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TICK, TICK
Ignore what the physicists tell you,for truth defies their neat lawsand time accelerates as you age.Stop and consider that the timeyou have left, however much it is,will, per unit of their measure,grow increasingly shorteruntil, of course, you have none leftand then it will cease to matter.So it is best to get on with living.Put aside…
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TOKUSAN’S COMPLETION OF STUDY
Why do you struggleto not think, for not thinkingis the essence of thought.You cannot attainemptiness justas an open cylindercannot contain water.Just sit, just be,no words, no thought. A reflection on case 46 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)
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A FAREWELL VISIT
My mother no longer visits mein my dreams, actuallyneither does for I’ve had two,the advantage or is itdisadvantage of the adoptee.None of my three fathersever paid a postmortem visit.It complicates things when allI know of my birth mother isfrom a college yearbook photo,but that is how she looked in thosefew visits after I discovered her.The…
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A SIMPLE PROCEDURE
The needle slips into the armjust above the wrist, it isa bringer of pain, a bringerof relief from pain, it is coldunder the now tepid blanket.The nurse, ever cheerful, saysit is time now, raises the bed railand the anesthetist presses gentlyon the plunger of the hypodermicand the drugs ooze slowly intothe patiently waiting vein.As they…
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HOW MANY
The better question, the onefor which there can beno real answer, ishow many couples of our agewould be together today,would never have gotten together,if we had cell phonesand tablets when we were young.The use of that word alonestrongly hints at whatI imagine that answer to be.A telephone, landlinethey now call it, required presence,required you to…
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FINITO
He always wondered how the story would end. He was tempted to read the last page of every novel he picked up but he realized that he would have a shelf full of books in no time at all, because once he knew the ending he wouldn’t, couldn’t bother to read the rest. He became…
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THE SUTRAS OF COMPLETE AWAKENING
When you sit on the cushiondo not open the doorto outside thoughts.If outside thoughts come indo not think of waysto make them departfor those effortsare outside thoughts.Just sit and the thoughtswill get bored and leave,just as they arrived. A reflection on case 45 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)
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ALWAYS LONGER
And so it is done and over. It took far longer than he anticipated. It always takes longer than he anticipates. If he allows extra time, it will still take longer than he anticipates. He knows he should stop anticipating, but he knows he is human and any time something is about to happen that…
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FINALLY
It should have been an abruption.That is how he wanted it, how it wouldhave been easier for all but he was notprone to confrontation and so it lingered,depleting, eroding, wearing down untilthere was finally the longed for abruption. He did not see it coming, it camefrom out of nowhere, a fuse litmuch earlier, the explosion…
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ON THE CUSHION
The day has slipped away,or mostly so, as they often doas if nature provided a hiddengrease that lets them outof our grasp no matterhow hard we try and hold them.It is little consolation, laterin life, that nights demonstrateand equal unwillingnessto remain very long, as ifour dreams must be hurriedas are our days and nights.Sitting on…
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an old writer and his words 