Ep. 586 – Qualities of Spirit and Soul with Zen Teacher John Tarrant

Recognizing the beauty in being human, Raghu and John Tarrant discuss incorporating the qualities of both soul and spirit into our lives.

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This week on Mindrolling, Raghu and John discuss:

• John’s work with protecting Aboriginal land rights 
• How taking a Tibetan retreat changed the course of John’s life and directed him to Zen 
• Emptiness and love as the same principle 
• How each piece of the universe contains the entire thing 
• Reaching a crystalline view of reality through Buddhist practice 
• The importance of spiritual clarity and the mistake of rejecting our inner life 
• Qualities of soul/spirit and the beauty of being human 
• The parts of life we may miss with an over-focus on spirituality
• Not disapproving of what our hearts bring up in meditation 
• Jungian psychology, shadow work, and dream work 
• Stories that go into the psyche in a non-rational way
• Bringing the imagination into Buddhism 
• The peace of the Buddha found inside our daily lives
• The necessity of working with the inner life
• A short, guided practice from John

About John Tarrant:

John Tarrant is a Western Zen teacher and director of the Pacific Zen Institute, which has centers in California, Arizona, and Canada. He teaches and writes about the transformation of consciousness through the use of the Zen koan and trains koan meditation teachers. Tarrant is from Australia, he came from an old Tasmanian family and grew up in the City of Launceston on Bass Strait. His early influences included English literature, especially poetry, the Latin Mass, the Tasmanian bush, and Australian Aboriginal culture. Tarrant worked at many jobs, ranging from working as a laborer in an open-pit mine, to commercial fishing the Great Barrier Reef. Eventually, he also worked as a lobbyist for the Aboriginal land rights movement. Check out Tarrant’s book, The Story of the Buddha, or learn more about his work and events on his website.

 “Being at peace is to be at peace with the whole of you, with your soul, your frustration, your anger. They can appear, but you’re not fighting with it. In some way they fertilize your practice like rain on the earth.” – John Tarrant

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