Birds have always been great Zen teachers. In this talk, we take up the miscellaneous koan, “My relaxed gaze freely follows the tracks of flying birds” and examine what implications this might have for our practice today. We also meet Niutou Farong, a fascinating figure from the 6-7th Century, who meditated in a cave and was visited by birds “with flowers in their mouths”. What was going on? And why did these very same birds stop arriving with flowers in their mouths after Niutou spoke with the fourth Zen ancestor, Daoxin? This talk was given in Castlemaine on 15/3/26.