Critical Examinations\, I \nWhy wait until tomorrow? Why not have it now? \nUpon entering practice\, it is hard not to set targets and timelines. At least it has been hard for me. Fulfillment\, awakening\, recognition: these goals are hard\, if not impossible\, to resist. “I’m late\, I’m late\, for a very important date!” says Alice’s White Rabbit. I notice in myself a constant urge to trade up for something better. \nWe sometimes forget there is nothing better than this moment\, this place. The good news is we don’t have to wait around for “this.” We can enter the world of awakening right now. But it may not be what we anticipated\, planned for\, or scheduled. It may look a lot like our ordinary life\, but also more mysterious\, more wonderful\, and more beautiful than we imagined. \nIn his introduction to Edward Espe Brown’s The Most Important Point\, editor Danny Parker writes about his big hopes\, and then his great disappointment\, on entering the path. \n“My experience with Zen practice during those months was surprising and largely disappointing—not at all what I imagined. Nothing in my life was solved. My problems loomed larger than when I first came. Far from reaching enlightenment\, I experienced my life as patently mundane. The magic carpet of kensho was pulled out from under me. The great hope of a big transformative realization was gone.”   \nAfter a time\, Danny drifted away from the practice. A decade later\, he was invited by a friend to do a one-day sitting with Ed Brown\, and it became for him “one of the most powerful and pivotal” moments of his life. \n“Old pinecones falling periodically on the metal roof thumped like a cheering section; outdoors jays wailed for me. Even my aching legs seemed to love me. I was home again in quiet simple kindness.”\n\nLinji is the master of the “Don’t Wait” school\, and some of his advice is exceedingly helpful\, in the most simple\, immediate manner: Forget the primi or secondi piatti\, eat your dolce now. \nWe don’t have to believe the stories we cook up. We can be generous hosts and offer welcome. And we can do that right now. \n—Jon Joseph \nArt: A Dahlia from my garden\, with photo assist from Stephen Gay \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-64/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/dahlia500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250714T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250714T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250623T162828Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250623T162844Z
UID:10002097-1752516000-1752521400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is not teaching tonight\, but will return on July 21st. We hope you join us then!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-65/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250707T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250707T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250623T162934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250623T162934Z
UID:10002096-1751911200-1751916600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is not teaching tonight\, but will return on July 21st. We hope you join us then!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-9/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250630T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250630T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T154804Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250624T123352Z
UID:10002058-1751306400-1751311800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is not teaching today\, but will return on July 21st. We hope you join us then!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-59/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250623T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250623T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T154637Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250622T132211Z
UID:10002057-1750701600-1750707000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph – The Tao Arrived: A sharing of experiences from the Great Summer Retreat
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nZhaozhou taught\, “The Greatest Way is not difficult if you just don’t pick and choose. As soon as you hear this\, you think\, ‘That’s picking and choosing\,’ or ‘That’s clarity.’ But I don’t identify with clarity. Can you live this way?”\nA student asked\, “If you don’t identify with clarity\, what do you live by?” “Again\, I don’t know\,” responded Zhou.\n“If you don’t know\, why do you say that you don’t identify with clarity?” “Just asking the question is enough\,” replied Zhou. “Make your bow and step back.” \n—The Blue Cliff Record\, Case 2 \nAs I write\, we are finishing up Pacific Zen’s Great Summer Sesshin in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Morning fog rolls up from the Pajaro Valley\, sometimes engulfing our zendo\, but each day around noon the fog burns off and the bright sunshine comes out\, filtering through the coastal redwoods. Over the week our meditations have followed a similar natural rhythm of mist turning to clear sunshine. \n“We are all like fledgling birds\,” one teacher said\, “Each time we come to retreat\, we grow a few more feathers until finally we can fly.” \nDaily\, whole koans or their bits have been flying gracefully across the empty sky in which we sit. A few that appeared this week: \nThe physical body decays. What is the pure and everlasting body? Mountain flowers open like brocade; mountain torrents are deep as indigo. \nOur Mind is nothing other than mountains\, rivers and great earth\, the sun\, moon and stars. \nI spent some time with Zhaozhou’s “Greatest Way” (above)\, one of the most important koans in The Blue Cliff Record. In that koan\, the character Way\, or Tao 道(J. dō)\, is a foundational notion in Chan–Zen. But the character often translated great\, 至 (J. shi)\, in common usage means to arrive\, reach\, attain. So one possible translation of the above term is “The Way Arrived\,” or “The Way that is attained.” \nIf the life we already have is both arrived and attained\, whole and complete in itself\, then this life with all its many avenues and ditches is the greatest way. If somehow we learn to identify less with either endarkenment (picking and choosing) or enlightenment (clarity)\, then perhaps we can walk this greatest way\, this vast empty sky\, with just a bit more ease. As traveling companions\, this pure and everlasting body will always be with us. It forever lives in the valley fog and coastal redwoods. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-58/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/sun_fog500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250616T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250616T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T153840Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T153840Z
UID:10002059-1750096800-1750102200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is on break today for the Great Summer Sesshin\, but will return on June 23rd. We hope you join us then! \n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250609T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250609T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T184913Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250623T223249Z
UID:10002061-1749492000-1749497400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ZEN LUMINARIES: Untangled – Jon Joseph in Conversation with Author\, Zen Teacher\, and Jungian Psychotherapist Koshin Paley Ellison
DESCRIPTION:  \n\nKoshin Paley Ellison is recognized as one of today’s most thoughtful and trusted leaders in the contemplative medicine movement. With his husband\, Chodo Campbell\, he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care\, an educational non-profit dedicated to integrating contemplative approaches to care with contemporary medicine. Through Koshin’s leadership and vision\, NYZC has developed transformational\, collaborative training experiences: the Foundations in Contemplative Care and the Contemplative Medicine Fellowship. Today\, New York Zen Center’s teachings and practices are internationally recognized — and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals. \nAs a renowned thought leader in contemplative care\, Koshin’s work has been featured in the New York Times\, PBS\, CBS Sunday Morning and other media outlets. Koshin and Chodo were featured in Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death\, a documentary about facing our mortality and are also the focus of a forthcoming documentary about Buddhism in America for Dutch television. \nKoshin is the author of Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity\, Courage\, and Compassion (Balance/Hachette\, 2022); Wholehearted: Slow Down\, Help Out\, Wake Up (Wisdom Publications\, 2019)\, and the co-editor of Awake at Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End of Life Care (Wisdom Publications\, 2016). \nSource: The New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care \n“Intimacy is based on the willingness to open ourselves to many others\, to family\, friends\, and even strangers\, forming genuine and deep bonds based on common humanity. Koshin Paley Ellison’s teachings share the way forward into a path of connection\, compassion\, and intimacy.” \n—His Holiness the Dalai Lama \n“Oh\, what a tangled web we weave when we believe our own thoughts! Koshin Paley Ellison shares his wisdom and passion in Untangled. Written with truth\, humor\, sometimes revealing pain\, always manifesting compassion\, Untangled is a gem.” \n―Sharon Salzberg\, author of Loving Kindness and Real Change \n\n \nJon Joseph Roshi of San Mateo Zen and PZI created this series to support the hardworking innovators and shining voices of modern Zen: scholars\, writers\, poets\, translators\, activists\, artists\, teachers\, and more. \nAll proceeds for each event\, including teacher dana\, go directly to the guest speaker. Event attendees are encouraged to give as generously as you are able\, so we can offer deep thanks to Luminaries guests. \nOur suggested donation is $10 for PZI Members and $12 for Non-Members\, but the scale slides from zero depending on one’s ability to contribute. We also greatly appreciate Patrons\, who help support the program with larger gifts of $25—$250.
