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RESURRECTION
In the picture he is young, wearing a uniform that fits him, has his name over the breast, but his hair is longer. The picture is a bit askew, there is a clock on the wall but the time does not matter. He knows it was the radio studio but others would not, the mic…
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A MEDITATION
The cat curls on the mat and you assume she is not practicing zazen, that is just something cats are prone to do. Hakuin Ekaku only ascribed such nature to dogs, but perhaps true Buddha nature is a secret held close by our felines.
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FERRYMAN
He comes to me in the dead hour of night the old shriveled man poling his poor ferry across the river of my dreams. He comes when the moon has fled and the stars fall mute and he beckons me holding out the copper coins stating his fare. He comes to me, beckoning, and for…
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ABIDING
Do not look behind you to see if the Emperor is following, for if he is, he will not see you. If he asks nothing, tell him that there is no truth, that everything is true. He has no teacher and looks at each passing person to find one. You should not be worried because…
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KANSAI
I droplets torn from cloud bed cling to edges of windows wanting to grasp, torn free by wind they are pulled clawing backward. II over Osaka pillars of light rise up through holes in the cloudbank, it is gray rain puddling on tarmac built into the bay. III container ships draw fading wake lines on a…
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FEAR
The old monk asked the young man why he seemed so worried. “Because, sensei, you are old and will die soon!” “Why does that worry you?” “Because, like everyone, I fear death.” “Not everyone, certainly, I do not fear death.” “How can you not fear death?” “There is nothing to fear, I fear life.” “Why…
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JIASHAN SEES THE FERRYMAN
You offer to me that which I cannot take, I refuse to give you the one thing you can accept. We each have nothing and give nothing, and are happy for the perfect gift. A musing on Case 90 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
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TIME’S ARROW
Before the after now is present. It was never like this before, it will not be again anytime soon, for there is no time soon that has yet to be or just gone by. After the before we find ourselves here and now.
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ROAD TRIP
Two nights gone and sleep has come fitfully, and I stir each time I reach across the bed and you aren’t there, and there is only the faintest smell of bleach and cleaning solvent. I want very much to dream of you, to trace your cheek with dream fingers, to taste your lips on mine,…
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AN OX GOES THROUGH A LATTICE WINDOW
If you see an animal sitting neck-deep in the mud do you wonder how lucky it is that, having fallen in, its head has not been swallowed? Or do you consider that it stuck its head out of the mud to gaze into the sky? When you are immersed in dharma do you hold back your…
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an old writer and his words 