The koan tradition arises from a generous vision : awakening as part of the shared work of the world, encouraged by many voices in conversations lit with a recognizable glow. Here are some of the relationships that make up our shared work : with each other, the tradition, the natural world, images and metaphors, and ourselves.

The Practice of Relationship 4, Image and Metaphor

Cerro Gordo Temple, Santa Fe, NM. 
March 6, 2008

Responsiveness, 1

Cerro Gordo Temple, Santa Fe, NM. March 13, 2008

Responsiveness, 2

One of the streams that flowed into Chan and the koans was the mythology of pre-Buddhist, pre-Confucian China. Here are some notes on ancient Chinese ideas of meditation and awakening, based on Stephen Karcher's work on the Yijing (Book of Change). 

Cerro Gordo Temple, Santa Fe, NM, June 2008

Yijing, 1

One of the streams that flowed into Chan and the koans was the mythology of pre-Buddhist, pre-Confucian China. Here are some notes on ancient Chinese ideas of meditation and awakening, based on Stephen Karcher's work on the Yijing (Book of Changes)

Yijing, 2

At the start of a life with koans, we're in relationship with a Secret Lover, that whispered commentary on things that's always with us. Over time our allegiance shifts and we're more often slipping between the roles of Guest and Host, offering and receiving with others, with the vastness itself.

Desert Rain Retreat, Tucson, AZ. February 2010

Secret Lover, Guest, and Host

Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Santa Fe, NM. July 15, 2004

A Growing Allegiance to Awakening

This talk was given at the Radiant light –What Zen women carry into the world. It was held at Benediktushof in Holzkirchen, Germany on August 28-31, 2025. The organizers were Linda Myoki Ryugo Lehrhaupt Roshi, Susanne Jushin Dittrich Sensei, Gudrun Yushin Abrecht Sensei, and Martina Kaisei Siegwardt Sensei. Joan's talk was translated in real time by Ursula Jishin Popp Sensei.

Endarkenment and Lunar Dharma

An abridged version of this talk is published in Tricycle (Fall 2025) under the same title.

How 'The Blue Cliff Record' Came to Be

Originally published in Tricycle: The Buddhis Review, Fall 2025

The Practice of Relationship 4, Image and Metaphor

Cloud Dragon : The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works