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/zen-luminaries-with-koshin-paley-ellison/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/KOSHIN-PALEY-ELLISON500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250609T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250609T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T153707Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T153707Z
UID:10002055-1749492000-1749497400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is on break today for Pacific Zen Luminaries\, but will return on June 23rd. We hope you join us then!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250602T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250602T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T154516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250530T175639Z
UID:10002056-1748887200-1748892600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Holding the Story More Lightly
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nMinister Luxuan was having a conversation with Nanquan and said\, “Sengzhao said\, ‘The universe and I have the same root. The ten thousand things and I have one body.’ How very strange and wonderful!” \nNanquan pointed to a flower in the courtyard and called to the minister saying\, “These days people see this flower as though it’s a dream.” \n—Blue Cliff Record Case 40 \nNeed we so deeply believe the endless stories that make up our dream self? \nKoshin Paley Ellison is a therapist\, Zen teacher\, and co-founder of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care\, which provides training in care for the aging\, recovering\, terminally ill\, and professional care-givers. He writes: \n“We see what we want to see\, or what we are afraid will happen\, as opposed to what actually is. Can you think of a time in your life when you were so lost in a story—either a good one or a bad one—that you didn’t see right under your nose?” \nIn his book\, Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity\, Courage and Compassion\, Koshin recalls a family that had a story they could not let go of. Called by the family to the hospital emergency room at 4:00 a.m.\, he relates: \n***** \nThis was early in my clinical training\, and I remember thinking\, “Oh god\, what am I going to do?” Then I realized—that wasn’t my feeling. I got interested in that feeling of “I don’t know what to do\,” and realized I had taken on that feeling the moment I walked in. \nWe walk into rooms all the time and experience them as sad or energetic rooms. This was a fearful\, bewildered room\, so I took on the feeling\, “I don’t know what to do\, I’m scared\, I feel helpless.” \nInstead of continuing to take it on\, I got curious. I felt tight in my chest\, and then I looked at the family pressed up against the curtain. Their breath was all in their chests\, their eyes were wide. \nI said\, “What’s happening?” They said\, “We don’t know what to do. We don’t know what’s happening.” I saw\, when I looked over at the father on the bed\, that he was clearly mouthing something. \nI said\, “Do you know what he’s saying?” They said\, “No.” So I went over\, and he was whispering. This little man was whispering\, “Hold me\, hold me\, hold me.” I gently touched his hand and I said\, “I’ll be right back\, hold on.” \nI told them\, “He wants to be held.” \nThey said\, “We can’t do that.” \nI said\, “If you hold me\, I’ll hold him.” \nI don’t know what came over me. If we don’t stay with the fear\, and we explore the feeling instead\, things can shift. \nI wanted to help them get close\, so I said\, “One of you keep your hand on me\, and the rest hold each other\, and we’ll make a little chain.” I gently leaned across the bed and held the man around his shoulders\, my arm on his arm. He said\, “Ahhhhhh. More\, more\, more.” \nI ended up crawling into the bed with him\, holding him\, as his wife was touching me on my shoulder\, and I was holding him\, embracing him\, this man. And he said\, “Ahhhhhh\, thank you\, thank you.” And he died. \n***** \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-57/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Mayumi-waves_500x375.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250526T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250526T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T153250Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250523T150100Z
UID:10002053-1748282400-1748287800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Zen and the Ways: Searching for a Master Swordsman
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nFor thirty years I searched for a master swordsman.\nHow many times did the leaves fall\nand the branches break into bud?\nBut from the moment I saw the peach blossoms\, I’ve had no doubts. \n—Entangling Vines\, Case 8 \nThe above poem was written by the 9th century Chan-Zen master Lingyun Zhiqin\, on his becoming awakened while turning a corner in the road and seeing across the valley peach trees in bloom. What did he realize? For a moment he dropped his search for mastery and realized the intimate\, personal beauty of the blossoms. \nSome five centuries later\, the Japanese priest Keizan Jokin wrote: \nThe village peach blossoms didn’t know \ntheir own pink\nbut still they freed Lingyun\nfrom all his doubts. \nOur search for a master swordsman in Chan-Zen is not so different from the search for mastery in the traditional East Asian arts of self-defense. Both seek to drop the self and find the Way. \n“Archery\, therefore\, is not practiced solely for hitting the target\,” writes Eugen Herrigel\, in his classic Zen in the Art of Archery (1953)\, “The mind must be attuned to the Unconscious. If one really wishes to be master of an art\, technical knowledge is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an ‘artless art’ growing out of the Unconscious.” The master swordsman must forget the sword. \nThere is probably no martial art more closely associated with Zen Buddhism in recent years than Aikido (合気道)\, sometimes translated as “The Way of the Harmonious Spirit.” Developed by Morihei Ueshiba (honorifically called\, “Osensei”) in the 1920s to defend oneself against an attacker without seriously injuring the assailant\, the defender actually uses the momentum of the attack against the attacker himself. \n“It’s a lot like dancing\,” says Lance Sobel\, who has just returned from a three-day Aikido training period. Lance\, a fourth-degree black belt\, has been practicing Aikido for fifty years and Zen meditation for nearly as long. He got into martial arts in his early 30s\, and decided to try something other than Karate after breaking bones in both hands after a training session. He notes that early training in Aikido is structured: one partner attacks\, the other partner moves out of range and as the attacker comes closer\, immobilizes or throws them across the mat. More advanced training is spontaneous and free-form: the defender looks for openings with energy\, redirects that energy\, the two enter that dance. \n“When the dance starts happening in a dynamic way\, there is an incredible sense of the universe\, of expanded awareness\,” says Lance. “Where can I safely move? Where can I move them? You are not locked into a predetermined response; it moves more like an organism.” \nTodd Geist\, a Head of Practice at Pacific Zen and a second degree Aikido black belt writes\, “What I loved most about Aikido training was the sense of absolute ease that could come even when being tossed head over heels across the mat. There would be this moment of contact with your partner\, and your body just reacts. Suddenly you are in the air. Not because your partner overwhelmed or hurt you\, but because that was the best way to resolve the situation and dissipate the energy of conflict\, and your body just knew how to do it. It wasn’t always\, or even often like that\, but when it was\, I felt completely free.” \n“We are doing Aikido in order to become freer ultimately\,” writes Seishiro Endo\, 8th dan and elder in the original Aikikai school. “We must savor the circumstance at this moment now as it vibrates from the partner\, open our senses regarding the whole situation around us\, and be able to give rise to function. I hope that we will continue to practice while valuing the vibration in this moment\, now\, now\, now…” \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-5/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Aikido500.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250519T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250519T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T153141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250519T203441Z
UID:10002054-1747677600-1747683000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Yes. My Dog Has Buddha Nature.
