an old writer and his words

  • CHŌSHA’S RETURNING TO MOUNTAINS

    When you see a mountainwhy must you climb itwith your eyes.When you heara mighty river whymust you ford itwith your ears,when you feel the earthwhy must you touchit with your feet?Are younot the mountaindoes the river runthrough you, as yourun through it, areyou not the earth? A reflection on Case 16 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s…

    Lou Faber

  • MISSING SONGS

    The problem, or one of them, isthe lack of music today. We haveall manner of what people call music,but not the music of the sortwe need, needed once and found,as we stormed the bastionsand bastards who mired us in war,who shunned darker brothersand sisters, who made alienablebasic rights to half of us withoutrhyme or reason,…

    Lou Faber

  • PLAYLIST

    I realize now justhow old I have gotten,no laughing any longer at the old men alwaystucking pills into a sorterneatly marked by day and time, for I now do my ownweekly, the number of pillsseeming to propogate by month. I suppose it is timeto begin working in earneston the playlist for my funeral. I’ll be…

    Lou Faber

  • REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM

    Gertrude Stein saidpoetry is vocabulary,or so Simic reported it,but in that casewhat do we makeof Haiku, wherea poem at maximumcan use onlyseventeen words. Perhaps, if wefollow Levi-Strausshaiku is not poetrybut art, for all artis reductionand there is littleyou can doto reducea haiku further.

    Lou Faber

  • SANSHO’S GOLDEN FISH 正法眼蔵 語十二

    Ask a question,if you get no responseis the question goodor is it foolish,is the teacher fooled,or simply too busy to answer.Be careful or youwill be trappeddeep within the net. A reflection on Case 52 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • THE LANGUAGE OF ZEN

    The greatest problemwith our languagein the practice of zazencan seem insurmountable. We are lovers of tenses,a dozen to choose from,one spawning offspring,time ever important to us. In zen, on the cushionthere is no past, no future,perfect or otherwise, norour friend the conditional. We strive to always bein the moment, there is nowand nothing else, and…

    Lou Faber

  • TOSU’S HARMONIZING TEN BODIES 正法眼蔵 三十語

    Standing in the ordinarystare out acrossthe great gulf searchingfor that which is sacred.It seems to dancejust beyond the edge of vision.Close your eyes and liftyour right foot,place it down.How does it feelto stand amidall that is sacred. A reflection on Case 39 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • ISAN’S DO NOT BETRAY OTHERS 正法眼蔵 四十七

    If you fall, 20,000 armswill lift you up,when you sit10,000 join the Sangha.If you walk barefootin the snowI will put sockson my feet for you.If you hunger, Iwill give you an empty bowland this will beour shared dharma. A reflection on Case 47 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • ON BEAUTY

    As you look at him or herdo you see someone witha beauty you only wish you had,or someone you pityfor lacking your beauty? As they look at youdo they see someone witha beauty they only wish they hador someone they pityfor lacking their beauty? When I look at either of youI see a person like…

    Lou Faber

  • CAREER CHOICES

    We were certain then that we’d bea success in life, that we’d drivethe kind of cars our fathersonly dreamed of as our motherschuckled about mid-life crises. They spoke about sons and daughtersof friends who were doctors,or at least lawyers, bemoanedthose who taught or held jobsthey called manual labor. But we were going in a whole…

    Lou Faber