an old writer and his words

  • TOKYO MEMORIES

    1. An older, silver-haired woman in neon green pants, a brown blouse and black shop apron stoops and carefully scrubs the alleyway outside her small shop. 2. Salarymen fill the tunnels of Kokkai-gijidomae station at 6 P.M., 7, 8, and in fewer numbers, 9, shuffling down the long corridors to the Chiyoda or Marunouchi Line trains,…

    Lou Faber

  • LEILA

    At the left click of the mouse my granddaughter appears barely a week old and with a right-click she is frozen into the hard drive. I remember sitting outside the Buddha Hall of Todai-Ji Temple in the mid-morning August sun the smiling at a baby waiting in her stroller for her mother to bow to…

    Lou Faber

  • GOLDEN MIRAGE

    Another day attempts to slide by in the shadows, avoiding capture by pen and journal, fleeing into night where November clouds provide infinite hiding places. Or, perhaps, it will find shelter in the blinding golden glare of Pan Wat Lao Buddhadam, that appears mystically out of the Henrietta field. It’s monk smiles, knowing so very…

    Lou Faber

  • ESSHŌ’S PATH 正法眼蔵 三十七

    If you are seeking the way do not consult a map and most certainly do not follow in the footsteps of the wisest person. Do not ever ask directions for it is only when you are utterly lost and have no idea which way to go, that your every step is a step along the…

    Lou Faber

  • MUSHOTOKU

    We spend far too much time clinging to what was as the flames fade, and far too little time feeding the fire and grasping what can be, what is.

    Lou Faber

  • THEN AGAIN

    1970. The evening news is a procession of body bags, the halls of the VA Hospital are a storehouse of shattered bodies. He sits with a surreal placidity cross-legged on the small cushion, the corners of his eyes pulling up as if lost in thoughts of Kyoto. I sit, knees creaking even then, across the…

    Lou Faber

  • TEINEI-SA 丁寧さ

    He crawls out from under the blue tarp strung between two trees and a park bench with the first light of morning breaking over Shinjuku Chuo park, slowly erasing the shadows cast by the Metropolitan Government Building. He neatens the surrounding concrete, ready for the soon to be arriving crowd that appear each morning for…

    Lou Faber

  • ESCAPE PLAN

    Open the door quickly for you may find a wonderland: a bottled djinn waiting for your wish, a mangy dog looking for scraps his fur wet and matted, head down. Open the door quickly – it may be the entrance to a gallery or another door, and another until you are outside and must open…

    Lou Faber

  • MORE MUSIC OF THE FLUTE

    SANSHO MEETS A STUDENT                               鐵笛倒吹 十二 One goes to the gate to welcome the new student and with a broad smile turns his back in silence, offering nothing. Another will not leave the Zendo, sitting in stillness at the sound…

    Lou Faber

  • SENBAZURU

    A thousand cranes take flight hanging from the ceiling under the watchful eye the old Japanese man framed on my wall and the Buddha staring down from my dresser.

    Lou Faber