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SEPPO’S WOODEN BALL 鐵笛倒吹 八十九
The teacher rolls a wooden ball past the students seated around his feet. Will you pick it up and return it to him? The teacher rolls a wooden ball past the students seated around his feet. I sit still and let it pass. Which of us deserves the stick, which a silent smile. Buddha is…
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SILENCE
She only wants to know what lies deep within silence. He says he imagines it is a place he can never visit locked away from humans, whose minds deny the quiet. She says she is willing to continue the search, for even if she cannot find it, she may find something like it, and that…
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NO HAMLETS, WE
We were the crown princes, then, with an occasional princess, though that was more to maintain the peace. Our kingdom was a square block, and we dominion over all of our territory save the two minefields, well-marked, kept by the Strauss and Herlihy fiefdoms, who refused to pay homage to us, denied us our just…
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NOTHING, AND LESS
The hardest thing, he said to his teacher, both sitting on their mats, is not not thinking, but what to do when the thoughts come anyway. I can’t seem to get rid of them no matter how hard I try.” “Do not try to do anything,” the Sensei said, “for anything you do introduces another…
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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, for 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 says…
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RECALL NOTICE
It wasn’t so much that it slipped away this morning, I’ve come to expect that, and I know there is absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. It wasn’t even that I couldn’t recall what it was precisely that was gone, for that is the nature of departure and longing. It was more that…
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RED EYE
No matter how hard you look at maps you cannot find that evanescent border that divides weariness from exhaustion. You need no papers to slip across, no guards or fences will greet you, you may be well across before anyone notices. The return journey is harder still for you won’t have marked your way, and…
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GYOZAN DRAWS A LINE 鐵笛倒吹 八十三
At the end of a long day of discourse the teacher may ask the student what have you learned. How should the student respond. The student may raise a finger and trace a line in the air of a fading day. Which, I ask you is the teacher and which is the student? A reflection…
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MICROSOFT THESAURUS
birth beginning opening breach alienation estrangement enmity malice malevolence hatred repugnance hostility conflict battle combat assault onslaught aggression brutality savageness atrocity crime assault strike beat vanquish crush annihilate destroy murder homicide death
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TERMINAL
Birth, he said, is the first and only real terminal disease. You only realize that, of course, when it is far too late and there is nothing at all you can do about it. Cancer and all manner of diseases merely shift the timeline, but once you’re on the path, there is only one way…
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an old writer and his words 