Today's episode centers on awakening as a practice of intimacy. Roshi John Tarrant takes up koan case 89 from The Blue Cliff Record:

Yunyan asked Daowu, “How does Guanyin use all those hands and eyes?” Daowu answered, “It’s like feeling behind you for a pillow in the middle of the night.” “I understand.” “What do you understand?” “The whole body is hands and eyes.” “That’s very well expressed, but it doesn’t say it all.” “What would you say, older brother?” “All through the body are hands and eyes.”

Tarrant speaks of koans as companions for learning to move in the dark, meaning learning to embrace the uncertainties in our lives and of life itself.

Listen to hear more about the secret kindness of the world, and the unexpected help we receive when we take up the real journey.

"You don't go with a theory, you don't go with a plan, you just reach into the night." - John Tarrant

Learn more about this episode of Meeting the Inconceivable at https://www.pacificzen.org/01