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA student asked Zhaozhou\, “Has the dog buddha nature\, or not?”\nZhou replied\, “Yes.”\nThe student said\, “Then why did he jump into that skin bag?”\nZhou responded\, “Even though he knew better\, he just couldn’t help it.” \n—Book of Serenity\, Case 18 \nSo opens Zhaozhou’s Dog\, the well-known dharmakaya koan\, one often given as a first koan to practitioners. In the second half of the koan\, when asked again if a dog has buddha nature\, Zhou replies\, “No!” \nFrom Zen’s point of view\, the universe is utterly simple: there are only two bits. One is form\, or phenomenon\, and the other is no-form\, or emptiness. Presence and Absence\, as translated by David Hinton. \nBut these two parts are not in the least separate. Rather\, they are dependent on each other for their existence. The Heart Sutra\, Zen’s foundational text\, reads: “Form is emptiness and emptiness is form/Form is exactly emptiness and emptiness is exactly form.” What a lovely painting of a rice cake! \nAs soon as we say “form” or “emptiness\,” we divide the universe into two with ideas of how things should be. And we go on dividing\, opening a gap between ourselves and others\, between ourselves and ourselves\, and between ourselves and the world. This creates all sorts of mischief\, and sometimes pain. “People are disturbed not by things themselves\,” writes the Stoic Epictetus\, “but by the views they take of them.” We know that but we can’t help ourselves from doing it. Neither can my dog. \nThe world of “Yes” is hairy\, sweaty\, muddy\, shitty. Oh\, did I mention flatulence? My dog farts\, especially when we are watching TV. And she is an obsessive ball chaser; she has at least ten old tennis balls scattered around the backyard. “Yes” invites us to realize the intrinsic purity and beauty in the world of messiness. Messiness\, too\, is our original nature. It is not wrong. \nIn the world of “No\,” there is not one thing. Everything is a No-thing. Even “No” has no meaning outside of “No.” At some point 2\,500 years ago\, somebody made up a word to point to this thing of No-ness: buddha nature. The bouncy\, messy\, happy skin bag; this is the skin of both No and Yes. It is our skin. \nOur recent Luminaries guest Henry Shukman recounts a story of his solo retreat in the mountains of New Mexico. \nI was having a restless time. My brain was in recovery from a concussion\, the current state of US politics was dire\, and our retreat center down in Santa Fe was having difficulties—all of which made me uneasy\, sometimes angry\, sometimes sad. \nHe sat\, focusing on a thanka of Green Tara\, and something switched for him. \nAgain\, it struck me: Anger was 100 percent fine\, from a goddess’ point of view. From the perspective of awakening\, anger was not a problem. It was “empty”—transparent and boundless…\n\nGoing outside to gaze at the mountains\, he realized that “…all [is] a single arising\, a single body\, a single cloud\, a single wonder\, a single flash of lightening… Nameless. Marvelous. Empty. And here.” \nTranslator’s note: What most recently caught my eye during a review of this koan with a friend was the final line quoted above and Koun Yamada’s lengthy commentary on it. The Chinese characters read: \n(為) Doing (他) Other (知) Knowledge (而) Even so (故) Intentional (犯) Transgress \nOne translation is “Because he knows yet deliberately transgresses (Cleary).” The Pacific Zen translation is beautifully direct: “It knew what it was doing and that’s why it dogged (Sutherland\, Tarrant).” Yamada’s is: “Because he committed himself intentionally.” \nIn discussing the koan\, Yamada mentions that some people get hung up on whether a dog is capable of a crime or transgression. That\, he says\, is completely missing the point. The key is to directly appreciate the dog-ness of the dog. \nWhoof! Yap! \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-4/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dog500.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250512T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250512T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T152713Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T185327Z
UID:10002052-1747072800-1747078200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is on break\, hosting Pacific Zen Luminaries today. Join us again on June 2nd!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-3/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250512T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250512T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250408T162612Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250513T230526Z
UID:10002028-1747072800-1747078200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ZEN LUMINARIES: Original Love – Jon Joseph in Conversation with Author & Zen Teacher Henry Shukman
DESCRIPTION:  \n\nHenry Shukman joins Jon Joseph to discuss his writing and how his history of both studying and teaching Zen has influenced his work and life. He will read from his memoir One Blade of Grass as well as his latest book\, Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening. \nHenry wrote his first book at the age of 19 and worked as a full-time writer for many years\, writing several award-winning and bestselling books of poetry and fiction. His poems have been published in the New Yorker\, Guardian\, Sunday Times (UK) and London Review of Books\, and his essays in the New York Times\, Outside\, Guardian and Tricycle.  He has also taught poetry at the Institute of American Indian Arts and Oxford Brookes University and was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow of Poetry\, and Poet in Residence at the Wordsworth Trust. He has an MA from Cambridge\, an M.Litt. from St Andrews. \nHenry is a teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage and has trained in various other meditation schools and practices. After a spontaneous spiritual awakening at the age of 19\, he embarked on a long journey of healing and deeper awakening\, guided by Roshis John Gaynor\, Joan Rieck\, Ruben Habito\, and Yamada Roshi\, international abbot of Sanbo Zen\, who ultimately appointed him a teacher in 2010. Since then he has been leading a growing number of practitioners on the path of awakening\, in Europe and the US. He has also been authorized to teach Mindfulness by Shinzen Young\, and is a certified dreamwork therapist. He is the Spiritual Director Emeritus of Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe\, New Mexico. \nSource: https://henryshukman.com \n\n“Original Love is one of the rare books destined to inspire new and seasoned meditators alike. Drawing on his own deep experience and years of teaching\, Henry Shukman brings a lucid and refreshing cast to the fundamentals of practice\, and reveals how the loving we yearn for is always\, already here; love is intrinsic to what we are.” \n—Tara Brach\, author of Radical Acceptance \n“If you’ve ever wondered how a messed up kid like you or me might master the wisdom of Zen\, One Blade of Grass is the adventure for you. It’s great company―and after reading it\, you might recognize that you’re further along than you imagined.” \n―David Hinton\, editor and translator of The Four Chinese Classics \n\n \nJon Joseph Roshi of San Mateo Zen and PZI created this series to support the hardworking innovators and shining voices of modern Zen: scholars\, writers\, poets\, translators\, activists\, artists\, teachers\, and more. \nAll proceeds for each event\, including teacher dana\, go directly to the guest speaker. Event attendees are encouraged to give as generously as you are able\, so we can offer deep thanks to Luminaries guests. \nOur suggested donation is $10 for PZI Members and $12 for Non-Members\, but the scale slides from zero depending on one’s ability to contribute. We also greatly appreciate Patrons\, who help support the program with larger gifts of $25—$250.
