an old writer and his words

  • UNGAN’S NOT ANY SINGLE WORD

    The youngest child, her mind uncluttered, can answer any question unburdened by words, and her answers can only rebound across the universe. If you stop struggling to hear her, let the silence surround you both, you cannot escape the answers. A reflection on case 84 of the Shobogenzo (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • RELATIVITY

    I can no more imagine a lack of freedom then they can imagine the freedom I assume. It is always like that imaginings are real until you try to make them corporeal, then the evanescence is all that is real. It is easy to ask how can they live in such poverty, and had they…

    Lou Faber

  • TAIGEN FANS HIMSELF 正法眼蔵 三十二

    When a leaf leaves the tree it falls precisely where it should. When a flower petal is carried off on a strong wind it comes to rest in the proper place. When you smell the sweet aroma of next summer’s roses you must use the nose you had before your parents were born. A reflection…

    Lou Faber

  • WITHOUT WITHIN

    Within a rock there is another rock that sits in the middle of the stream, in sight, just out of reach. Within a cloud there is another cloud whose rain has fed a barren field. Within this city there is another city whose streets I have walked in countless dreams. Within this mirror there is…

    Lou Faber

  • KANNON WAITING

    The hermit lives in the shadow of the great mountain listening to the symphony of the bluebird and the wild Rose engulfed by the sky, the meandering stream his constant companion. I live in a city in a sea of city dwellers each of us prisoners marching from cell to cell, with passing nods we…

    Lou Faber

  • IS THAT SO 沙石集 三

    If you find an orphan do you take him as your own. Do you feed and shelter him and offer him your name. Does he sit at your side in silent meditation. Do you willingly accept the scorn of your neighbors for your bastard child? If his mother later comes, will you part with him…

    Lou Faber

  • SOZAN’S FALLING AND RISING 正法眼蔵 三十三

    When you fall earth on one side sky the other. When you rise, earth on one side sky the other. When there is no falling, no sky, no earth, when there is no rising no earth, no sky. Sky and earth do not stand still. Reflecting on case 33 of the Shobogenzo

    Lou Faber

  • BETWEEN

    Between now and then, between yesterday and today, between night and day, between birth and death, between good and evil, between heaven and hell, between light and dark, between joy and sadness, our lives occur and we are so seldom there to see it happen, lost in dreams of what never will be.

    Lou Faber

  • SANSHU’S BLINDNESS 正法眼蔵 四十

    If you come forward and ask no question, the master will give you an answer, but if you approach with a question, the master will strike you with the stick. It is only when your eyes are blinded that you can take up the master’s staff and all is clearly seen.

    Lou Faber

  • ZAZEN

    It does nothing, sits there, immobile and this deeply frustrates you. Things are not supposed to be absolutely still, some motion, however small is required. You stare at it, hoping it will move, will shake or lift, or even settle lower but it does nothing. You sit and stare in growing anger absolutely still doing…

    Lou Faber