an old writer and his words

  • SYMMETRY

    There is a certain perfectsymmetry in both lifeand death. We do not rememberthe moment at whichwe were born. We will not rememberthe the moment at whichwe will die. We did not fearthe moment at whichwe were born why then should we fearthe moment at whichwe will die?

    Lou Faber

  • JIZO PLANTS THE FIELD

    As you searchthrough the Dharmawhat is it you hope to find? When you ask your teacherto explain the Dharma, whatdo you expect him to tell you? Do you cling to Dharmabecause it is there, unchanging,a guide to the end of your search? Better to live the preceptsfully, present in every moment,waking, working, eatingand even sleeping…

    Lou Faber

  • HOLY ERROR

    If you truly believe that God createdevery creature individually, it is allHis intelligent design, then why the applein the Garden, and why both crocsand alligators, wouldn’t one havebeen sufficient, and why, just whyhave mosquitoes at all, ever? I won’t bother asking why God gaveus free will, since you say He willpunish us if we use…

    Lou Faber

  • SUNDAY MORNING

    Every Sunday morning my parents,usually my father at mother’s directionwould drive me the four blocksto attend Sunday school. I could easily have walked, a longblock and a half by cutting through yards,but they were afraid of I haveabsolutely no idea what. My friends that weren’t there with mewere probably in church soit wasn’t like I…

    Lou Faber

  • MARVEL

    We are, after all, merely humanso we are fraught with questionsand lacking answers, willingto take things on faith on occasion. Take God, for example, althoughsome say He is uniquely exemplary,we want to know if God is a he,a she, or to cover all our bases, a they. And when we ask for a sign weoften…

    Lou Faber

  • JOSHU SEES THROUGH THE OLD WOMAN

    When, on the path,you com across a problemyou cannot solveyou may turnto your teacherand ask forthe solution. Do not expectan answerfor your teacherhas none, butif you listen carefullyto his silent breathin and out,he will lead youto the answer. A reflection on Casew 10 of the Book of Equanimity (SHôYôROKU 従容錄)

    Lou Faber

  • YAKUSAN TAKES THE HIGH SEAT

    When you sit at the footof the teacher, whatdo you expect to hear? You dare not ask him questionsfor you know hewill give you no answers. If he sits silentlysmile for he hasgiven youthe wholeof the Dharma. A reflection on case 7 of the Book of Equanimity

    Lou Faber

  • OH MY GOD

    On the subway there was a placardtelling me and all of the other riderswhere we could find God, promisingsalvation if we made the search. Someone had scrawled beneath it“God is ded.” I was left to wonderif the writer also thought that Godwas now somehow deceased, and how you would knowif that were really the case,…

    Lou Faber

  • SENSO-JI

    By hour six, the plane was just a lumbering beast dividing the sky, halfway from God knows where to nowhere special. His body cried for sleep but he knew he had to deny it. That much he had learned from prior trips. For when he landed, made his way painfully slowly into the city, it…

    Lou Faber

  • ENO DOESN’T UNDERSTAND 正法眼蔵 語十九

    You ask meif I understandthe preceptsand follow them.You frown whenI say I do not.Remember wellthat the young childhas no understandingof the preceptsand walks easilyalong the Way. A reflection on case 59 of the Shobogenzo Koans (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber