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TIME
There is never sufficient time no matter how I adjust the clocks, he said with a profound sadness. What, she said, would happen if you did not consult the clocks, would there be time enough then? But how would I know if there were time enough without clocks, he replied. The cat watched this scene,…
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CASSIOPEIA
You sit on your self-hewn throne and stare fixedly at the night sky as the clouds gather and dissipate beneath you. Do you even recall why you were cast out condemned to your cell so vast and yet infinitely confining? Does your body remember the touch of his hand the crude hunter who set you…
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TE SHAN CARRYING HIS BUNDLE
Enter the room slowly and look carefully, since you are here to find something. There is much within this room, but you can see nothing save the old man, sitting calmly, staring at nothing, staring through you at nothing in particular. You know he is the teacher, the one for whom you have been searching,…
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DISCOVERY
In a small storefront, in an older neighborhood of the city, I found it. Sepia coated with a fine sheen of dust and neglect, it lay on the table amid a stack of others, as though a leaf of phyllo in a poorly made stack fresh from the oven. I knew it as I looked…
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Basho’s Staff 無門關 四十四
Do you have old Basho hidden away in your home? If you do, I will gladly give him to you, but if he is not within your walls, you should produce him immediately. If you need to cross the river walk carefully on his back on a moonless night. If there is a moon, walk…
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SIRIUS
Sirius, you arise each evening. Your braying washes the night sky, as though to daunt us. There was a time we stood in simple awe having no idea how far away you skulked or of your immenseness, a cold dark point that could barely illumine our occasional thought. Hawking sits pressed into his chair held…
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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
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ÁŁTSÉ HASHKÉ (THE TRICKSTER)
The wind takes up voice as it caresses these mountains, it’s song a lullaby to the coyotes staring at the waning moon. When night grows darkest, they join in the song, a spirit kirtan they have practiced for centuries. Men stare nervously on the mesa at the stars providing faint light, the moon wrapping herself…
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MISSING
Orion failed to appear last night which allowed the bears an evening of peace, certain they were not prey. They cavorted as bears are wont, to the pleasure of Cassiopeia. The lion stuck his head in, but lions know the bears need their space and anyway, they could see the dragon lurking on the horizon…
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PURE DHARMA BODY 正法眼蔵 二十六
Standing at the foot of the mountain what side do you see. Standing atop the mountain what side to you not see. Close your eyes and you will see the mountain has no sides. Close your eyes and you will find there is no mountain. A reflection on case 36 of the Dogen’s Shobogenzo
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an old writer and his words 