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/pacific-zen-luminaries-series-henry-shukman-with-jon-joseph-friends-may-12th/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Henry_Shukman500.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250505T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250505T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250416T154320Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250522T232721Z
UID:10002051-1746468000-1746473400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Finding Poland: We're Already in the Land of Awakening
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA monk asked Zhaozhou\, “The ten thousand things return to one. Where does the one return to?” Zhou said\, “When I was in Blue Province\, I made a cloth shirt. It weighed seven pounds.” \n—The Blue Cliff Record\, Case 45 \n  \nWhy do we so often wish to be somewhere else\, be somebody else? Why is awakening always over there\, just around that foreign\, mysterious corner? Our restlessly seeking mind\, even in midst of that search\, is already naturally at rest. \nA dream visited me during a retreat a few weeks ago: \nI was in a large old house\, with rich and dark wooden paneling\, standing in a hallway crowded with people. There was a kind of reception going on. I went up to one of our Pacific Zen teachers\, and told him\, “I want to go to Poland.” He said\, “Come with me\,” and took me down a hallway\, through some double doors into a large library. The library was also beautifully paneled and had a wide desk in it. Sitting behind the desk was an elderly man\, flanked by two attendants. I knew him to be a Polish poet\, but could not remember his name: was it Bukowsky\, Orlowsky? \nI sat down\, and knew I had to get permission from him if I were to get to Poland. So\, still not recalling his name\, I started to bullshit him\, saying\, “I loved your last two collections of poetry.” It was obvious he was having none of it. He said nothing\, and after some minutes gave a doubtful grunt\, got up and left. \nI then stood up\, and turned left to some windows and a French door. I opened the door and looked outside. It was a beautiful Spring day\, and in my view was a parkland with large deciduous trees and people picnicking here and there on the cut green grass. I said to myself\, “Oh\, this is Poland. This is what it is.” Later\, I recognized the man at the desk as the famous Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz. \nI think in my dream Poland represented awakening. I wanted to go to the land of enlightenment.  That land was foreign and far away\, and I thought I had to work the system\, to bullshit the master\, to get there. But it didn’t work. The teacher clearly saw through me. After he left\, I had no more plan. Only then\, in going to the window and opening the doors\, did I realize I was already in the place I was seeking. \nWhere does the one return to? Is there a place to return to other than this one? This very place is the Lotus Land\, says Hakuin Ekaku. It is only here that we can know the weight of a seven-pound shirt\, the taste of honey in tea\, the sound of a lawn mower\, the light reflected on tree leaves. \nThe two monks Yantou and Xuefeng were traveling together and got snowed in on Tortoise Mountain. Yantou slept all the time while Xuefeng stayed up meditating. Yantou rolled over\, turned to his friend and said\, “Haven’t you heard that what comes in through the front gate isn’t the family treasure? You must let it flow out from your own breast to cover heaven and earth.” With that\, Xuefeng understood where the one returns to. \n—Jon Joseph \n  \nLATE RIPENESS \nNot soon\, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year\,\nI felt a door opening in me and I entered\nthe clarity of early morning. \nOne after another my former lives were departing\,\nlike ships\, together with their sorrow. \nAnd the countries\, cities\, gardens\, the bays of seas\nassigned to my brush came closer\,\nready now to be described better than they were before. \nI was not separated from people\,\ngrief and pity joined us.\nWe forget – I kept saying – that we are all children of the King. \nFor where we come from there is no division\ninto Yes and No\, into is\, was\, and will be. \nWe were miserable\, we used no more than a hundredth part\nof the gift we received for our long journey. \nMoments from yesterday and from centuries ago –\na sword blow\, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror\nof polished metal\, a lethal musket shot\, a caravel\nstaving its hull against a reef – they dwell in us\,\nwaiting for a fulfillment. \nI knew\, always\, that I would be a worker in the vineyard\,\nas are all men and women living at the same time\,\nwhether they are aware of it or not. \n—Czeslaw Milosz \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-56/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Milosz_500x375.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250428T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250428T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250212T202123Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250425T165901Z
UID:10002007-1745863200-1745868600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: The Buddha Asks the Earth Goddess for Help
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nMara’s final strategy was argument. He challenged Siddhartha\, asking\, “By what right do you claim the seat on which you sit?”  \nFor Siddhartha\, something unstoppable was unfolding. He didn’t really care what questions were being asked. Mara continued\, “I have my armies to bear witness for me\, but who will speak for you?”  \nSiddhartha’s hand answered—almost out of courtesy\, he reached down and touched the ground. The voice of the earth goddess\, Bhumidevi\, rose from below: “I can bear witness.”  \nThe sun and the moon paused\, the animals bowed. Mara howled\, and his howl diminished as he fled. \n—From The Story of the Buddha by John Tarrant \nIn the above segment\, one of the most important in Siddhartha’s long journey to awakening\, he affirms his foundational right to exist on this earth and find a way to fulfillment. Siddhartha also shows us\, and all things\, how to claim the same right—to realize the light that shines both in Mara’s arrows and Bumidevi’s rich soil. \nThe earth goddess as source of support has been a tenet of Buddhism from its earliest days. Later\, the enlightened Tathagata\, or “the one who is thus gone\,” instructs his son Rahula on how to meditate: \n…for when you develop meditation that is like the earth\, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade your mind and remain. Just as people throw clean and dirty things… on the earth\, and the earth is not repelled\, humiliated\, and disgusted because of that\, so too\, Rahula—develop meditation that is like the earth. \nThe translator and poet David Hinton\, in his new book\, Orient\, writes about his experience with the earth goddess as a young man\, an encounter that fundamentally changed his life: \nIt was sometime in my twentieth year when I saw it: rain on pooled water\, a few scattered drops\, circles of light igniting on the dark surface\, occurring\, originating\, then expanding and disappearing back into empty darkness.  \nDarkness of the pool\, but also darkness of mind’s mirrored depths… It felt like returning to home-ground I’ve never known\, like orienting…  \nDark pool\, dry leaves—each raindrop orienting\, opening this home-ground\, this mirror deep sincerity. It was from this magic of the rain that the word first appeared: from nowhere else\, occurrence. \nThe earth can and will heal herself. If we ask her\, she may heal us as well. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-55/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Buddha.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250421T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250421T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250212T201951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T152159Z
