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Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life

Meeting the Inconceivable | Zen Koans, Dreams & the Creative Life

By: Pacific Zen Institute
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About this listen

 Meeting the Inconceivable is a podcast exploring Zen koans, dreams, and the creative life produced by Pacific Zen Institute (PZI). PZI is a lively Rinzai Zen community and mystery school made up of artists, innovators, and seekers of all kinds. Our talks weave traditional Zen and koan practice with poetry, art, Jungian and archetypal psychology, and Eastern and Western myth. Our deep dive in-person retreats are held primarily in Northern California, but our members and gatherings extend worldwide through our online temple. Our mission is to create a culture of transformation through meditation, koans, the arts, and conversations about the deepest matters. Join the koan revolution.© 2025 Pacific Zen Institute. All Rights Reserved. Personal Development Personal Success Spirituality
Episodes
  • The Loch Ness Monster & Zen [EP 21]

    The Loch Ness Monster & Zen [EP 21]
    Aug 18 2025

    With realization, all things are one family. Without realization, all things are separate and disconnected.

    In this episode, Roshi John Tarrant talks about the empathy of meditation and its lack of opposition.

    Meditation assists in undoing the structures the mind makes. We can let go of control and let the koans carry us.

    Listen in to learn about the hidden allies we have in our lives and why the small self is always trying to be something.

    "The tradition teaches itself and teaches people to teach it." - John Tarrant.

    Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at https://www.pacificzen.org/21
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    47 mins
  • To Always Carry Light & Silence [EP 20]

    To Always Carry Light & Silence [EP 20]
    Aug 4 2025

    Today, Roshi Allison Atwill shares a poem about our intrinsic ability to always carry light and silence.

    In this episode, she explains how the original silence is always with us and within us.

    What are the elemental termas of Tibetan Buddhism?

    How can we apply these termas to meditation practice?

    We can learn and teach from the silence and the light that we each have within.

    "Awakening always appears in our actual life." - Allison Atwill.

    Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at https://www.pacificzen.org/20
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    48 mins
  • A Beautiful State of Mind [EP 19]

    A Beautiful State of Mind [EP 19]
    Jul 22 2025

    There is always a certain amount of mystery to who we are and where we are.

    In this episode, Roshi John Tarrant takes up a poetic case entitled Jiashan's Beautiful State of Mind.

    What is your state of mind?

    What is it like to be you?

    "The universe is holding all of us and is all of us." - John Tarrant.

    Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at https://www.pacificzen.org/19
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    37 mins
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