Seeing Life as a Dream: Nansen and the Peonies | Senshin Griffith

What if the way we see the world is closer to a dream than we think? In this dharma talk, Head Teacher Sensei Katherine Senshin Griffith takes up Nansen and the Peonies, a Zen koan Hakuin counted among the hardest to pass through. A longtime student quotes a beautiful teaching to his teacher, Nansen (Nanquan): heaven, earth, and I share one root. Nansen points at the peonies in the garden and says people see these flowers as if in a dream. Senshin asks what it takes to see directly instead of through ideas. She draws on the Heart Sutra, Dōgen, and the Verses on the Faith Mind, and names the "dualistic snags" that pull us out of our own lives: good day, bad day, productive, waste of time. The talk moves between grief and humor, from remembering two beloved residents to a story from a hospital hallway, and ends with simple advice for sitting, walking, and breathing. For anyone curious about koans, meditation, or how Zen practice meets ordinary life. Recorded July 22, 2026 at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, during the "Just Summer" Sesshin. IN THIS EPISODE 00:00 Welcome and a nursery-rhyme prologue \[01:30] The koan: Nansen and the Peonies \[04:35] Remembering Charles Jinko Duran and John Heart-Mirror Trotter \[05:57] Gratitude and a story from the ER \[10:50] Why Hakuin called this one of the hardest koans \[12:20] Nansen, the minister, and Master Jō \[17:00] What dream? Kyōzan, the Diamond Sutra, and the Buddha's flower \[22:00] What's right here: pine cones, raccoons, full inboxes \[25:45] Dualistic snags \[30:00] Withdraw and cease: effort without striving \[34:30] Practice: mind in the hara, breathing the universe \[36:00] Master Jō's last verse and Dōgen's bird and sky ABOUT THE TEACHER Sensei Katherine Daiki Senshin Griffith is the Head Teacher of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. She began Zen practice at New York Zendo Shobo-ji in 1987 and came to ZCLA in 2001 to study with Roshi Egyoku Nakao. She served as Program Steward from 2010 to 2023, was empowered as an independent Zen teacher and Preceptor in 2019, and was installed as Head Teacher in 2023. She is also a professional actor, comedic performer, and writer. TEXTS AND RESOURCES Nansen and the Peonies: Book of Equanimity, case 91; Blue Cliff Record, case 40 Sandōkai (The Identity of Relative and Absolute), Sekitō Kisen Genjōkōan, Dōgen Zenji Verses on the Faith Mind (Xinxin Ming) The Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra The Blue Cliff Record, translated by David Hinton Support the show These talks are offered freely. If you feel moved to make a donation to the Zen Center, just click here. ZEN CENTER OF LOS ANGELES www.zcla.org