UID:10002006-1745258400-1745263800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is not teaching today\, but will return on April 28th. We hope you join us then! \n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-54/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250414T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250414T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250212T201810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250411T184216Z
UID:10002005-1744653600-1744659000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Our Mysterious Melody: Playing the Flute with No Holes and Other Impossibilities
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nPlay the flute with no holes\n\n—from the Pacific Zen Miscellaneous Collection \nWhat a marvelous and mysterious thing\, to cross the border from the land of sense to the country of sensibility and the play of no-sense. One old Zen dictionary interprets the “flute with no holes” as “one from which any sound may be heard.” \nWhat is the source of that sound? What is our natural virtuosity? \nThe origin of this phrase is found in Yuanwu’s comment on a koan in the Blue Cliff Record. Xuefeng\, before he became a teacher\, was living alone in a hut when two monks came to visit. Feng pushed open the door and asked\, “What is it?” One of the monks responded\, “What is it?” Yuanwu comments: \nGhost eyes. A flute with no holes. He raises his head\, wearing horns. \nHe mentions this magical instrument a few other times\, suggesting it be used like a rug beater: \nA flute with no holes strikes against a wool felt pounding board. \nThis flute is not picky about its sounds. \nIn a similar spirit\, the 18th c Japanese master Genro also gathered one hundred koans with commentaries\, calling it the Tekkei Tosui (鐵笛倒吹)\, which means “blowing the iron flute upside down.” But alas\, Genro did not include this koan in his collection except in the title. \nWhat is it\, to blow the flute with no holes? In a posthumous collection of her father’s poems\, Kim Stafford writes that her father would often say\, “Let’s talk recklessly… I must be willingly fallible to deserve a place in the realm where miracles happen.” \nWhatever the river says\, I say. \n—Jon Joseph \nASK ME by William Stafford \nSometime when the river is ice ask me\nmistakes I have made. Ask me whether\nwhat I have done is my life. Others\nhave come in their slow way into\nmy thought\, and some have tried to help\nor to hurt: ask me the difference\ntheir strongest love or hate has made.\nI will listen to what you say.\nYou and I can look at the silent river and wait. We know\nthe current is there\, hidden: and there\nare comings and goings from miles away\nthat hold the stillness exactly before us.\nWhat the river says\, that is what I say. \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-53/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Mayumi-flute_500w.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250407T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250407T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250212T201623Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250212T201623Z
UID:10002009-1744048800-1744054200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is not teaching today\, but will return on April 14th. We hope you join us then!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break-2/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250407T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250407T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060028
CREATED:20250114T232713Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250409T170750Z
UID:10001982-1744048800-1744054200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ZEN LUMINARIES: Things as It Is and Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been – Jon Joseph in Conversation with Poet & Teacher Chase Twichell
DESCRIPTION:  \n\nChase Twichell has published eight books of poetry including Things As It Is (2018) and Horses Where Answers Should Have Been (2010)\, and is currently working on a new collection. She began a lay Zen practice in the mid-1990s at Zen Mountain Monastery under John Daido Loori\, and her poetry and practice have been co-mingled since then. \n“Zen threw me a big curve ball\,” she has said. “There is almost no metaphor in Chinese poetry: Zen tries to see things as they are\, without the spin.” \nChase’s poems have appeared in many publications including The New Yorker\, The Paris Review\, and The Nation. In addition\, she has taught poetry at Princeton University\, the University of Alabama\, and Hampshire College. \nTHINGS AS IT IS \nLast night my hand began writing\nin the hand of some future me\,\nas if a branch in wind had scribbled\non freshly fallen snow.\nIn the dark\, coyotes called\nback and forth in the bird-silence.\nI put down the pen and went outside\,\nstood listening to wind in snow’s translation.\nWild dogs\, teach me\na few of your words before I die. \nHIS ABSENCE \nHis absence is hard to pin down.\nNo martini glasses in sight\nno secret ashtrays.\nI can ask him anything–\nlocked in a dark library.\nall that he knew and remembered is lost to us both.\nAnd the whole world of the night\nhas gone missing.\nIncluding the scent of our joy. \n\n\nChase Twichell’s poems are among my favorites ever written. Often brash\, always vivid\, smart\, and lyrical\, pointing toward essential things—this is a marvelous and rich body of work. \n—Tony Hoagland \n\nShort Bio \nChase Twichell was born in 1950\, and grew up in Connecticut and the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. She is the author of eight books of poetry\, most recently Things as It Is (Copper Canyon\, 2018). \nAfter teaching for many years (Hampshire College\, the University of Alabama\, Princeton University)\, she left academia to found Ausable Press\, a not-for-profit publisher of contemporary poetry\, which was acquired by Copper Canyon in 2009. \nFrom 2013 to 2016 Twichell served as Chair of the Kate and Kingsley Tufts Awards Jury. \nShe recently taught in the Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program for Writers. \nA longtime student in the Mountains and Rivers Order at Zen Mountain Monastery in upstate New York\, she splits the year between the Adirondacks and Saratoga Springs\, NY. \nsource: https://www.chasetwichell.com/about \n\n \nJon Joseph Roshi of San Mateo Zen and PZI created this series to support the hardworking innovators and shining voices of modern Zen: scholars\, writers\, poets\, translators\, activists\, artists\, teachers\, and more. \nAll proceeds for each event\, including teacher dana\, go directly to the guest speaker. Event attendees are encouraged to give as generously as you are able\, so we can offer deep thanks to Luminaries guests. \nOur suggested donation is $10 for PZI Members and $12 for Non-Members\, but the scale slides from zero depending on one’s ability to contribute. We also greatly appreciate Patrons\, who help support the program with larger gifts of $25—$250.
