an old writer and his words

  • ATONEMENT

    Someone said that with each breathyou take you are inhaling atomsthat Einstein once inhaled, andif that is true you are also inhalingatoms that Stalin and Hitler inhaled.But extend that logic, when youwalk the old cities of Europe,and particularly those near wherethe Nazis built their camps, pausefor a long moment and ask yourselfon whose ashes you…

    Lou Faber

  • SOZAN’S DHARMAKAYA

    When you ask yourself“who am I?”how do you answer.If you lookat yourself in a still pondis that only youthat you seeor do you also seethe pond lookingat you? A reflection on Case 52 of The Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • FINAL MOMENT

    You would think that thosewith an abiding faith in an afterlifewould approach the transitionto death without fear, merely a stepinto a promising, promised unknown.And perhaps some do take this approachbut many, it seems, when the abyss opensbefore them and there is no going backexpress the moment of fear, of terror,thoughts reserved to the nonbelievers.Of course…

    Lou Faber

  • HOGEN’S BY BOAT OR LAND

    When the teacher asks youwhy you came to see himwhat will you answer?If you ask him a questionhe will sit silentlywaiting for you to answer.If you simply nodand bow he will smileand you may leave fulfilled. A reflection on Case 51 of The Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • JOSHU’S CYPRESS TREE

    Before the beginningof timewhat time was it?If you cannot answerthis simple koanyour answer is correct.In a drop of dewlies the universeall you must dois join it. A reflection on case 47 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • 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)

    Lou Faber

  • KOYO’S GARUDA BIRD

    When you sit on the cushionthere is only you, there is onlythe cushion, nothing more.When you rise from the cushionwhat becomes of you?Do you change, are youin some way different?But if there is no youif there is only onethen the cushiondoes not matter any longer. A reflection on Case 44 of the Book of Equanimity…

    Lou Faber

  • RAZAN’S ARISING AND VANISHING

    Thoughts comeand thoughts go.You know this, just asyou come and you go.But where do you go,where do thoughts goor were they never real.And if they were not realare you real, orare you a thought? A reflection on case 43 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • SO, JEAN-JACQUES

    I suppose, with some effort,I, too, could become oneof Rousseau’s savage menbut I have to ask myself if thatis a path that I would choose to walk.It isn’t the walking that give me pause,for that, as Rousseau said,enables contemplation and notmere thoughts flitting about,and is a means of meditationin my frantically moving world.And it isn’t…

    Lou Faber

  • THE NEW GODS

    From their two-bedroom apartmenton the outer edge of Cupertino,the Gods evicted from Olympusare creating their pulsating metahell.They know how easily we, lemmingsenchanted by the sparkling void,offer ourselves up in sacrifice, alwayswanting still another gigabyte,entranced by the idea of the Deusex machina, blind to our own truth.They promise us eternity, a heavenof a parallel binary universe,redemption…

    Lou Faber