an old writer and his words

  • JIZO PLANTS THE FIELD

    As you searchthrough the Dharmawhat is it you hope to find? When you ask your teacherto explain the Dharma, whatdo you expect him to tell you? Do you cling to Dharmabecause it is there, unchanging,a guide to the end of your search? Better to live the preceptsfully, present in every moment,waking, working, eatingand even sleeping…

    Lou Faber

  • MARVEL

    We are, after all, merely humanso we are fraught with questionsand lacking answers, willingto take things on faith on occasion. Take God, for example, althoughsome say He is uniquely exemplary,we want to know if God is a he,a she, or to cover all our bases, a they. And when we ask for a sign weoften…

    Lou Faber

  • UMMON’S TWO SICKNESSES

    As you wanderyour path, what is itthat you search for? When you seekinstruction from a masterwhat is it you expecthim to provide you? When you sitstill on the cushionyou may find a momentof kensho, butlabeling that momentdestroys it. Enlightenment cannotbe describedfor attaching wordsbrings it to the groundas rubble aroundyour feet. A reflection on Case 11…

    Lou Faber

  • HERE-ISH, NOW-ISH

    In this moment we, the two of us,are here in this precise placeand there are an infinite numberof places we might be.But we want to be here,just here, nowhere else.We are aging, but in this momentwe are exactly the right ageand to be younger or olderwould do nothing for us.When I curl against youas the…

    Lou Faber

  • JOSHU SEES THROUGH THE OLD WOMAN

    When, on the path,you com across a problemyou cannot solveyou may turnto your teacherand ask forthe solution. Do not expectan answerfor your teacherhas none, butif you listen carefullyto his silent breathin and out,he will lead youto the answer. A reflection on Casew 10 of the Book of Equanimity (SHôYôROKU 従容錄)

    Lou Faber

  • REINCARNATION

    In my next lifeI want to come backas a Great Blue Heron. I will majesticallystand by a lake, capturingfish, capturing the eyeof all who wander by,pausing in awe and desire. And I will havethe one thing I knowI now lack, that traitthat has escaped mefor far too many years,patience, the abilityto stand and stareuntil the…

    Lou Faber

  • NANSEN CUTS A CAT

    You are a searcher, youlook for answers, you lookfor the right paththat will lead youto enlightenment. You see everythingas black or white, goodor bad, right or wrong.You are a masterat division. Stop searching, stopseeking answers, stopdividing, then sitwith Nansen’s cat.That will be enough. A reflection on case 8 of the Book of Equanimity

    Lou Faber

  • YAKUSAN TAKES THE HIGH SEAT

    When you sit at the footof the teacher, whatdo you expect to hear? You dare not ask him questionsfor you know hewill give you no answers. If he sits silentlysmile for he hasgiven youthe wholeof the Dharma. A reflection on case 7 of the Book of Equanimity

    Lou Faber

  • SURGERY

    Preparing it to undergothe knife, its core excised,stem cast aside, slicedthen cut into piecesI pause to consider thatthis pear was oncea blossom, a delicatewhite flower, its cranberryred anthes soon to turnblack, picked carefully,cradled into a bushel,by a knowing hand,washed, and gentlypacked for shipment.For me it was justplucking it from the binat the market, holdingit in…

    Lou Faber

  • OH MY GOD

    On the subway there was a placardtelling me and all of the other riderswhere we could find God, promisingsalvation if we made the search. Someone had scrawled beneath it“God is ded.” I was left to wonderif the writer also thought that Godwas now somehow deceased, and how you would knowif that were really the case,…

    Lou Faber