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/zen-luminaries-horses-where-the-answers-should-have-been-jon-joseph-in-conversation-with-author-chase-twichell/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Chase-twichell_500x375.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250331T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250331T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20250212T201411Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T191301Z
UID:10002004-1743444000-1743449400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Like A Mosquito Bites an Iron Ox: An Abiding Wisdom in the Absurd
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA monk asked Zhaozhou\, “‘The Ultimate Path is not difficult—just avoid picking and choosing.’ Isn’t this a cliché for people of these times?” Zhou replied\, “Once someone asked me\, and I really couldn’t explain for five years.”\n\n—The Blue Cliff Record Case 58 \nYuanwu\, the commentator of The Blue Cliff Record\, speaks to the extraordinary difficulty of working with this koan; likening it to a mosquito trying to bite an iron ox\, or attempting to climb a silver mountain\, or breaking through an iron wall. We all know the feeling of deep frustration\, bordering on insanity\, in confronting the impossible over and over again with no satisfying result. \nA couple of months ago\, I found myself in a state of intense despair with some personal struggles. While watching TV with my wife—was it The Lincoln Lawyer\, Lioness\, or Succession?—tears suddenly welled up in my eyes. I asked myself\, “Why do you keep banging your head against the wall?” In that moment\, an unexpected answer rose from within me: “Because you can’t give up on Mu.” \nThe response was startling and strange. It came from a deep\, foundational place inside me. I haven’t worked on Mu as a koan in decades\, though I often sit with its English translation\, “No.” Yet\, in that moment it was an original statement\, familiar to me\, and one from the very beginning of my Zen practice\, more than fifty years ago. \nSomething shifted in that inner dialogue\, though I cannot fully explain how. The problems that once seemed insurmountable pretty much vanished. The iron ox\, the silver mountain\, and the iron wall no longer appeared as obstacles but rather as absurd partners in an intimate game. \nThe “Ultimate Path” koan appears four times in The Blue Cliff Record\, with Zhaozhou offering a different response each time. In one case\, he warns\, “As soon as you hear these words\, you think this is picking and choosing\, or clarity. This old monk does not dwell in clarity.” When a monk asks\, “What do you dwell in\, then?” Zhou replies\, “I don’t know\,” and tells the monk that simply asking the question is enough. \nHow inconceivable that just trying to bite the iron ox would be enough. That standing on the top of a hundred foot pole\, that holding onto a branch with our teeth would all be the full expression of our Buddha nature. Perhaps the Ultimate Path is not somewhere else\, in some sense-making\, light-filled universe. Maybe in some absurd way\, it is right here. Asking the question may be enough. \n—Jon Joseph \nSnow–Globe Vesuvius \nI live on the flank of Vesuvius\, in Pompeii.\nEach day the sky fills with leaflets\,\nsmokelets\, prayers to  powers\naglitter whether storming or still\n(the old ones mica\, the new ones who cares what).\n\nEveryone knows there’s more than one\nkind of consciousness. Everyone knows\nthat in the snow-globe of Vesuvius\,\nthe “snow” is really ash–\neach time the volcano buries the town.\n\nWould you meet me in a world like that?\nIf not there\, where?\n\n —Chase Twichell\, Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-52/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Oxen500.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250324T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250324T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20250212T201228Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T212049Z
UID:10002003-1742839200-1742844600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Dios Pasas: The Gods Pass By
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nA couple of nights ago\, my dog Mocha Puppachino was restless in the very early morning\, so I got up to let her out. After a few minutes\, she came back\, and we returned upstairs. Falling into a half sleep\, I began to dream. \nI was standing on the side of a wide dirt road. Going down the lane was a procession of indigenous Aztecs or Mayans\, with high cheekbones and aquiline noses\, lightly dressed in ceremonial wear\, passing in profile from left to right. Their colors were earth tones of ocher\, soft yellows and browns. \nIn my sleep I began to repeat to myself\, “Dios pasas!”\, “Dios pasas!”\, over and over again\, almost as if I were saying a prayer or holding a koan. Though my Spanish is not very good\, I translated the phrase in my mind as\, “The gods are passing by!” (My Spanish-speaking daughter later corrected my grammar un piquito.) \nI’m not fully sure what the dream meant\, but I had a strong feeling of inclusion. I was witness to the sacred; not sacred as an idea\, but as a relationship. With great warmth and appreciation\, I understood I was being watched over. The gods too were being witnessed by me. Each of us was expressing our essential relationship to the other\, in that moment and place. To make ourselves whole\, we needed each other. \nA dream-like koan came to me in connection to the dream itself: \nShoushan said to the assembly\, “If you attain it with the first phrase\, you will be teacher of buddhas and ancestors. If you attain with the second phrase\, you will be teacher of humans and gods. If you attain it with the third phrase\, you will not even save yourself.” A monk asked\, “At which statement did you attain it\, teacher?” Shoushan said\, “The moon sets\, it is midnight. I walk through the marketplace.” (BS 76) \nOur movement through the dark and empty marketplace is singular and sometimes deeply lonely. Yet it is full of potential: absence completely open to receiving presence\, as David Hinton writes. \nSoon enough\, farmers and merchants arrive on their donkey carts and horses. The horizon lightens and the sun comes over the ridge. Women with sleepy children in tow come to shop for dinner; chickens squawk and dogs bark. And the buddhas\, ancestors and gods are there. They walk among us even now. \nHongzhi Zenghue in his verse on this koan writes: \nWe meet the lowly and then the noble\nWe meet the noble and then lowly\nGetting the jewel through formlessness\nThe ultimate way is continuous \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-51/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/monday.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250317T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250317T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20250212T201047Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250317T144238Z
UID:10002002-1742234400-1742239800@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: The Mysterious Co-Mingling of Our Lives
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\nYunmen\, teaching the community\, said\, “The old Buddha and a pillar embrace—how available are they to each other?”  He answered for them\,  “On South Mountain clouds gather\, on North Mountain rain falls.”