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{{ZenBuddhism}}
{{ZenBuddhism}}
{{WesternBuddhism}}
{{WesternBuddhism}}
The '''Pacific Zen Institute''' ('''PZI'''), is a [[Zen Buddhist]] school centered in [[Santa Rosa, California]], with affiliates in Oakland, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, and Waco, Kentucky, and students throughout North America, South America, and Asia. Established in 1999, its stated mission is to "create a culture of transformation through meditation, koans, conversation, and the arts." Its founding director, John Tarrant, is dharma heir to [[Robert Baker Aitken]], in the line of the [[Sanbo Kyodan]] school of koan Zen.{{sfn|Ford|2006|pp=178–179}}
The '''Pacific Zen Institute''' ('''PZI'''), is a [[Zen Buddhist]] school centered in [[Santa Rosa, California]], with affiliates in Oakland, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, and Waco, Kentucky. Its students live and practice throughout North America, South America, and Asia. Established in 1999, Pacific Zen's stated mission is to "create a culture of transformation through meditation, koans, conversation, and the arts." Its founding director, John Tarrant, was the first dharma heir to [[Robert Baker Aitken]], in the line of the [[Sanbo Kyodan]] school of koan Zen.{{sfn|Ford|2006|pp=178–179}}


Tarrant has creatively developed ways of teaching koans that can orient anyone, including those with little or no experience in meditation or Zen, toward awakening to a richer, fuller engagement with their own lives. According to the PZI website:
Tarrant has creatively developed ways of teaching koans that can orient anyone, including those with little or no experience in meditation or Zen, toward awakening to a richer, fuller engagement with their own lives. According to the PZI website:
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Practice is the last best hope of living up to that good-heartedness, the only thing that never hurts and usually helps. And even at the beginning of the meditation path, on a good day it's exciting. It actually makes you happy..<ref name="PZI_Koans">{{cite web| url=https://pacificzen.org/koan-zen/koan-meditation/ | title=Koan meditation is a way of showing up for your life |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref>|author=John Tarrant|title=Pacific Zen Institute}}
Practice is the last best hope of living up to that good-heartedness, the only thing that never hurts and usually helps. And even at the beginning of the meditation path, on a good day it's exciting. It actually makes you happy..<ref name="PZI_Koans">{{cite web| url=https://pacificzen.org/koan-zen/koan-meditation/ | title=Koan meditation is a way of showing up for your life |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref>|author=John Tarrant|title=Pacific Zen Institute}}


The Pacific Zen Institute offers daily meditation (Open Temple), weekly meetings, and multi-day retreats in several California locations including San Rafael (sesshin) and Bolinas (Open Mind Retreats), California, as well as virtually.<ref name="retreats">{{cite web| url=https://pacificzen.org/pzi-events/ongoing-events-and-center-schedules/ | title= PZI Retreats |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref>
The Pacific Zen Institute offers daily meditation (Open Temple), weekly meetings, and multi-day retreats in several California locations including San Rafael (sesshin) and Bolinas (Open Mind), California, as well as virtually.<ref name="retreats">{{cite web| url=https://pacificzen.org/pzi-events/ongoing-events-and-center-schedules/ | title= PZI Retreats |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref>


==Affiliates==
==Affiliates==
Line 40: Line 40:
*Coral Moon Zendo<ref name="Coral Moon Zen">{{cite web| url=http://www.pacificzen.org/locations/alllocations/#santabarbara | title=PZI Affiliates: Santa Barbara Group |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref> ([[Santa Barbara, California]])
*Coral Moon Zendo<ref name="Coral Moon Zen">{{cite web| url=http://www.pacificzen.org/locations/alllocations/#santabarbara | title=PZI Affiliates: Santa Barbara Group |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref> ([[Santa Barbara, California]])
*Portola Camp Zendo (San Mateo, California)
*Portola Camp Zendo (San Mateo, California)
*Bluegrass Zen<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bluegrasszen.org/locations/|title=Bluegrass Zen Locations -- Lexington and Berea {{!}} Welcome|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref> ([[Waco, Kentucky]])
*Bluegrass Zen<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://bluegrasszen.org/locations/|title=Bluegrass Zen Locations -- Lexington and Berea {{!}} Welcome|newspaper=Welcome &#124; Zen for the Bluegrass |date=26 July 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref> ([[Waco, Kentucky]])
*Desert Lotus Zen Sangha<ref name="desertlotuszen">{{cite web| url=http://www.desertlotuszen.org/ | title=PZI Affiliates: Desert Lotus Zen |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref> ([[Chandler, AZ|Chandler, Arizona]])
*Desert Lotus Zen Sangha<ref name="desertlotuszen">{{cite web| url=http://www.desertlotuszen.org/ | title=PZI Affiliates: Desert Lotus Zen |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref> ([[Chandler, AZ|Chandler, Arizona]])
*San Francisco Wind-In-Grass Sangha<ref name="Wind-In-Grass">{{cite web |title=PZI Affiliates: San Francisco Wind-In-Grass |url=http://www.sanfranciscozen.org/ |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute}}</ref> ([[San Francisco]])
*San Francisco Wind-In-Grass Sangha<ref name="Wind-In-Grass">{{cite web |title=PZI Affiliates: San Francisco Wind-In-Grass |url=http://www.sanfranciscozen.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329013714/http://www.sanfranciscozen.org/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 29, 2010 |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute}}</ref> ([[San Francisco]])


==Tarrant's biography==
==Tarrant's biography==
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{{blockquote|He is known for pushing the boundaries of Zen institutions, introducing and dropping liturgical experiments—such as allowing Zen sutras to be set to Cajun tunes or passing out grapes during the service—just to see what happens. Today the Pacific Zen Institute is marked by its willingness to innovate and creatively explore the range of Zen disciplines.}}
{{blockquote|He is known for pushing the boundaries of Zen institutions, introducing and dropping liturgical experiments—such as allowing Zen sutras to be set to Cajun tunes or passing out grapes during the service—just to see what happens. Today the Pacific Zen Institute is marked by its willingness to innovate and creatively explore the range of Zen disciplines.}}


John Nan'un Tarrant{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} (born 1949 in Tasmania, Australia) is a Western Zen teacher who explores "meeting the inconceivable" in koan study as a way to discover freedom and build a hand-crafted life.<ref name="PZI_Koans" /> He is both traditional, in his use of ancient koan texts, and modern, as he employs a wide range of Western myths as koans in small group settings.
John Nan'un Tarrant{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} (born 1949 in Tasmania, Australia) is a Western Zen teacher who explores "meeting the inconceivable" in koan study as a way to discover freedom and build a hand-crafted life.<ref name="PZI_Koans" /> He is both traditional ~ in his use of ancient koan texts ~ and modern ~ as he employs a wide range of Western myths as koans in small group settings.


After graduating for the Australian National University, Tarrant worked at many jobs, ranging from laboring in a copper mine and smelter, to fishing commercially on the [[Great Barrier Reef]]. For some time he worked as a lobbyist for the [[Australian Aboriginal land rights]] movement. He later earned a Ph.D. in psychology from [[Saybrook University|Saybrook Institute]] in San Francisco, with a doctoral thesis on "The Design of Enlightenment in Koan Zen."<ref name="thesis">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last= Tarrant |first=John |title= The design of enlightenment in koan Zen |publisher=Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center |year= 1987 |url= http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3282860| id =3282860 }}</ref> For two decades, he worked as a Jungian psychotherapist as he developed his koan teaching methods. In the late 1990s, he left his practice for write and teach Zen full time.
After graduating for the Australian National University, Tarrant worked at many jobs, ranging from laboring in a copper mine and smelter, to fishing commercially on the [[Great Barrier Reef]]. For some time he worked as a lobbyist for the [[Australian Aboriginal land rights]] movement. He later earned a Ph.D. in psychology from [[Saybrook University|Saybrook Institute]] in San Francisco, with a doctoral thesis on "The Design of Enlightenment in Koan Zen."<ref name="thesis">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last= Tarrant |first=John |title= The design of enlightenment in koan Zen |publisher=Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center |year= 1987 |url= http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3282860| id =3282860 }}</ref> For two decades, he worked as a Jungian psychotherapist as he developed his koan teaching methods. In the late 1990s, he left his practice for write and teach Zen full time.


Tarrant's first Buddhist studies, in the early 1970s, were with Tibetan Lamas who visited Australia. He discovered koans, and lacking any teachers in the Southern Hemisphere, worked on them by himself for a number of years. Later in the United States he passed his first koans with Korean teacher [[Seung Sahn]], and went on to study with [[Robert Baker Aitken]] in Hawaii for 9 years, becoming Aitken's first [[dharma heir]]. He also did advanced koan work with [[Koun Yamada]], and was given permission to teach 1983. In 1987 he founded the organization that evolved into the Pacific Zen Institute (PZI) in Santa Rosa, California.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Tarrant's first Buddhist studies, in the early 1970s, were with Tibetan Lamas who visited Australia. He discovered koans, and lacking any teachers in the Southern Hemisphere, worked on them by himself for a number of years. Later in the United States he passed his first koans with Korean teacher [[Seung Sahn]], and went on to study with [[Robert Baker Aitken]] in Hawaii for 9 years, becoming Aitken's first [[dharma heir]]. He also did advanced koan work with [[Koun Yamada]], and was given permission by Aitken to teach 1983. In 1987 he founded the organization that evolved into the Pacific Zen Institute (PZI) in Santa Rosa, California.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}


''[[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review]]'', a Buddhist quarterly, incorrectly reported that 25 years ago, Aitken "disowned John Tarrant for what Aitken considered credible allegations of sexual indiscretions with students, and also criticized Tarrant's teaching style and conduct as a therapist."<ref>{{cite journal| url= https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/sex-sangha-apparently-we-still-havent-had-enough/ | title=Sex in the Sangha: Apparently, we still haven't had enough | date=February 21, 2011 |journal= [[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review]] }}</ref> As a careful reading of a March 2000 Sydney Zen Center Newsletter shows, Tarrant left the Diamond Sangha on his own accord.<ref name="Sydney Zen Centre Newsletter">{{cite journal |editor1-last=McLean |editor1-first=Chris |title=Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle open letter to John Tarrant |journal=Sydney Zen Centre Newsletter |date=February–March 2000 |pages=4–5 |url=http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/DOCS/szc-newsletter-feb-mar-2000.pdf}}</ref> The PZI asserted that the break was due in part to Tarrant's experimental and unorthodox approach to koan work and differences in the two organization's visions of Western Zen.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tarrant |first1=John |title=Curriculum & Lineage by John Tarrant, Roshi: An introduction to the formal koan curriculum of the Pacific Zen School |url=https://www.pacificzen.org/pzi-curriculum/ |website=www.pacificzen.com |access-date=20 January 2021 |quote="In matters of ceremony at Pacific Zen Institute we are developing hybrid forms that include Western archetypes and music. This is a departure from Harada's school but, we feel, in line with both his syncretist spirit and the context we inhabit."}}</ref>
In February, 2011, ''[[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review]]'', a Buddhist quarterly, reported that in 2000, Robert Aitken "disowned John Tarrant for what Aitken considered credible allegations of sexual indiscretions with students, and also criticized Tarrant's teaching style and conduct as a therapist."<ref>{{cite journal| url= https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/sex-sangha-apparently-we-still-havent-had-enough/ | title=Sex in the Sangha: Apparently, we still haven't had enough | date=February 21, 2011 |journal= [[Tricycle: The Buddhist Review]] }}</ref> As a careful reading shows of the Diamond Sangha Teacher's Circle open letter to Tarrant, published in the March, 2000 Sydney Zen Center Newsletter, Tarrant left the Diamond Sangha a year or two earlier on his own accord.<ref name="Sydney Zen Centre Newsletter">{{cite journal |editor1-last=McLean |editor1-first=Chris |title=Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle open letter to John Tarrant |journal=Sydney Zen Centre Newsletter |date=February–March 2000 |pages=4–5 |url=http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/DOCS/szc-newsletter-feb-mar-2000.pdf}}</ref> Later, only two of the most senior Diamond Sangha teachers, both among the 11 signatories (some teachers declined to participate), deeply regretted adding their names to the list. Augusto Alcalde ended up sending a note of apology to John Tarrant for his own involvement, while Pat Hawk recalled, "'That was bad business,' shaking his head. 'I ''like'' John [Tarrant].'" PZI never made a public reply to the letter, but the female student in question was Joan Sutherland, who became a popular teacher and founder of Open Source Zen. <ref>{{cite web |last1=Amerongen |first1=Helen |date=2022 |title=Across the Empty Sky; A Biography of Patrick Hawk Catholic Priest and Zen Master, pp. 298~301. |url=https://www.amazon.com/Across-Empty-Sky-Biography-Catholic/dp/B0BGCM31YP |website=www.amazon.com}}</ref>


Tarrant has contributed poems to ''[[The Paris Review]]'', ''[[Threepenny Review]]'' and the books ''Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry,'' ''What Book? Buddha Poems From Beat to Hiphop, and'' The Book of Mu; Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan. Tarrant's own books include ''The Light Inside the Dark: Zen Soul & The Spiritual Life'' (HarperCollins)—a map of the spiritual journey including the dark bits—and ''Bring Me the Rhinoceros—& Other Zen Koans To Bring You Joy'' (Shambala), which has become a teaching text in many Zen centers for its innovative approach to koans.
Tarrant has contributed poems to ''[[The Paris Review]]'', ''[[Threepenny Review]]'' and the books ''Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry;'' ''What Book? Buddha Poems From Beat to Hiphop,'' and ''The Book of Mu; Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan''. Tarrant's own books include ''The Light Inside the Dark: Zen Soul & The Spiritual Life'' (HarperCollins) ~ a map of the spiritual journey including the dark bits ~ and ''Bring Me the Rhinoceros & Other Zen Koans To Bring You Joy'' (Shambala), which has become a teaching text at many Zen centers for its innovative approach to koans.


PZI's projects include creating new English translations of some of the elements of the sutra collection as well the evolution of musical settings of many parts of the chanted liturgy. Working with the Zen teacher and translator, Joan Sutherland, and Richie Domingue, then leader of the Zydeco Band "Gator Beat", Tarrant collaborated in developing what is probably the first sung Zen liturgy in an American idiom.
PZI's projects include creating new English translations of some of the elements of the sutra collection as well the evolution of musical settings of many parts of the chanted liturgy. Working translator Joan Sutherland and Zydeco band leader Richie Domingue, Tarrant collaborated in developing what is probably the first sung Zen liturgy in an American idiom.


Among Tarrant's successors and collaborators through Pacific Zen Institute include the Joan Sutherland, head of the "Open Source" Zen network; Susan Murphy, a film maker and Zen master based in Sydney, Australia; David Weinstein; a therapist in Northern California; [[James Ishmael Ford]], founder of the "Boundless Way Zen" network; {{sfn|Ford|2006|pp=178–179}} Allison Atwill, a teacher and artist originally from Santa Barbara; Jon Joseph, a former financial analyst from San Mateo; David Parks, a former Christian minister in Waco, Kentucky; Tess Beasley, a therapist from Conneticut, and Jesse Cardin, a therapist from Volcano, Hawaiʻi.
Among Tarrant's successors and collaborators through Pacific Zen Institute include the Joan Sutherland, founder of Open Source Zen; Susan Murphy, a film maker and leader of the Zen Open Circle based in Sydney, Australia; David Weinstein, a therapist in Northern California; [[James Ishmael Ford]], founder of the Boundless Way Zen network; {{sfn|Ford|2006|pp=178–179}} Allison Atwill, a teacher and artist originally from Santa Barbara; Jon Joseph, a former financial analyst from San Mateo; David Parks, a former Christian minister in Waco, Kentucky; Tess Beasley, a therapist from western Connecticut, and Jesse Cardin, a therapist from Volcano, Hawaiʻi.


==Pacific Zen Lineage==
==Pacific Zen Lineage==
Tarrant has sanctioned a number of teachers, several of whom have also appointed teachers:<ref name="Yasutani-lineage">[http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/HaradaYasutani.html Sanbo Kyodan: Harada-Yasutani School of Zen Buddhism and its Teachers]</ref>
Tarrant has sanctioned a number of teachers, several of whom have also appointed teachers:<ref name="Yasutani-lineage">[http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/HaradaYasutani.html Sanbo Kyodan: Harada-Yasutani School of Zen Buddhism and its Teachers]</ref>
#Atwill, Allison, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS">{{cite web| url=http://www.pacificzen.org/teachers-2/all-teachers/ | title=PZI Affiliates: PZI Teachers |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref>
#Atwill, Allison, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS">{{cite web| url=http://www.pacificzen.org/teachers-2/all-teachers/ | title=PZI Affiliates: PZI Teachers |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}</ref>
# Barzaghi, Subhana Gyo Shin, Myo-Un-An Roshi (born 1954);{{efn|Barzaghi was one of the signatories of the 1999 letter<ref name="Sydney Zen Centre Newsletter" /> and has thus severed her relationship to Tarrant}} also received Transmission from Robert Aitken
# Barzaghi, Subhana Gyo Shin, Myo-Un-An Roshi (b.1954);{{efn|Barzaghi was one of the signatories of the 1999 letter<ref name="Sydney Zen Centre Newsletter" /> and has thus severed her relationship to Tarrant}} also received Transmission from Robert Aitken
# Beasely, Tess Roshi (born 1983)
# Beasely, Tess Roshi (b. 1982)
# Bolleter, Ross Roshi (born 1946); also appointed by Robert Aitken
# Bolleter, Ross Roshi (b. 1946); also appointed by Robert Aitken
#Boughton, Rachel, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" />
#Boughton, Rachel, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" /> (b. 1961)
#Cardin, Jesse Roshi (born 1983)
#Cardin, Jesse Roshi (b. 1983)
# [[James Ishmael Ford|Ford, James Ishmael]] (born 1948); also a Soto teacher appointed by [[Jiyu Kennett]] Roshi
# [[James Ishmael Ford|Ford, James Ishmael]] (b. 1948); also a Soto teacher appointed by [[Jiyu Kennett]] Roshi
## [[Melissa Myozen Blacker|Blacker, Melissa Keido Myozen Roshi]] (born 1954)
## [[Melissa Myozen Blacker|Blacker, Melissa Keido Myozen Roshi]] (b. 1954)
#Joseph, Jon Dokan'un Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" /> (born 1954)
#Joseph, Jon Dokan'un, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" /> (b.1954)
# Grant, Steven, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" /> (born 1962)
# Grant, Steven, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" /> (b. 1962)
#Gaudry, Guy, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" />
#Gaudry, Guy, Roshi<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" />
## Ross, Lanny Sevan Keido Sei'an Sensei (born 1951); also holds the Dharma Transmission in the [[Philip Kapleau]] lineage
## Ross, Lanny Sevan Keido Sei'an Sensei (b. 1951); also holds the Dharma Transmission in the [[Philip Kapleau]] lineage
# Mansfield-Howlett, Rachel, Roshi, at Santa Rosa City Zen
# Mansfield-Howlett, Rachel, Roshi, (b. 1954) at Santa Rosa City Zen
# Murphy, Susan Myo Sei Ryu'un An Roshi (born 1950); also received Transmission from Ross Bolleter
# Murphy, Susan Myo Sei Ryu'un An Roshi (b.1950); also received Transmission from Ross Bolleter
#Parks, Rev. David, Roshi<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bluegrasszen.org/teachers/|title=Teachers – Welcome|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref>
#Parks, Rev. David, Roshi<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bluegrasszen.org/teachers/|title=Teachers – Welcome|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref> (b. 1954)
# Saint, Deborah,<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" /> Sensei
# Saint, Deborah,<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" /> Sensei (b. 1951)
# Sutherland, Joan Roshi (born 1954)<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" />
# Sutherland, Joan Roshi (b. 1954)<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" />
## Bender, Sarah Masland Roshi (born 1948)
## Bender, Sarah Masland Roshi (b. 1948)
## Palmer, Andrew Sensei (born 1971)
## Palmer, Andrew Sensei (b. 1971)
## Nathanson, Tenney Roshi (born 1946)
## Nathanson, Tenney Roshi (b.1946)
# Terragno, Danièl Ki-Nay Roshi (born 1947)
# Terragno, Danièl Ki-Nay Roshi (b. 1947)
## Parekh, Antoinette Kenjo Shin (born 1959), apprentice teacher
## Parekh, Antoinette Kenjo Shin (b. 1959), apprentice teacher
# Twentyman, Craig, Independent teacher
# Twentyman, Craig, Independent teacher
# Weinstein, David Onryu Ko'un Roshi (born 1949)<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" />
# Weinstein, David Onryu Ko'un Roshi (b. 1949)<ref name="PZI_TEACHERS" />


