Illustrations by Tomi Um.John Tarrant demystifies Zen koan practice. Yes, it’s paradoxical, poetic, and totally personal. And so is life.
How to Practice Zen Koans
Illustrations by Tomi Um.
About John Tarrant
Illustrations by Tomi Um.It Would Be a Pity to Waste A Good Crisis
Zen teacher John Tarrant offers seven guidelines for taking advantage of life’s crises and surprises
How to Welcome the End of the World
What is the best response to difficult and uncertain times? Welcome. John Tarrant, Roshi offers 10 Zen pointers on the practice of welcoming.
Ordinary Life is the Way
It is natural to look for the things you want outside of where you are now. That is the whole point of a journey. Yet this moment is all anyone has.
The World Catches Us Every Time
A mysterious beast captures your attention. Is it distracting you or calling you? It can be hard to tell, says Zen teacher John Tarrant, what’s distraction and what could have real meaning for your life. Either way, there’s no going back.
Enlightenment is Something We Do Together
There’s a romantic idea of enlightenment as a solitary and heroic act, but even if you’re off by yourself in a cave, you are still part of a culture, and it’s observable that some cultures are more friendly to discovery than others. Building a culture has been an ongoing and repeated task of Buddhism since the time of the Buddha.
A Beautiful Wish (You Are the Sun…)
Our deepest and most beautiful wish is to become a better person. Just follow the wanting itself, says Zen teacher John Tarrant. That is the gate.
You Don’t Have to Know
John Tarrant discovered that not knowing is the best—and maybe the only possible—response to suffering.
Review: Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman’s bestselling Thinking, Fast and Slow is a gallery of the built-in biases and strategies of the mind, John Tarrant says.
Let Me Count the Ways
Photo via Gretchen Ludwig on Flickr.It was his first kiss, a moment when no one was running the show and no calculations were being made. In so many ways, says John Tarrant, love is like enlightenment. It teaches us how to live down a level, to follow instructions that come from deep inside.