an old writer and his words

  • NIGHT ZAZEN

    The last inkin bell tone dies on the fading whisper of incense. Here and not here now and still now silence and Zen. The distant mountain kisses the moon’s curled lips.

    Lou Faber

  • HYAKUJO’S SECOND VISIT 正法眼蔵 語十四

    You may come asking questions, and perhaps the teacher will answer you with a discourse. If you go deaf and hear nothing, if the words flit like so many mayflies just as soon gone, if no word finds purchase, you will have grasped the heart of the Dharma. A reflection on case 54 of the…

    Lou Faber

  • 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…

    Lou Faber

  • VAIROCANA (NARA DAIBUTSU)

    Daibutsu, you sit placidly staring down at the throng that slowly bows before you. You can small the faint essence of the joss sticks wafting from the great cast iron pot outside the massive doors. “Do not act as if the world were real” you whisper, or so it seems to my chilled ears, “it…

    Lou Faber

  • PHILOSOPHER’S STONE

    The philosopher sits on a rock overlooking a pond with a single water lily. To defeat your enemy, you must have his mind. To have his mind, you must be him. To be him, you must cast off self-loathing When there is no loathing, he is not your enemy. If you have no enemies, you…

    Lou Faber

  • UNGAN’S NOT ANY SINGLE WORD

    The youngest child, her mind uncluttered, can answer any question unburdened by words, and her answers can only rebound across the universe. If you stop struggling to hear her, let the silence surround you both, you cannot escape the answers. A reflection on case 84 of the Shobogenzo (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • WITHOUT WITHIN

    Within a rock there is another rock that sits in the middle of the stream, in sight, just out of reach. Within a cloud there is another cloud whose rain has fed a barren field. Within this city there is another city whose streets I have walked in countless dreams. Within this mirror there is…

    Lou Faber

  • KANNON WAITING

    The hermit lives in the shadow of the great mountain listening to the symphony of the bluebird and the wild Rose engulfed by the sky, the meandering stream his constant companion. I live in a city in a sea of city dwellers each of us prisoners marching from cell to cell, with passing nods we…

    Lou Faber

  • MORNING MEDITATION

    Settling into perfect stillness, each of us in our brown robes on brown chairs, benches, cushions, note his entry is somewhere between the thundering of a forgotten storm or the garbage trucks crawling slowly down the street. Despite the early morning heat there is no breeze, only a large moth comes through the open windows…

    Lou Faber

  • IS THAT SO 沙石集 三

    If you find an orphan do you take him as your own. Do you feed and shelter him and offer him your name. Does he sit at your side in silent meditation. Do you willingly accept the scorn of your neighbors for your bastard child? If his mother later comes, will you part with him…

    Lou Faber