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BUDDHA NATURE
Any good cat will tell you that there is absolutely no good reason to distinguish between here and there, night and day, good and evil, and the list is virtually endless. Cats will admit, if you ask them nicely, that they have no need for such dualities. Cats understand gray in all of its gradations,…
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PERIPHERAL VISION
Open your eyes. What do you see? The sky Close your eyes. What do you see? Nothing Then open your eyes. What do you see? The sky Close your eyes. What do you see? Nothing Now open your eyes. What do you see? The sky and a large hawk…
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REFLECTION
Just once on the Shinkansen Tokyo to Osaka I chose to sit on the rearward facing seat just once to see where I had been without care of what lay ahead.
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TEN-FOLD PATH (十幅の道): Part 2
6. Ox and man walk the dusty path to the small hut sit along the fence and look deeply into the bottomless night sky as they have for the endless journey 埃だらけの道をたどって 男と牛は小屋をめざす 塀にもたれて腰かけ 果てのない夜空を見つめる 終わりのない旅路で いつもそうしてきたように 7. Each morning the man senses the ox is in the pen, the ox smells the man in…
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TEN-FOLD PATH (十幅の道): Part 1
1. He takes a first step eyes scanning the path, the field the forest for the ox. There is no ox. 男は最初の一歩を踏み出し 道に、野原に、その先の森に目をやる 男の目は牛を探し求める だがどこにも牛の姿はない 2. Much time passes another step and there in the soft mud of spring a print of hoof, deep isolated unpaired. 長い時間が過ぎ 男はさらに歩を進める そして春のぬかるみの中にひとつ 人知れず埋もれた 蹄（ひずめ）の跡を見つける 3. A step in…
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THROUGH THE GATE: FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON THE MUMONKON
The Beardless Barbarian 無門關 四 A young child has no beard. In one dream you are bearded and awake clean shaven. In one dream you are clean shaven and awake rubbing your long beard. When you meet your dreams and when your dreams meet you, which is real, Wakuan…
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QUANTUM
The universe is both enormously vast, measurable only in metaphor – and so infinitesimally small, it is an idea that would fit in the corner of a grain of sand. As you walk the beach grasp universes between your toes and kick them into the tide of the cosmos.
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THE FLUTE PLAYER PLAYS ON
HYAKUREI’S ATTAINMENT 鐵笛倒吹 四 Sitting with a monk at the feet of the master when his mouth opens what will you hear? If you both see a sudden light will you say something when asked? Walk slowly away from questions and keep your answers tucked away in your straw hat and lit all be…
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THREE NOTES FROM THE IRON FLUTE
MANJUSHRI ENTERS THE GATE 鐵笛倒吹 一 Like Manjushri, stand still outside the gate and listen for the call of Buddha from within. When he calls, answer but is Buddha inside and you without? There is nothing at all to see, and the gate has fallen from its hinges so answer yourself carefully. …
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STANDING AT THE GATE: REFLECTIONS ON THE MUMONKON
Joshu’s Dog 無門關 一 There is no question nor dog nor Buddha-nature. There is no thing In the far corner Joshu barks loudly. Hyakujo’s Fox 無門關 二 The old, crippled fox crawled slowly from the mouth of the dark cave. Sidling up to Hayakujo the old monk said to fox, “think…
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an old writer and his words 