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AND PEACE?
Santayana said, “Only the deadhave seen the end of the war.”We have grown adept at wars,no longer global in scope, butubiquitous in frequency. Mine was fought in the ricepaddies of Vietnam, and on thecampus where we struggledvaliantly and vainly to protest,and when that failed, in the heatof Texas, marching about, goingthankfully nowhere, shippedto Niagara Falls…
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TOZAN’S DISCLOSING MIND
Many would sayI think therefore I amand it is only deaththat takes away all thoughtand so to walk deeplyalong the Path, allthat is requiredis to truly live the Wayby allowingthe mind to die. A reflection on case 62 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
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WE ARE SORRY, BUT
I will take it,the aging poet saidto the ever more sparsecrowd at the weeklyopen mic,as a recognitionis the growthin the qualityof my writingthat I continuebeing rejectedbut now by amuch higherquality ofliterary journals.
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THE SAINT OF UNCOUNTED NAMES
A desert again,always a desertand she the saintof uncounted names,her crying eases, nosmile appears for thisMadonna of the coyotes,her orange-orbed eyesshuttered against theslowly retreating sun.Once her tears wateredthe desert sands, mixedwith the blood of a Christnow long forgotten, trans-substantiated into a spiritwe formed in our image,no longer we in his.The Blessed Motherwatches, holding hope,holding space,…
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NO MOMENT
You wanted a zen moment,more than one actually,but were not surewhere to look. You wandered aboutlooking forthe right pathsaidyou never found it. There isno zen moment,there isno right path there isthis paththis momentonly.
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PERHAPS, OR NOT
It is certain that they are coming,and you assume or hope it is for me,but what if they are coming for you? You think that they will not find youbut they know where you are,so where will you try to hide? You think that you will be safe,that they will ignore you, that youcan hide,…
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LEILA
At the left click of the mousemy granddaughter appearsbarely a week oldand with a right-clickshe is frozen into the hard drive.I remember sitting outsidethe Buddha Hall of Todai-Ji Templein the mid-morning August sun thesmiling at a baby waiting in her strollerfor her mother to bowto the giant golden Buddha.I recall the soft touchof the young…
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STOIC
He will do it again tomorrow as he did yesterday and each day before that for as long as he can remember. He would like not to have to do it, but he knows he must, just as he knows the outcome will be almost the same, just the slightest of changes imperceptible from day…
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JOSHU’S BUDDHA
If you go in search of Buddhashould you see him, donot stop or speak but run away.If you do not see the Buddharun away from that place.If you stop, to take waterfrom the edge of a still pondlook carefully, forthe Buddha is therejust above the water’s surface. A reflection on case 80 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo…
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MIRROR MIRROR
The person I see each morninglooks vaguely familiar, perhapssomeone I once met in passing,or maybe a distant relative.But he was so much olderso he was difficult to place. I do say hello each morningbut get only a nod, a gesturein response, as if the personis mute, for he smiles backso it is not a silence…
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an old writer and his words 