-
UMMON’S FAMILY TRADITION 鐵笛倒吹 七十一
The greatest teacher is one who offers nothing and shouts it silently once the student has departed. You cannot know what the blind man sees for you cannot see through his eyes and the deaf woman may hear a symphony in a flower. When asked what is your practice do you answer: life? A reflection…
-
YAKUSAN’S THIS BUDDHA, THAT BUDDHA
I think therefore I am. I think therefore you are. You think therefore I am. If either of us stops thinking, does the other cease to be? If I see you as Buddha you are Buddha. If you see me as Buddha I can be Buddha, but if I see myself as Buddha Buddha and…
-
GYOZAN’S HIGH AND LOW 法眼蔵 二十三
Stand on the hill and look into the valley. Stand in the valley and look upon the hill. Do you see yourself in either place, do you see yourself in both or are they one place hidden from your vision. A reflection on case 86 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
-
TOKUSAN SPEAKS OF TEACHERS 鐵笛倒吹 二十
Why do you seek old Masters, they have no special gift. Your lineage is the surface of the sea never still, all waves. Your teacher has no answers, his silence instructs close your ears and listen, is that his breath you hear or only your own? In is out, out is in depending on where…
-
THE REAL WAY 碧巌録 二
Heed Joshu’s words the real way is not difficult look within the mind come across words, thoughts and cast them over the edge into the abyss. Continue searching until no words or thoughts remain and you are left with mu. Then carry mu to the precipice and cast it, too, into the abyss make your…
-
JOSHU’S FOUR GATES 正法眼蔵 四十六
If you ask who I am I will have you close your eyes and walk behind you, or I may step to your left and take your right hand. If you are perplexed, I will ask you, do the four gates open into the city or out to the world beyond, and if I stand…
-
SHINKANSEN VIEW
At first it was a checkerboard of ponds neatly arrayed, reflecting the sun, the work of man, for God so rarely plays geometrician with creation, less often still using right angles. Soon enough green blades reach up through the shirred surface, random, reaching for a sun they can never touch. It is a field soon,…
-
THE GATHERING
They gather this time every week, they would feel lost if they did otherwise. The don’t do it out of any sense of duty or higher calling, and they expect nothing in return for having done so. They aren’t even following directions or obeying some unwritten rule. They object to most rules, demand logic before…
-
ORDINARY MIND IS THE WAY
If you are truly looking for the way why do you insist on using your eyes. Any teacher will tell you that your eyes see nothing, they are only lenses through which a delusion is created in the mind. The mind has no eyes, but it is all that enables you to see anything. So…
-
MA KU CARRYING HIS RING-STAFF
When you sit before the master he will ask you a question. Consider your answer carefully then offer it to the master. He will simply say, “correct.” Later, when you sit before the master he will ask you the same question. Offer your answer to the master. He will simply say “incorrect.” If you ask…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
an old writer and his words 