Ikkyu’s Well
Design preview only — this is a static mockup of the video-embed chrome; Vimeo’s domain-restricted privacy settings block the real embed from playing anywhere but the production domain.
- Description
- Tess Beasley talks about life as an endless, boundless participation. And when we settle in, things happen of their own accord.
- Koans
- ikkyu’s well (mk22)
- Tagged
In a well that was never dug
water ripples from a spring that doesn’t flow.
Someone with no shadow or form is drawing the water.
— PZI Miscellaneous Koans, Case 22 (from a poem by Ikkyu)
Tess Beasley talks about life as an endless, boundless participation. And when we settle in, things happen of their own accord.
According with the Dao is not the same as liking things. When we accord with the Dao, we are not resisting things so much. What direction is my psyche actually wanting? It takes less of you when you are in the flow.
John Tarrant comments that Ikkyu’s well is an emptiness koan. That the well is here, has always been here, and will always be here, except when it’s not! According with the Dao is to stop pushing at life. To stop thinking your way through things. At a certain stage the pushing stops, the freedom and joy appear, and you find yourself lifted and carried.
When you just enter, not entering something, just entering, you find yourself at home.
Deep Sit Sunday Zen with John Tarrant & Tess Beasley, August 30th, 2026