Are You Afraid of This Happiness? A Weekend with John Tarrant, Roshi

The ancient art of koan study has always been a tool for enlightenment.

But Koans are also a reliable method of self inquiry. Koans take over the task of solving your problems and allow you to see conditioning without the burden of figuring it all out.

What if there is nothing to figure out anyway? Maybe this is all there is and it is complete. If you do not have to control your thoughts, if every emotion is a doorway to freedom and being wrong is actually a gate to understanding, what would be different in your life?

Through meditation on the koans and modern methods of group inquiry and collective experience, the koans reveal space available at all times … space in thoughts, in feelings, in memory and even in opinions. When we don’t resist our experience even for a moment, we are able to see the radiance in all things and enter into a relationship with the deep happiness available to each of us.

Join the koan conversation during this weekend workshop with Zen Master, John Tarrant, Roshi.

Whatever your prior experiences, preparations or particular beliefs, they are perfect for this workshops.

$190 for full weekend: Saturday & Sunday, 9am-Noon and 2-5pm

Sign up before February 15th and receive the Early Bird discount of $180.

Please review our cancellation policy.

John Tarrant, Roshi has been teaching koans and meditation for half his life. His discovery that this is a practice that requires no special circumstances or preparation has created a vibrant and warm culture of awakening and understanding. He is the author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros and other Zen Koans to Save Your Life, as well as the Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul and the Spiritual Life. He is the director of Pacific Zen Institute. This is his second trip to Knoxville.