an old writer and his words

  • IT WILL BE EASY

    It will be easy, he says, you justfish a wire down inside the wall,find the hole you cut, put inthe box and wire it up,no big deal at all, easy really. She grimaced immediately,then turned away from him to sigh,for she knew that any time a mandecided something was easy,no big deal, a day or…

    Lou Faber

  • Tokusan Holds His Bowls 無門關 十三 

    Tokusan carries bowlsas though expecting a meal.He is asked, “haveyou been called, forI have rung no bell.” He returns to his roomin silent response. You may say he retreatedin defeat, be he will havethe final answer. A reflection on Case 13 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) Koans

    Lou Faber

  • LANDING

    She sends us a map showing on which tribe’s land we are now living. This is not something we have thought about, not something we want to think about, for that would demand that we are the usurpers, the horde whose pogrom was ultimately successful, and that is a face that refuse to see in…

    Lou Faber

  • THE WALL

    The wall is black granite, highly polished be an unseen hand and the fingers of countless thousands present but each unseen by the others. At first glance you want to count the names, but you lack fingers enough for the task and others are quickly withdrawn as are their eyes. You know where the names…

    Lou Faber

  • SEIGAN’S COST OF RICE

    You may wander endlessly in search of the true dharma. It is not under that rock, not in those bushes, not around the next bend. Look down and ask yourself where are you standing in this moment, then gently lift  your feet off of the heart of the dharma A reflection on case 5 of…

    Lou Faber

  • DŌGO WON’T SAY 正法眼蔵 二十九

    I am the lifeof a hundred million others,you are the lifeof a hundred million others,a hundred million othersare my life, a hundred millionothers arise from my death.How many hundred millionare the same?None of them will say. A reflection on Case 29 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye) Koans

    Lou Faber

  • ON THE MANTLE

    Perhaps it is just that Ido not have a mantle on whichto place the cherished artifactsof my life, my parentsand grandparents photos,a family Tanach, the tallismy first adoptive father woreto his Bar Mitzvah. I have nothing, which this dayseems sadly appropriate,for their history really isnot mine, never was, Isimply borrowed it for a timebut all…

    Lou Faber

  • VISITORS

    We keep looking, some of uscertain they are there,others as certain they are not,as God didn’t mention them. We hope to see themto reach out to themto understand them,to learn from them. Of course, we knowthat if they are herethey are so much moreintelligent than we and hardly likelyto announce theirpresence given whatthey must know…

    Lou Faber

  • Chu Gives Three Calls 無門關 十七

    Three times the master’s question three times the student’s response each time, the same answer each time the master shrinks as answer surpasses question. There is no master there is no student there is only the lamp in two sets of hands. A reflection on case 11 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) koans.

    Lou Faber

  • BEGGAR’S TALE

    I speak clearly, conciselyin an ancient, long forgottentongue that none understand. I tell my tale, leaving outnothing, a summonerin a deaf world, whispering of coins, pulled froman empty pocket and castat your feet, soundless. I point to signs, letteredin my careful hand, withoutmeaning, cryptic to you You urge me to trustin your god even asyou…

    Lou Faber