an old writer and his words

  • THE POET’S JOURNEY

    Between here and there is an infinite gulf, and finding yourself here yet needing to get there, what will you do when you discover that all you have is this pen?

    Lou Faber

  • DHARMA

    Buddha was asked, once, to describe all the dharmas while standing on one foot. “Hillel could do it,” the crowd said, “so you too should be so able.” Buddha smiled and said, “Hillel was a good friend, as was Jesus and Ishmael.” Buddha then gently sat beneath the Bodhi tree and was completely silent.

    Lou Faber

  • THE SKY

    The sky is the leaden gray that denies the sun and threatens the moon’s arrival. It presses down on the roofs of the talest buildings, wraps them in a depression those on the street below feel without need of looking up. This is a teasing sky- a drop here, there, until we know we are…

    Lou Faber

  • TIPPING THE WATER BOTTLE 無門關 四十

    These few words gathered neatly on a scrap of simple paper, what do you call it? Answer carefully for you response may carry the keys to the doors of Mount Tai-i. Better still, upend the water bottle, watch the ink and water form a gentle pool into which no pebble drops. A reflection on Case…

    Lou Faber

  • COGITO

    The hardest thing to remember is to remember is to program terminated after infinite loop. Forgetting is often easier, or perhaps we only think that is so for once we have forgotten something we may recall the act of forgetting but never the thing just forgotten. The key is to be selective in forgetting for…

    Lou Faber

  • A MONESTARY HEAD IS SELECTED 鐵笛倒吹 七十四

    A starving man will prefer a crust of bread over an invitation to a future feast. When asked what you seek, what do you say? When asked why you seek it, what is your answer? When you expect nothing you will not be disappointed. A relection on case 74 of the Iron Flute.

    Lou Faber

  • TURNING

    He says, “I’ve run out of cheeks, my own family has used up so many and there are so few left, I save them to have one to turn when someone sincerely and truly atones.” “I suppose,” she says, “there is some logic to that.” “Not at all,” he replies, “for if someone truly atones,…

    Lou Faber

  • CREATION

    God created man in God’s image much as man created God in his. If there were no God, there could be no man, and yet, if there were no man, there would be no God. Perhaps Aristotle had it right but certainly easier, noting that bird and egg must have always existed, and so for…

    Lou Faber

  • NI HAIKU 二俳句

    a great blue heron watches the morning sun rise ginkgos awaken newly hatched goslings watching the trees take flower imagine summer 大な青い鷺 朝の太陽を見る イチョウ覚醒 孵化した新芽 木の花を見て 夏の夢 (daina aoi sagi Asa no taiyō o miru Ichō kakusei Fuka shita shinme Ki no hana o mite Natsu no yume)  

    Lou Faber

  • IN DREAMS

    Late in the night a train rolled by through the city, a few miles down the hill from here, its horn muted but still required at crossings. I know it appeared in my dreams, but I cannot tell if it was as the heron in flight over the lake, or the long bearded hiker with…

    Lou Faber