What were you doing
three days ago
and what will you do
three days from now.
Are you the same person now
as you were, will be?
While your face in the mirrorKoan
seems much the same
each day you die a bit
each day you are reborn.
A thousand days
a thousand years
a passing moment,
how do they differ?
A reflection on Case 68 of the Iron Flute Koans
If, sitting at your meal
you hear the song of a bird,
what do you do?
You may tap your chopstick rest,
and perhaps he will answer
and repeat his sweet song.
If you tap a second time
and there is only silence
is the bird rejecting you
or offering his song to another,
flown from your window.
Perhaps you should tap again
and hear the sweeter song
of silence that echoes
over the garden and zendo.
On a distant limb
the small songbird smiles.
A reflection on Case 60 of the Iron Flute Koans.
If Kyosei asks
from where I have come
how will I answer him?
If he asks where
my teacher lives
what will I tell him?
Such a fool I am
to wander from there to here
from here to another place
seeking a path
on which I
am always standing still.
Thirty blows is
the least I deserve.
But Kyosei withdraws
the stick.
A reflection on Case 64 of the Iron Flute Koans
If you ask how
can one find the way
I will take you
into the garden
to look at the roses.
Each rose is
of a different size
and color, but which
is of the right size
and which the right shade?
A reflection on Case 71 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
A thousand steps,
one hundred thousand more
along the path
and the goal
seems ever farther away.
Stop
and rest
in perfect stillness.
You are there,
it has walked with you.
A reflection on Case 86 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
Joshu’s dog
and Schrodinger’s cat-
are they one
and the same?
Leave the lid
on the box
of the mind.
What is
the half life
of a thought?
A reflection on Cse 114 of teh Shobogenzo (Dogne’s True Dharma Eye)
A wealthy man may
spend many lifetimes
looking in endless shops
for a mirror cast
as a Buddha image.
The poor man
peers into a still pond
and sees the entire universe.
A reflection on Case 116 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
In the interstitial moment
between birth and death
a universe comes into existence,
something that never before existed
and existed always, new
and well-known, unseen
and visible for eternity.
Measure it well
for it is incapable of measurement,
and ends without warning
and precisely on schedule.
In the momentary breath
that marks the transit,
we proceed nowhere
and cannot return to where we began.
Reprised from March 27, 2016
If called before the Master
will you walk from east to west
to the Master’s Smile, or
west to east, to a sudden frown.
Will you approach the Master
bowing with words of gratitude
only to receive a blow of the stick
or seeking instruction in your failure
to an equal blow of the stick.
Ponder this carefully:
what is the answer?
I leave you the stick
to reach a conclusion.
A reflection on Case 50 of the Iron Flute Koans
Seeing your teacher on the road
if he says to you
Honorable Sir, what do you do?
You may turn, bow, and act the fool
or pass, eyes averted
without acknowledgement, silent
equally the fool.
Speak in silence,
face, bow without moving
greet him as you do yourself
in the morning mirror
and once past, offer gassho
and the fool is left on the path
dragging your shadow.
A reflection on Case 55 of the Iron Flute Koans
