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TS’UI YEN’S EYEBROWS
The question is a simple one, really, but not one you were expecting, which is why you sit and grapple for an answer. Ask yourself, what if no answer is needed, what if there is no answer, can you remain silent, or will you feel somehow incomplete if you do not respond? All answers are…
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NATURE’S PROPHET
He sits still demanding your attention. He stares at you with green eyes and a defiant look, saying you are a visitor here, this is our world so do not abuse your privilege of sharing this space with us. We were here long before you arrived and our kind will be here long after you…
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ASHES TO DUST
The dolphin is born of the water, the man born of the fire and of the earth. The dolphin swims unrestrained, the man chooses to live in the city of Afterlife, focussed on impending rebirth. The dolphin stares up in wonder at the amassing clouds, the man curses the sky shielding him from heaven. The dolphin…
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THREE HAIKU
Giant cranes are perched on thin spindly legs, necks bowed steel beams scratch the clouds. Needle-like church spires reach through the gathering mist clouds begin to bleed. Walls stand in the field one stone piled on another grass withers in shade.
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MOURNING ASCENDANT
When they lowered my grandmother’s casket into the sodden earth, there wasn’t a dry eye or shoulder, or leg around. Sophie would have gotten a good laugh, her children always too busy for a visit getting soaked to the skin, in a cold, windy downpour, all but me, the one she chose to conduct the…
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KANGNAM STYLE
The kimchi and pickles are presented in neat Celadon dishes carefully arranged on the small table. The meat sizzles on the iron dome resting above the bucket of orange hot coals set into the table littered with half empty and fully drained bottles of Hite beer and thimble glasses of Soju. The waitress snips the…
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PURE DHARMA BODY 正法眼蔵 二十六
Standing at the foot of the mountain what side do you see. Standing atop the mountain what side to you not see. Close your eyes and you will see the mountain has no sides. Close your eyes and you will find there is no mountain. A reflection on case 36 of the Dogen’s Shobogenzo
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REFLECTING ON THE HARBOR
On the anniversary of the start of a war one feels almost compelled to speak to its horrors, its cause, its effect. But we live in an age where wars are plentiful, when peace is the exception and war seems to loom around every corner. So on this anniversary I watch the snowy egret stare…
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CHU TI’S ONE-FINGER CH’AN
When you believe you have found your teacher, ask him a question. If he gives you an answer, be certain that he is not your teacher. But if he holds up just a single finger, will you pause in false anticipation, or do you gaze at his raised finger and carefully consider the answer. A…
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LUNA REFLECTS
Tonight the moon will gnaw away at the stars, consuming them much as the beaver consumes trees to build a proper home. We will stare at the moon, marvel at its size, at its brightness, wonder why we never noticed it like this before, realize it is because we are so young, that our memory…
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