Being in the Bath of Awakening
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
Release Date: 10/01/2025
The Silence of Haiku
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
Roshi John Tarrant explores the intersection of the art of haiku and silence. In this episode, he shows how the vastness of the universe is always ready to emerge out of our very own heart-mind. How do we convey this? Listen to this episode as we grapple with the marvel of being alive and the sense of vastness of things. We muse on what comes out of the silence and consider how to teach and learn from the Dharma. Darkness is a stillness, too." - John Tarrant. Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at
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A Winter Tale of Wonder
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
As the year comes to a close, "the Guanyins" -- Roshis Allison Atwill, Tess Beasley, Michelle Riddle, and Sarah Bender -- team up to tell a wintery Christmas tale of wonder. Holidays often come with difficulties, but also have the potential of opening the heart into unexpected moments of healing. Listen to a story of reconciliation, surprise, and the blessing that emptiness can bring to any season. Happy New Year! "Zen sees awakening as a kind of miracle." - Tess Beasley. Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at
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The Golden Birds & Buddha Nature
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
In this episode, Roshi John Tarrant shares a wondrous and humorous rendition of an old fairytale about the Golden Bird and Buddha Nature. Explore how it is never our most treasured or heroic attitudes that lead us through the gates of awakening; it is far simpler than that. Tarrant reminds us that, with just one sitting, all our crimes are wiped away. Listen to this episode to learn about the benefits of generosity and discipline, and how we can best manage our expectations of desire and fulfillment. "Everybody wants to be the best horse, but the worst horse is interesting.” - John Tarrant...
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No Complaints Whatsoever
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
Thanksgiving and the whole notion of gratitude can bring along complicated feelings. In this episode, Roshi John Tarrant shares an old story about a miserable student convinced that he is beyond help. The teacher he finds tells him she'll offer him a practice but only if he promises to take it up for a whole year, no questions asked. It goes terribly, but even that turns out perfectly in the end. Gratitude is far more mysterious than we give it credit for, and impossible to fabricate. Like awakening itself, it arises by itself as we move deeper on the path. "We don't oppose anything that rises...
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Never Lacking for Salt & Sauce
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
In this episode, Roshi John Tarrant shares an old Zen story about navigating impossible times and realizing how life carries us even when it's tough. "For thirty years, I've been just getting by," says the teacher in question, "but I've never lacked for salt or sauce." What makes the salt and sauce of our lives? Listen to this moving and joyful exploration of how, no matter our circumstances, it is a good life, and that we, too, never lack for salt or sauce. "Slowly the dharma just soaks into you." - John Tarrant. Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at
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The Importance of Being Lost
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
Being lost has a transformative beauty to it. Being lost is a gateway to the extraordinary, as it brings about the possibility of not knowing who we are. Listen to this episode as Roshi John Tarrant discusses the importance of being tossed out of our certainties and discovering something far more strange and true. The final evening of sesshin in the bath. "We can't object to the path or ourselves." - John Tarrant. Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at
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Losing & Finding Our True Nature
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
During our journey of existence, we lose and find our true nature. It's amazing what we know once we allow ourselves to know it. What magic happens when koans start talking to each other? In this episode, Roshi Tess Beasley discusses the game of hide-and-seek we are constantly playing with ourselves, others, and everything. "There is some idea that things belong to us, but they certainly don't. That goes for our inner lives as well." - Tess Beasley. Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at
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Being in the Bath of Awakening
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
What does it mean to be in the bath of awakening? We somehow always have a reluctance to immerse ourselves completely, which is the very thing that holds it at bay. In this episode, Roshi Jess Cardin talks listeners through another water koan from The Blue Cliff Record in which the teacher recounts the "subtle touch reveals the light in everything." What do you hold in reserve? What keeps you feeling outside of things or difficult to reach? Listen from deep in sesshin. "Once I am in the bath, I can look back and see that I was always in the bath." - Jesse Cardin. Learn more about this episode...
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The Stone Drenched with Rain
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
The stone drenched with rain points the way. In this episode, Roshi Allison Atwill speaks on a koan born of a haiku by Japanese poet Santoka Taneda. What does it mean to be drenched in our own lives and experiences? This episode invites listeners into the constant downpour that is the universe itself. "It is a promising moment when we give up trying to control our situation; not to get our of the rain, but to let it soak through us." - Allison Atwill. Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at
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When You Stop Chasing About
Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life
We are all walking through the valley holding our lanterns. What is the Way? What do the valley and the lantern represent? Koans allow us to stop chasing. When we are not chasing things, we can experience freedom and delight. When you relate to something outside of yourself, you can be free. Listen to this episode as Roshi John Tarrant muses on having the mind of a dead log. "The whole of your life has a nobility and truth to it." - John Tarrant. Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at
info_outlineWhat does it mean to be in the bath of awakening?
We somehow always have a reluctance to immerse ourselves completely, which is the very thing that holds it at bay.
In this episode, Roshi Jess Cardin talks listeners through another water koan from The Blue Cliff Record in which the teacher recounts the "subtle touch reveals the light in everything."
What do you hold in reserve? What keeps you feeling outside of things or difficult to reach? Listen from deep in sesshin.
"Once I am in the bath, I can look back and see that I was always in the bath." - Jesse Cardin.
Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at https://www.pacificzen.org/24