an old writer and his words

  • SOZAN’S DHARMAKAYA

    When you ask yourself“who am I?”how do you answer.If you lookat yourself in a still pondis that only youthat you seeor do you also seethe pond lookingat you? A reflection on Case 52 of The Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • NOTHINGMAN

    So when you asked me whichsuperhero I would like to beI would’ve thought you mighthave narrowed it downto the Marvel or DC universes,or did you mean that I couldcreate my own superpower and persona?All of this matters, of course, for anyperson under 75 and male and manyfemales in that cohort as wellknow the vast gulf…

    Lou Faber

  • IN PASSING

    As we walk along the shoreof the man-made lakein the planned community’s “town,”the birds array themselvesin a ragged single fileas I pass and I imagined eachlooks up at me posing.Once I would’ve stopped,raised my camera, capturedthem, or their facsimilebut those days are donefor I no longer blog themone thousand posts gone byand my back and…

    Lou Faber

  • CLOCKWORK

    Deep within the cosmic corethe celestial horologist tinkers,bending time into wormholesas the stars stare, muted.We are oblivious, strain to seeour place amid endless expansion.We accelerate blindly, unknown,unknowing where we are,where is could be at thismoment, at any moment,caught up in the temporal tide,a never yielding riverin which we inevitably drown.We swim against time’s tide,a futile…

    Lou Faber

  • FINAL MOMENT

    You would think that thosewith an abiding faith in an afterlifewould approach the transitionto death without fear, merely a stepinto a promising, promised unknown.And perhaps some do take this approachbut many, it seems, when the abyss opensbefore them and there is no going backexpress the moment of fear, of terror,thoughts reserved to the nonbelievers.Of course…

    Lou Faber

  • HOGEN’S BY BOAT OR LAND

    When the teacher asks youwhy you came to see himwhat will you answer?If you ask him a questionhe will sit silentlywaiting for you to answer.If you simply nodand bow he will smileand you may leave fulfilled. A reflection on Case 51 of The Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • TEN-HUT

    My buddy swore that he couldtell when an officer was approachingsince he could smell them evenwhen they came from behind us.I didn’t buy it, refused to actually,as it was absurd no matter howgood his sense of smell might be.He said that he was part catand cats had terrific senses,smelling being principal among them.Of course I…

    Lou Faber

  • NOT THAT

    A writing teacher I admireonce told me that my truecreative self would only beunleashed if I stoppedwriting about what I knewand began writingabout what I didn’t know.I knew what he meantbut I can be a literal soulall too often, with yearsof practicing law and inthat state of mind I knewI was doomed to failurefor if…

    Lou Faber

  • VIMALAKURTI’S NONDUALITY

    In your searchfor enlightenmentyou may comeupon a gate.Do you enter by itor do you leave by it,or do you simplysit atop itin peaceful silence. A reflection on case 48 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • LURKING

    You lurk behind meas I sit at the islandboth the messenger and the message.You appear magicallyon my chair back, your tailwrapping my neck, a mink like scarfregardless of the temperature.I hear a slowly growing rumbleas if with my ear to the groundI can sense a distant temblor.And then there is the flickof dampened sandpaper on…

    Lou Faber