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ENSO IT GOES
I spent much of yesterday trying to draw perfect enso. You would think it easy to draw the simple circle, one easy stroke, but my efforts suggest otherwise. It is my Western mind, my teacher once suggested, always linear, this moment next to that, and then the one that must naturally follow. If not a…
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MINDFUL (THREE HAIKU)
the bell rings three times outside the birds fall silent all sitting zazen clocks come to a stop time no longer has meaning in meditation apple blossoms fall covering the ground in pink promising summer
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OLD MONK
The old monk stooped carefully, gingerly picking each browning leaf from the dry garden and gently placing it in the sack he carried. With each leaf he would increase his count, always certain that it fully fell into the sack. When the last leaf was picked and even the autumn tree dared not drop another…
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THREE HAIKU
an entire flower and a single rose petal duplicate beauty a whole universe exists in a drop of dew life evaporates two crested ducks pay no attention to people offering nothing
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WORLD HONORED ONE ASCENDS THE SEAT
If you sit patiently enough, and sit long enough, just perhaps the teacher will acknowledge you. If he holds out his arms and offers you the heart of the Dharma, will you grasp it and hold it closely? If you try and grasp it it will slip through your fingers, disappear from sight, lost forever.…
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TIPPING THE WATER BOTTLE 無門關 四十
These few words gathered neatly on a scrap of simple paper, what do you call it? Answer carefully for you response may carry the keys to the doors of Mount Tai-i. Better still, upend the water bottle, watch the ink and water form a gentle pool into which no pebble drops. A reflection on Case…
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TWO SEASONS (HAIKU)
Blue heron takes flight giant wings stir wispy clouds April emerges. December garden faceless Buddha loudly laughs wriggling toes in snow.
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SOZAN’S FOUR DON’TS 鐵笛倒吹 九十二
You may seek to follow the path of the dove – a fool knows many roads. You may wrap yourself in fine linen – an infant wears only his skin, and knows this moment is already gone. Think long before you speak of how to walk along the path, of where it leads. The baby…
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CORSO
When my back was turned, Corso slipped away somewhere in Wisconsin silently, without protest carried off by Charon across a gasoline river. There was no bomb to announce his departure, no Queens orphanage stopped frozen in a silent moment. In the small park at the north end of Salt Lake City no one lifted a…
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DOGO’S GREATEST DEPTH 鐵笛倒吹 六十六
If you walk into the room and many are meditating, how will you know which is the teacher, which the students? If one sits on a higher platform will you assume him teacher and ask the depth of his Zen? If he comes down to you and says he has no depth to offer do…
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an old writer and his words 