an old writer and his words

  • MEMENTO VIVERE

    The moment arrives suddenly and appears at your feet, threatening to trip you into the hole of time that marks the edge of this moment as it once did the one before this. If you stand perfectly still You may move forward with the easy grace of enlightenment.

    Lou Faber

  • JIZO PLANTS THE FIELD

    If you truly want to walk in the footsteps of the Buddha stand perfectly still and unmoving. If you truly want to comprehend the whole of the Dharma put down all of your books and scrolls, roll up your sleeves and plant the barren fields, clearing away rocks and stones. If you want to taste…

    Lou Faber

  • TAKE WING

      There comes a moment when, if our backs are turned, it will arrive and if we notice it will withdraw and hide in corners. We may see it in the periphery and sneak up on it. If we move quickly enough, we can snatch it up and watch it fly off into the morning.

    Lou Faber

  • UMMON’S TWO SICKNESSES

      If you truly believe that you will soon enough meet your teacher you must gather together all of your questions concerning the Dharma. Carry them with you at all times in a satchel thrown over your shoulder, for you will be allowed only a single meeting with the master. When you meet the master,…

    Lou Faber

  • MOMENT(US) ARRIVAL

    Sooner or later the moment arrives when there is no option left and you have to decide. There are never facts enough, or time – uncertainty is a most unwelcome companion. In this moment indecision is not an allowed outcome and every selection is at once right and wrong.

    Lou Faber

  • ONLY NOW

    Tomorrow, in all likelihood, the park will still be there, we will still be walking there, the Austrian Pines will still stare down at us on the path, and the cardinal will flash by, his cry for attention in a red blaze. Tomorrow all this will likely happen as it did yesterday and last week,…

    Lou Faber

  • KANNON’S STATUE 鐵笛倒吹 語十八

    If you meet the Bodhisattva, you don’t ask someone to carve the image from your mind. To the carver, she weighs but an ounce and can be carried on his fingertip but try to lift her and you will not be able to move her from her place. All Buddhas are one Buddha but his…

    Lou Faber

  • PEBBLE

    In this moment there is and can be no other. And when it is gone it never existed much as the next will never exist. So it is with us, a reflection of the ripple of the long sunk stone now nestling the bottom of the pond.  

    Lou Faber

  • INFINITE LOOP

    Once the story ends we simply start another story, and repeat the act in varying detail with each repetition, until we run out of words.

    Lou Faber

  • ISAN’S QUESTION 鐵笛倒吹 二十九

    Gather each single leaf from the stones of the garden and place it neatly in a bushel. It will take weeks or months to gather them all even if you have windless days, but this is important work. When the last leaf is gathered take up the bushel and throw the leaves into the garden,…

    Lou Faber