09/26/2026
Hiding Nothing From You
Deep Sit Sunday Zen with Tess Beasley & Friends
Meditation can’t be praised enough.
The benefits of generosity and discipline,
prayer, self-reflection, and practice,
have their source in meditation.
With what we gain from just one sitting,
all our crimes are wiped away.
—Hakuin Ekaku
Enlightenment happens inside this life that we have. It’s not some other more satisfactory life with special conditions. So you set off!
You go through one archway, and then you go through a second, and then a third archway, and eventually your worries fall away, though you didn’t ask them to, all desperation falls away and any cause of suffering in the mind is illuminated. Life after life you have been doing this and it’s not a surprise that you come eventually to the Buddha, who is sitting on an ordinary zafu smiling, and Buddha says, “Yes, that’s it, you are doing it alright, just do zazen like that!” and happiness comes over you.
Meditation is also extra good if you do it together with friends.
Join us this Sunday as we take up the koan:
Sweet Olive Blossoms
—John Tarrant’s version based on the story in Entangling Vines
Once upon a time a poet went to visit a friend who was a Zen teacher.
They talked and had tea and the poet suddenly asked, “What is Zen, anyway?”
The friend said, “Well, you know there’s a classic saying which goes, ‘My friends, do you think I’m hiding something from you? Actually, I am hiding nothing from you.’ Zen is like that.”
“I don’t get it,” said the poet, and they left it there.
The next day, the two of them were walking in the hills and the air was filled with the scent of sweet olive blossoms.
“Can you smell the fragrance of the sweet olive blossoms?” asked the teacher.
“Yes, why yes I can!” said the poet.
“You see, I’m hiding nothing from you,” said the teacher.
The poet’s heart and mind opened; she wept and was filled with joy. They left it there.
Later, she visited another friend who was also a Zen teacher. They were sitting and drinking tea in the afternoon, when the conversation took a turn and the teacher said, “In the end, I’ll die and you’ll die and we’ll be two heaps of ashes. Then, where will we meet?”
The poet tried to speak but her tongue stuck in her mouth. She couldn’t even remember the question. Again they left it there.
Later, when she was traveling with a party of friends, during a warm afternoon she took a nap on a grassy bank. When she woke up she understood what her friend had meant. After that she was pretty much happy.
Register for Deep Sit Sunday Zen September 27th – 9:00am PT in the PZI Online Temple – Link in comments!
*Registration is FREE for members and guests, or you may elect to donate $10. Dana gratefully accepted.