==See also==
==See also==
Line 103: Line 103:
*{{cite book | last =Ford| first =James Ishmael| author-link =James Ishmael Ford| title =Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen| publisher =Wisdom Publications| year =2006| url =https://archive.org/details/zenmasterwhoguid00jame| isbn =0-86171-509-8| url-access =registration}}
*{{cite book | last =Ford| first =James Ishmael| author-link =James Ishmael Ford| title =Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen| publisher =Wisdom Publications| year =2006| url =https://archive.org/details/zenmasterwhoguid00jame| isbn =0-86171-509-8| url-access =registration}}
*{{cite book | last =Spuler| first =Michelle| title =Developments in Australian Buddhism: Facets of the Diamond| publisher =Routledge| year =2003| isbn = 0-7007-1582-7| oclc =49952207}}
*{{cite book | last =Spuler| first =Michelle| title =Developments in Australian Buddhism: Facets of the Diamond| publisher =Routledge| year =2003| isbn = 0-7007-1582-7| oclc =49952207}}
*{{cite web| url=http://sweepingzen.com/john-tarrant-bio/ | title=John Tarrant Biography |publisher=Sweeping Zen }}
*{{cite web| url=http://sweepingzen.com/john-tarrant-bio/ | title=John Tarrant Biography | date=24 November 2023 |publisher=Sweeping Zen }}
*{{cite web| url=http://pacificzen.org/teachers-2/john-tarrant/ | title=John Tarrant DIRECTOR OF PACIFIC ZEN INSTITUTE |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}
*{{cite web| url=http://pacificzen.org/teachers-2/john-tarrant/ | title=John Tarrant DIRECTOR OF PACIFIC ZEN INSTITUTE |publisher=Pacific Zen Institute }}
*{{cite book| last =Tarrant| first =John |title= The design of enlightenment in koan Zen |year=1987 |url= http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3282860| id =3282860 }}
*{{cite book| last =Tarrant| first =John |title= The design of enlightenment in koan Zen |year=1987 |url= http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3282860| id =3282860 }}
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{{Zen}}
{{Zen}}
{{Buddhism topics}}
{{Buddhism topics}}

{{coord missing|Sonoma County, California}}


[[Category:Zen centers in California]]
[[Category:Zen centers in California]]

Latest revision as of 05:05, 21 December 2024

Pacific Zen Institute
Religion
AffiliationZen (independent)
Location
LocationP.O. Box 2972 Santa Rosa, California 95405
CountryUnited States
Architecture
FounderJohn Tarrant
Completed1999
Website
www.pacificzen.org/
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The Pacific Zen Institute (PZI), is a Zen Buddhist school centered in Santa Rosa, California, with affiliates in Oakland, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, and Waco, Kentucky. Its students live and practice throughout North America, South America, and Asia. Established in 1999, Pacific Zen's stated mission is to "create a culture of transformation through meditation, koans, conversation, and the arts." Its founding director, John Tarrant, was the first dharma heir to Robert Baker Aitken, in the line of the Sanbo Kyodan school of koan Zen.[1]

Tarrant has creatively developed ways of teaching koans that can orient anyone, including those with little or no experience in meditation or Zen, toward awakening to a richer, fuller engagement with their own lives. According to the PZI website:

Koan meditation is a way of showing up for your own life

You sit or work or talk and don't add anything to it. You don't criticize anything your mind offers. You don't need to assess or improve the moment. And if you are criticizing the moment or your own state of mind, you don't criticize that. In that way compassion appears.

Koan meditation offers a path out of the burning house, without abandoning the promise and good-heartedness of being human.

Practice is the last best hope of living up to that good-heartedness, the only thing that never hurts and usually helps. And even at the beginning of the meditation path, on a good day it's exciting. It actually makes you happy..[2]

— John Tarrant, Pacific Zen Institute

The Pacific Zen Institute offers daily meditation (Open Temple), weekly meetings, and multi-day retreats in several California locations including San Rafael (sesshin) and Bolinas (Open Mind), California, as well as virtually.[3]

Affiliates

[edit]

Tarrant's biography

[edit]

James Ishmael Ford says of Tarrant,[1]

He is known for pushing the boundaries of Zen institutions, introducing and dropping liturgical experiments—such as allowing Zen sutras to be set to Cajun tunes or passing out grapes during the service—just to see what happens. Today the Pacific Zen Institute is marked by its willingness to innovate and creatively explore the range of Zen disciplines.

John Nan'un Tarrant[citation needed] (born 1949 in Tasmania, Australia) is a Western Zen teacher who explores "meeting the inconceivable" in koan study as a way to discover freedom and build a hand-crafted life.[2] He is both traditional ~ in his use of ancient koan texts ~ and modern ~ as he employs a wide range of Western myths as koans in small group settings.

After graduating for the Australian National University, Tarrant worked at many jobs, ranging from laboring in a copper mine and smelter, to fishing commercially on the Great Barrier Reef. For some time he worked as a lobbyist for the Australian Aboriginal land rights movement. He later earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Saybrook Institute in San Francisco, with a doctoral thesis on "The Design of Enlightenment in Koan Zen."[10] For two decades, he worked as a Jungian psychotherapist as he developed his koan teaching methods. In the late 1990s, he left his practice for write and teach Zen full time.

Tarrant's first Buddhist studies, in the early 1970s, were with Tibetan Lamas who visited Australia. He discovered koans, and lacking any teachers in the Southern Hemisphere, worked on them by himself for a number of years. Later in the United States he passed his first koans with Korean teacher Seung Sahn, and went on to study with Robert Baker Aitken in Hawaii for 9 years, becoming Aitken's first dharma heir. He also did advanced koan work with Koun Yamada, and was given permission by Aitken to teach 1983. In 1987 he founded the organization that evolved into the Pacific Zen Institute (PZI) in Santa Rosa, California.[citation needed]

In February, 2011, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, a Buddhist quarterly, reported that in 2000, Robert Aitken "disowned John Tarrant for what Aitken considered credible allegations of sexual indiscretions with students, and also criticized Tarrant's teaching style and conduct as a therapist."[11] As a careful reading shows of the Diamond Sangha Teacher's Circle open letter to Tarrant, published in the March, 2000 Sydney Zen Center Newsletter, Tarrant left the Diamond Sangha a year or two earlier on his own accord.[12] Later, only two of the most senior Diamond Sangha teachers, both among the 11 signatories (some teachers declined to participate), deeply regretted adding their names to the list. Augusto Alcalde ended up sending a note of apology to John Tarrant for his own involvement, while Pat Hawk recalled, "'That was bad business,' shaking his head. 'I like John [Tarrant].'" PZI never made a public reply to the letter, but the female student in question was Joan Sutherland, who became a popular teacher and founder of Open Source Zen. [13]

Tarrant has contributed poems to The Paris Review, Threepenny Review and the books Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry; What Book? Buddha Poems From Beat to Hiphop, and The Book of Mu; Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan. Tarrant's own books include The Light Inside the Dark: Zen Soul & The Spiritual Life (HarperCollins) ~ a map of the spiritual journey including the dark bits ~ and Bring Me the Rhinoceros & Other Zen Koans To Bring You Joy (Shambala), which has become a teaching text at many Zen centers for its innovative approach to koans.

PZI's projects include creating new English translations of some of the elements of the sutra collection as well the evolution of musical settings of many parts of the chanted liturgy. Working translator Joan Sutherland and Zydeco band leader Richie Domingue, Tarrant collaborated in developing what is probably the first sung Zen liturgy in an American idiom.

Among Tarrant's successors and collaborators through Pacific Zen Institute include the Joan Sutherland, founder of Open Source Zen; Susan Murphy, a film maker and leader of the Zen Open Circle based in Sydney, Australia; David Weinstein, a therapist in Northern California; James Ishmael Ford, founder of the Boundless Way Zen network; [1] Allison Atwill, a teacher and artist originally from Santa Barbara; Jon Joseph, a former financial analyst from San Mateo; David Parks, a former Christian minister in Waco, Kentucky; Tess Beasley, a therapist from western Connecticut, and Jesse Cardin, a therapist from Volcano, Hawaiʻi.