\n\n—The Blue Cliff Record\, Case 83 \nThis morning\, I woke in the dark to the delicious sound of rain on the roof. Late in the season\, we in California are getting another series of atmospheric rivers—those long narrow storms heavy with warm\, moist air\, sometimes called the pineapple express—which will bring several inches of rain to the green foothills and drop several feet of snow on the divides and basins of the High Sierra. \nThe sound reminded me of years ago when I was in sesshin\, awake at night listening to the sound of heavy dewdrops falling from the eves outside the window. How utterly splendid was the sound of each drop before it hit. But I wander. \nClouds gather on South Mountain while rain falls on North Mountain. It may be inconceivable to connect the two. Koun Yamada\, our ancestral teacher\, cautions against it. “When we hear about clouds on South Mountain and rain on North Mountain the temptation is all too great to conclude that there is some connection between the two. And as soon as we do that\, we are caught up in concepts and are far indeed from the spirit of the koan. We have been caught in the trap which Yunmen has laid for us.” His advice is to wonder at the thusness of each: how wonderful the clouds\, how amazing the rain. \nBut maybe Yunmen’s “trap” is actually an invitation to embrace that which is irrationally linked and to explore the deeper\, more mysterious relationships in our lives. Like the old Buddha and the pillar\, to what degree are we open and vulnerable to the people and things around us? That which seems fractured may actually be part of a greater whole. We need not explain it; we can just live it. \nEd Espe Brown\, the Soto priest and author of No Recipe: Cooking as Spiritual Practice\, relates a story about the famous Italian chef Massimo Bottura. One day an assistant chef came in and confessed he had dropped and broken a whole tray of lemon tarts. Instead of throwing out the broken and fractured tarts\, Bottura folded them into a lemon pudding\, and it has since become one of the favorite desserts at his Osteria Francescana. \nOne time Baizhang was walking outside with his teacher\, Mazu\, when they flushed a brace of ducks. The teacher asked\, “Where did they go?” Zhang replied\, “They flew away.” The teacher grabbed his nose and twisted it\, saying\, “When did they ever fly away?” Zhang returned to his room\, and a monk found him weeping. Later\, the monk came back and Zhang was laughing. The monk asked him about it\, and Zhang said\, “Before I was crying\, and now I’m laughing.” The ducks and his nose shared an inconceivable co-mingling\, both in laughing and in crying. \nLast week\, I spoke with an old friend\, who informed me he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. I had recognized some decline in him in the past year\, but the news was very saddening. Going forward\, we agreed to check in regularly. Later\, I went to a wonderful birthday dinner with friends\, and afterward we all went to a club to listen to some amazing folk and blues guitar. It was fantastic. So sad and so fun\, co-mingling. \nXuetou\, himself an old Buddha\, writes in his appreciatory verse on this koan: \nIn suffering happiness\nIn happiness\, suffering\n \nPerhaps just because it is fractured\, life somehow works. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-50/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Plate500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250310T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250310T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20250212T200850Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250212T200850Z
UID:10002001-1741629600-1741635000@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: ON BREAK
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is not teaching today\, but will return on March 17th. We hope you join us then!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-on-break/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250303T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250303T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20250212T200441Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250305T174107Z
UID:10002008-1741024800-1741030200@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: The Way to Cold Mountain: A Hermit's Poems and Life
DESCRIPTION:Looking for a refuge\nCold Mountain will keep you safe\na faint wind stirs dark pines\ncome closer\, the sound gets better\nbelow them sits a gray-haired man\nchanting Taoist texts\nten years unable to return\nhe forgot the way he came \n—The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain\, Red Pine\, (4) \nFor over a thousand years\, this has been one of the most beloved poems in Chan-Zen Buddhist and Daoist communities everywhere. The hermit writes that for a very long time he has lived deep in the mountains\, and he is now not sure if he wants to\, or even can\, return home. “Cold Mountain\,” writes Gary Snyder\, “in Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems\, is more than the name of an anonymous Tang Dynasty poet; it is also a place and a state of mind. As verse\, the poems are ‘colloquial\, rough\, and fresh.’” \nCold Mountain has always been the people’s\, rather than the critic’s\, choice. “The Chinese literati over the centuries never seemed to embrace the rag-wearing beggar as one of their own\,” writes Bill (Red Pine) Porter. Porter believes Cold Mountain is the people’s favorite just because he is simple\, honest and rudely playful. \nThe 300 poems\, collected off rocks\, bamboo\, wood and the walls of houses\, demonstrate in the writer a vast range of human emotion: expansive consciousness (“my mind is like the autumn moon/clear and bright in a pool of jade”)\, occasional bitterness (“Wise ones you ignore me/I ignore you fools”)\, and a melancholy loneliness (“recently visiting family and friends/most have left for the Yellow Springs”). \nHe gives hints of a former\, perhaps easier\, life now lost: tending a garden with his wife\, raising daughters\, enjoying a high social position. This is what the people understand in him: Love\, loss and loneliness. “Cold Mountain was a flesh-and-blood sage\, not a bronze or porcelain image\,” writes John Blofeld\, in his introduction to Red Pine’s translation. But Cold Mountain also shows in stories of his madcap life with two sidekicks\, Pickup and Big Stick\, that all is not tears. \nOne day while he was dusting the statues in the shrine hall Pickup went to the altar and ate a piece of fruit left by a worshiper in front of the statue of Shakyamuni. Then before the statue of Kaundinya\, the Buddha’s first disciple\, he yelled\, ”Hinayana monk!” The other monks who saw this reported it to the chief custodian\, who moved Pickup into the kitchen to work… \n–o– \nOnce when the monks were grilling eggplants\, Cold Mountain (who occasionally worked in the temple kitchen) grabbed a string of them and swung them against a monk’s back. When the monk turned around\, Cold Mountain held up the eggplants and said\, “What’s this?” The monk cried out\, “You lunatic!” Cold Mountain turned to another monk and said\, “Tell this monk he’s wasting salt and soy sauce…” \n–o– \nOnce I reached Cold Mountain\nI stayed for thirty years\nrecently visiting family and friends\nmost had left for the Yellow Springs\nslowly fading like a dying candle\nor surging past like a flowing stream\ntoday facing my solitary shadow\nsuddenly both eyes filled with tears (53) \n–o– \nI have a single cave\na cave with nothing inside\nspacious and devoid of dust\nfull of light that always shines\na meal of plants feeds a frail body\na cloth robe masks a mirage\nlet your thousand sages appear\nI have the primordial buddha (163) \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-49/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/coldmountain500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250224T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250224T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20250114T204533Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250226T184401Z
UID:10001981-1740420000-1740425400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ZEN LUMINARIES: Dancing with the Dead – Jon Joseph in Conversation with Author & Translator Red Pine (Bill Porter)
DESCRIPTION:  \n\nPlease join us this Monday night when in our Pacific Zen Luminaries Series we visit with the celebrated Dharma translator\, Red Pine.  \nRed Pine\, also known as Bill Porter\, will share with us his pilgrimage to find and learn from present-day Chinese mountain hermits as chronicled in his book\, Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits\, and featured in the recent Woody Creek Pictures documentary\, Dancing with the Dead. Also joining us for this multi-media presentation are the film’s producer and director\, Ward Serrill\, and the vocalist in the film\, Spring Cheng. \nIn addition\, Red Pine will read from one of his earliest translations\, The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse.  \nStonehouse was a little-known Chinese hermit-poet of uncommon clarity and insight. Born into an elite family in 1272—the last years of the great Song Dynasty before it was overthrown by the Kublai Khan—at the age of twenty\, Stonehouse decided to become a Buddhist monk and went on to study with several outstanding teachers of the day.  \nA brilliant student\, he accepted the post of meditation master at a prestigious temple\, and was rapidly promoted to the position of abbot at several larger monasteries. But at age forty he tired of institutional prestige and position\, and gave up teaching to live as a simple hermit in a hand-built bamboo hut in the mountains. \nBelow are two of his many poems: \nDon’t think a mountain home means you’re free\na day doesn’t pass without its cares\nold ladies steal my bamboo shoots\nboys lead oxen into the wheat\ngrubs and beetles destroy my greens\nboars and squirrels devour the rice\nthings don’t always go my way\nwhat can I do by turn to myself\n \n(Mountain Poems\, 10) \nStripped of conditions\, my mind is at rest\nemptied of existence\, my nature is at peace\nhow often at night\, have my windows turned white\nas the moon and stream passed by my door\n \n(Mountain Poems\, 108) \n\nSo I’ve come to realize that translation is not just another literary art. It’s the ultimate literary art. For me this means a tango with Li Bai\, or a waltz with Wing-Wu. But in any case\, a dance with the dead. \n—Bill Porter \n\nShort Bio \nBill Porter assumes the pen name Red Pine for his translation work\, and is recognized as one of the world’s finest translators of Chinese poetic and religious texts. \nHe was born in Los Angeles in 1943\, grew up in the Idaho Panhandle\, served a tour of duty in the US Army\, graduated from the University of California with a degree in anthropology\, and attended graduate school at Columbia University.  \nUninspired by the prospect of an academic career\, he dropped out of Columbia and moved to a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. After four years with the monks and nuns\, he struck out on his own and eventually found work at English-language radio stations in Taiwan and Hong Kong\, where he interviewed local dignitaries and produced more than a thousand programs about his travels in China.  \nHis translations have been honored with a number of awards\, including two NEA translation fellowships\, a PEN Translation Prize\, and the inaugural Asian Literature Award of the American Literary Translators Association.  \nHe was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to support work on a book based on a pilgrimage to the graves and homes of China’s greatest poets of the past\, which was published under the title Finding Them Gone in January of 2016. More recently\, Porter received the 2018 Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation bestowed by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  \nHe lives in Port Townsend\, Washington. \nsource: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/authors/bill-porter/ \n\n \nJon Joseph Roshi of San Mateo Zen and PZI created this series to support the hardworking innovators and shining voices of modern Zen: scholars\, writers\, poets\, translators\, activists\, artists\, teachers\, and more. \nAll proceeds for each event\, including teacher dana\, go directly to the guest speaker. Event attendees are encouraged to give as generously as you are able\, so we can offer deep thanks to Luminaries guests. \nOur suggested donation is $10 for PZI Members and $12 for Non-Members\, but the scale slides from zero depending on one’s ability to contribute. We also greatly appreciate Patrons\, who help support the program with larger gifts of $25—$250.
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/zen-luminaries-dancing-with-the-dead-jon-joseph-in-conversation-with-author-translator-red-pine/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/RedPine-CALENDAR_500x375.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250224T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250224T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20241220T203617Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250217T181836Z
UID:10001943-1740420000-1740425400@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:ON BREAK: Monday Zen with Jon Joseph
DESCRIPTION:Jon Joseph is not teaching today\, but will return on March 3rd. We hope you join us then!\n\nWe are not alone in the world. We have each other to turn toward. All we need to do is ask. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-48/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/wooden-bucketCALENDAR500x350.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250217T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250217T193000
DTSTAMP:20260426T060029
CREATED:20241220T203537Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250218T003438Z
UID:10001944-1739815200-1739820600@www.pacificzen.org
SUMMARY:MONDAY ZEN with Jon Joseph: Language of the Heart – A Chat about Classic Chinese Poetry
DESCRIPTION:REGISTER\n\n“Poetry is China’s greatest art\,” writes translator Red Pine (Bill Porter)\, especially during the great dynasties of the Tang (618-906) and Song (960-1278). “The Chinese have ever since called this their Golden Age of Poetry.” It was also the golden age of Chan/Zen Buddhism in China. \n“The Chinese word for poetry shih (詩) is nominally a combination of word (言) and temple (寺)\, but it’s origin is actually chih\, made of the two characters for word (言) and to aspire\, or heart-felt (志)\,” writes Red Pine. He translates the character for poem as “language from the heart.” \nIn these two dynasties\, there were monk poets\, hermit poets\, government official poets\, and emperor poets\, and they wrote everywhere: on paper\, rocks\, cave and temple walls. They got inspiration from birds and animals\, human relationships\, water courses\, history\, weather\, and wine. And always the narrative was one of human beings standing in a timeless time and spaceless space in the midst of the ever-changing and forever-moving Way. \nThese three poets are among the greatest in the Tang: \nDu Fu (712-770)\, trained as a Confucian\, is sometimes called the “poet-historian.” He was for many years a government official\, serving on the front lines in war or in the capital\, falling in and out of favor\, depending on the imperial court and events of the times. He died in near poverty. \n“Moonrise” \nThin slice of ascending light\, arc tipped\nAside all its bellied dark—the new moon\nappears and\, scarcely risen beyond ancient\nfrontier passes\, edges behind clouds. Silver\,\nchangeless—the Star River spreads across\nempty mountains scoured with cold. White\ndew dusts the courtyard\, chrysanthemum\nblossoms clotted there with swollen dark. \nLi Bai (701-762) was the Daoist of the three\, and his poems often celebrated friendship\, the wonders of nature\, and the joys of drinking wine. He married several times into different wealthy families\, but often gave his belongings away to friends\, and failed at several attempts to serve in court. His life\, like his friend Tu Fu’s\, was greatly impacted by the disastrous An Lu Shan Rebellion of 755. It is said Li Bai drowned\, falling out of a boat on his way to exile while one night trying to capture the moon in a drunken embrace. \n“Waiting for Wine that Doesn’t Come” \nJade winejars tied in blue silk….\nWhat’s taking the wineseller so long?\nMountain flowers smiling\, taunting me\,\nit’s the perfect time to sip some wine\,\nladle it out beneath my east window\nat dusk\, wandering orioles back again\,\nSpring breezes and their drunken guest:\ntoday\, we are meant for each other. \nPo Chu-I (772-846)\, who also served as politician and artist\, was the Chan-Zen Buddhist of the three greats. His poems advising stopping a needless military campaign and satire of greedy officials got him exiled from court several times. His poetry is known for its accessibility\, and it is said if one of his servants could not understand a poem\, he would rewrite it. \n“Sick and Old\, Same as Ever: A Poem to Figure it All Out” \nSplendor and ruin\, sorrow and joy\, long life or early death:\nwhen the human realm’s a figment of prank and whimsy\,\nis it really so strange if I’m a bug’s arm or a rat’s liver?\nAnd chicken skin or crane plumage—what would It hurt?\nIn yesterday’s winds\, I was happy to begin my long journey\,\nbut today in all this sunlit warmth\, I feel better.\nAnd now that I’m packed and ready for that distant voyage\,\nwhat does it matter if I linger on a little while here. \n—Jon Joseph \n\nJon Joseph Roshi\n  \nCOME JOIN US on Mondays for koan meditation\, dharma talk and conversation. Register to participate. All are welcome. \nJon Joseph Roshi\, Director of San Mateo Zen Community
URL:https://www.pacificzen.org/event/monday-zen-with-jon-joseph-47/
LOCATION:PZI Online Temple
CATEGORIES:PZI Zen Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.pacificzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/heartbook500.jpg
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