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Bodhidharma’s Vast Emptiness
When teacher and studentsit face to face,mat to mat, looking deeplyone at the other,which is the teacherand which is the student? You are wrong.There is no teacher,there is no student,there is only the silenceof the momentin which all dharmais made obvious. A reflection on Case 2 of the Book of Equanimity
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PRO-VAXX
“It’s no big deal,” I smiledto the nurse, hoping she couldsee it through my double mask. “It will be,” she said, “butworth it in the long run. Don’tmake plans for a couple of days.” It was nothing really, nobig deal all afternoon and wellinto the evening, but in the nightrolling onto that arm, the deal…
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ANTISOCIAL MEDIA
The meaning is simple,a data point here,another there,an image,an algorithmwords writtenin jest,in anger,regret,withdrawal,cancellation,account closed,remaining shadows,way back,pixels always moving,real friendsonce touched,I aman avatar to you,I have erasedyou from memory.
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THREE HAIKU
A momentthen another, anotheronly this one a world of delusionyesterday and tomorrowBuddha says Now! Egrets take flightwe stare awestrucknature pities us
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IN THE KINGDOM
We sit in the waiting room,for we have grown accustomedto waiting for so many things,not wanting to rush a life thatappears ever more finite in duration. We stare at our phones, strugglingto see, to help bide the time, an ironynot lost for we are here becauseour vision is problematic or worse. Erasmus said the one-eyed…
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KEICHU THE WHEELMAKER 無門關 八
A collection of sticksand boards is Keichu’s cart Keichu’s cart no morethan a pileof sticks and boards not Irides no horsepulling no cart a hundred spokesdance in ten directions. A reflection on Case 8 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate Koans)
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WE ARE THE PEOPLE
We are the people, Who heard the glass breakingthat night as we huddled at home, Who inhaled the smokeof the Holy books as they burned, Who tried to flee but hadnowhere to go, always turned away, Who visited cosmetic doctorsto reshape our noses to look like the others Who adopted names to helperase a potentially…
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FOSSIL FUEL
It should give you pauseto consider that, in the midstof boundless greed, enmeshedin the near cult of self, rushingalways to go nowhere quickly,certain the problems of the world,can be solved tomorrow, usingresources that may never bereplenished or substituted for, when we are dead and buried,we will be the fossil fuelsthat future generationsrightfully shun in horror.
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PRISONER
This morning, I am certainthe earth pulled me down more strongly,as though gravity needed to reassert itself,having lost someone in its gripto the virus, a common complaintas we stumble through still another year. I fought it off course, the birdsin the wetland at once admiringmy effort and laughing at what they knewwould ultimately be a…
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THE FIRE THIS TIME
He said he did not want a funeral, certainly did not want to be buried. It would be a waste of wood and metal, and its only purpose would be to enrich the mortician and it is not like he will run out of customers any time in the near future. Not, at least, until…
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an old writer and his words 