Pacific Zen Lineage

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Tarrant has sanctioned a number of teachers, several of whom have also appointed teachers:[14]

  1. Atwill, Allison, Roshi[15]
  2. Barzaghi, Subhana Gyo Shin, Myo-Un-An Roshi (b.1954);[a] also received Transmission from Robert Aitken
  3. Beasely, Tess Roshi (b. 1982)
  4. Bolleter, Ross Roshi (b. 1946); also appointed by Robert Aitken
  5. Boughton, Rachel, Roshi[15] (b. 1961)
  6. Cardin, Jesse Roshi (b. 1983)
  7. Ford, James Ishmael (b. 1948); also a Soto teacher appointed by Jiyu Kennett Roshi
    1. Blacker, Melissa Keido Myozen Roshi (b. 1954)
  8. Joseph, Jon Dokan'un, Roshi[15] (b.1954)
  9. Grant, Steven, Roshi[15] (b. 1962)
  10. Gaudry, Guy, Roshi[15]
    1. Ross, Lanny Sevan Keido Sei'an Sensei (b. 1951); also holds the Dharma Transmission in the Philip Kapleau lineage
  11. Mansfield-Howlett, Rachel, Roshi, (b. 1954) at Santa Rosa City Zen
  12. Murphy, Susan Myo Sei Ryu'un An Roshi (b.1950); also received Transmission from Ross Bolleter
  13. Parks, Rev. David, Roshi[16] (b. 1954)
  14. Saint, Deborah,[15] Sensei (b. 1951)
  15. Sutherland, Joan Roshi (b. 1954)[15]
    1. Bender, Sarah Masland Roshi (b. 1948)
    2. Palmer, Andrew Sensei (b. 1971)
    3. Nathanson, Tenney Roshi (b.1946)
  16. Terragno, Danièl Ki-Nay Roshi (b. 1947)
    1. Parekh, Antoinette Kenjo Shin (b. 1959), apprentice teacher
  17. Twentyman, Craig, Independent teacher
  18. Weinstein, David Onryu Ko'un Roshi (b. 1949)[15]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Barzaghi was one of the signatories of the 1999 letter[12] and has thus severed her relationship to Tarrant

References

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  1. ^ a b c Ford 2006, pp. 178–179.
  2. ^ a b "Koan meditation is a way of showing up for your life". Pacific Zen Institute.
  3. ^ "PZI Retreats". Pacific Zen Institute.
  4. ^ "PZI Affiliates: Santa Rosa Creek Zen Center". Pacific Zen Institute.
  5. ^ "PZI Affiliates: Rockridge Meditation Community". Pacific Zen Institute.
  6. ^ "PZI Affiliates: Santa Barbara Group". Pacific Zen Institute.
  7. ^ "Bluegrass Zen Locations -- Lexington and Berea | Welcome". Welcome | Zen for the Bluegrass. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  8. ^ "PZI Affiliates: Desert Lotus Zen". Pacific Zen Institute.
  9. ^ "PZI Affiliates: San Francisco Wind-In-Grass". Pacific Zen Institute. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ^ Tarrant, John (1987). The design of enlightenment in koan Zen (PhD thesis). Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center. 3282860.
  11. ^ "Sex in the Sangha: Apparently, we still haven't had enough". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. February 21, 2011.
  12. ^ a b McLean, Chris, ed. (February–March 2000). "Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle open letter to John Tarrant" (PDF). Sydney Zen Centre Newsletter: 4–5.
  13. ^ Amerongen, Helen (2022). "Across the Empty Sky; A Biography of Patrick Hawk Catholic Priest and Zen Master, pp. 298~301". www.amazon.com.
  14. ^ Sanbo Kyodan: Harada-Yasutani School of Zen Buddhism and its Teachers
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h "PZI Affiliates: PZI Teachers". Pacific Zen Institute.
  16. ^ "Teachers – Welcome". Retrieved 2020-01-29.

Bibliography

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