an old writer and his words

  • PARTIALLY WHOLLY

    It is incredibly difficult to be a truly holy man, it isn’t enough to inspire peace with your words and presence, you had better walk on water, turn water into wine, heal with the touch of a single finger. You can’t simply stand up for justice at the risk of your own life and limb,…

    Lou Faber

  • NANQUAN’S SICKLE

    If you ask the teacher where you can find the key to enlightenment, what do you do when the teacher stares back at you in silence. If the teacher asks you where he can find the key to enlightenment, do you tell him that he possesses it, and if you do, will he simply stare…

    Lou Faber

  • DAIZUI’S GREAT KALPA FIRE 正法眼蔵 二十四

    All things are born and die so if this world dies at the end of its cycle of life and we are here, do we die with this world and which of us will be first reborn. Only when the mind collapses is the world born only when the mind collapses does the world die.…

    Lou Faber

  • AWAKENING

    The epiphany comes, he says with a smile, when you first discover the puzzle within the puzzle and the hidden logic finally triumphs. It is always there, she notes, right in the title as clear to the eyes as the nose on the face of armless man who has no mirrors.

    Lou Faber

  • THE FUTURE’S PAST, PRESENTLY

    Before the after now is present. It was never like this before it will not be again anytime soon for there is no time soon that has yet to be or just gone by. After the before we find ourselves here and now.

    Lou Faber

  • PEACE

    There will come a time she says, when all of this will matter greatly, the question is how you will know that moment has arrived. I assume, he said, it will announce itself, or at least make its presence known. No doubt, she replied, you will search for it, but just like me, you will…

    Lou Faber

  • FLIGHT

    One thousand cranes take flight and there is a sudden silence as the cat stares up, bidding them farewell. We barely stop to notice, despite the rainbow of colors replacing the clouds, even the sun seeming to pause in wonder. Two thousand hands made this happen, one person, unrelenting, knowing anything less would be nothing…

    Lou Faber

  • NOW?

      If the time is now how will we know it. And if we miss it how will we know what the consequences are? The better question is whether it matters for if we can be in each moment to the extent possible then nothing is missed and every moment is now and there is…

    Lou Faber

  • TOZAN’S GOING BEYOND BUDDHA

    The greatest speech is given only when the mouth falls shut. To talk of peace is to be at war with peace, to speak of war is to be at war. When listening disappears peace re-emerges, when peace emerges the listener appears. A relection on case 12 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • THREE CALLS 鐵笛倒吹 三十九

    If your name is called how do you answer? If it is called again and then again, will your answer always be exactly the same, or will you grow angry and deny even yourself? Surely your teacher knows who you are but knowing yourself, that is the highest mountain you will be asked to climb.…

    Lou Faber