Articles by John Tarrant

AUDIO. In chaos stories you are always lost. Why not go into the lostness? Chan says, go deeper—getting lost might be a good thing. Recorded June 5, 2022.

A ritual chant of release. Recorded December 26, 2021.

David Chadwick, author of the Shunryu Suzuki Roshi biography “Crooked Cucumber,” interviews John Tarrant for his Cuke podcast in December 21.

“The entire meaning of your life is contained in the current matter,” said Mazu, the grand Chan master. Sooner or later, death is that matter. John Tarrant on sorrow, death, and eternity.

A curation of sesshin dharma talks on a single page, for easy finding and listening. A sesshin is more than the sum of its parts or its recorded talks—it is timeless play in the universe and with each other. As recorded in the PZI Digital Temple, June 22-27, 2021.

Sunday Talk excerpt from John Tarrant’s Free & Easy Wandering Series. In uncertain times, Dalung’s koan is something to trust. The mystery of your life is endless, the mystery gives endlessly. As recorded May 23, 2021.

Fathers dancing: Caring for others, holding paths in the dharma and celebrating. Mountains, clouds, waves, birds, lions and teachers dance. The trees dance and foxes steal shoes and dance in the moonlight. Sunday Talk with John Tarrant on Fathers’s Day, as recorded June 20, 2021.

Koan meditation and dharma talk with John Tarrant. How is my hand like Buddha’s hand? PZI Zen Online, Sunday program as recorded May 16, 2021.

John Tarrant begins with a Daoist story from the Zhuangzi: the transformation of a giant fish named Kun. Includes meditation segments, music with Michael Wilding, Four Vows with Jordan McConnell & Amaryllis Fletcher, Cantor. Freedom is in your own breast—koans open the way. PZI Zen Online. As recorded May 2, 2021.

This particular koan is not trying to preach anything; it goes down to the deepest part of your heart. It’s like a poem in our hearts—those things will help us through. There’s nothing really to do. John Tarrant at Sunday Meditation & Talk, March 29, 2020.

In the journey we’re on, as we move through the days, as the sun and moon travel over us—everything we do has a kind of golden quality. And you realize that the things we thought were errors, we can’t be sure of that any more, that everything in your life has brought you to this moment. John Tarrant in Summer Sesshin 2019. 17-minute video excerpt.

I’m writing to wish everyone well at this time. It’s spring in California. The days lengthen.
In summer the fires will be back. The Antarctic ice is melting.
Now the Corona Virus is here and most of us are confined to sheltering at home.
Just to give us a sense of sequence, I’m adding to this newsletter journal each month.
A record the season we are passing through, blossoms and plagues, such as a haiku poet would make.
These are the times we have and this is the beautiful life we have.