I recently interviewed Tess Beasley Roshi, a teacher with the Pacific Zen Institute, and dharma heir of John Tarrant Roshi. In addition to being a Zen teacher, Beasley Roshi holds a Ph.D. in depth psychology. She is particularly interested in the ways Zen and depth psychology complement each other to kindle creativity and transformation. In the interview, Beasley Roshi notes that she only offers Zen and psychotherapy together.
I very much enjoyed speaking with Beasley Roshi. The only other person who’s seen the interview so far is our a/v editor, Sam Kigen (thank you!), said,
“I feel like this one really knocked it out of the park. The flow was great, questions were excellent, and Tess Roshi provided a perspective that feels very different to me - gave me a lot to think about.”
At the end of the interview, I ask Beasley Roshi, “What is one last thing you want to say to people about kōan work?”
She responded,
“There’s nothing like it. The thing I enjoyed so much going through the kōan curriculum is how in this very strange synchronous way my life seemed to know what the next kōan was going to be and what would happen in my life as I was hanging with that kōan was often so apropos that you couldn’t possibly have made it up even if you tried. I think that’s the depth and mystery and surprise and brightness that the kōan tradition holds. And I love it for that reason. Yeah!”
And speaking of depth and mystery, here’s the kōan we eventually discuss:
舉
“For a long time Yàoshān had not ascended the seat. Superintendent Bái said, ‘For a long time the assembly has been thinking about you offering instruction. Please, Venerable, expound the dharma to the assembly.’
Yàoshān ordered the bell to be rung and the assembly gathered. Yàoshān ascended the seat, sat for a long time, got down from the seat, and returned to the abbott’s ten-foot square room.
Soon afterward, the Superintendent asked, ‘When invited, it is proper for a monk to speak to the assembly. Why didn’t you offer even one sentence?’
Yàoshān said, ‘The sutras have sutra teachers. The commentaries have commentary teachers. Why do you think this old monk is strange?’”
Note
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Also see
Yàoshān Ascends the Seat: How Can We Truly Benefit Living Beings?
This case deals with a timely (and timeless) issue - how can we truly benefit living beings?
For another koan featuring Yàoshān and the inner art of zazen, see:
