All Things Contemplative

Episode 6: Zen - The Religion of No-Religion with David Parks

November 18, 2020 Ron Barnett
All Things Contemplative
Episode 6: Zen - The Religion of No-Religion with David Parks
Show Notes

Show Notes

David Parks is the Director of Bluegrass Zen, one location of the Pacific Zen Institute in Waco, KY with groups in both Lexington and Berea, KY. He was a minister for many years in the United Church of Christ before devoting himself full time to teaching Zen. David has a deep trust in life’s generosity and views koans as vehicles for transformation, capable of opening the heart to the intimate experience of life lived freely and fully. David has a special interest in the parables, sayings, and doings of Jesus as Christian koans. 

David Discusses: his understanding of “contemplative” drawing on Thomas Merton’s epiphany at 4th and Walnut in Louisville KY, the Buddha and Jesus’s view of the oneness of existence, the Zen practices of meditation and koans, the importance of non-grasping for opening the Heart to the vastness of life, the difference between spirituality and morality, the relevance of Zen for healing a divided world, the Gospel of Thomas, Christian based koans, and the nature of beliefs. 

References From the Show

Bluegrass Zen

Jesus Points to the Moon Blog 

Pacific Zen Institute

Thomas Merton’s Epiphany at 4th & Walnut 

The Gospel of Thomas

Meditations on the Tarot

Shunryu Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginners Mind) 

Centering Prayer

Frederic Spiegelberg, The Religion of No-Religion  

The All Things Contemplative Blog