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Tenney gives the talk on the second night of our retreat. Beginning by exploring various translations of the “Golden Wind” koan and the different feel they give to Yunmen’s response to the student, Tenney brings the case into relation to Wallace Stevens’s poem “The Snow Man.” Then, via consideration of commentaries on the case by Xuedo, Yuanwu, Hakuin, and Tenkei, dragons get into the mix. This leads, courtesy of a suggestion made by Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi in a recorded talk on the case, to an exploration of dragon imagery and energies in Dogen’s fascicle “Dragon Song.”

 A group conversation follows Tenney’s talk.

  (talk given October 14, 2025 at the Bodhi Manda Zen Center in Jemez Springs, New Mexico) 

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