an old writer and his words

  • DAIZUI SEES A TURTLE 鐵笛倒吹 十七

    If you see a turtle does it seem odd it wears bones outside? Does the turtle live within these bones and where do you go to hide from bright light.. If you place a sandal on your head which end will be walking? A reflection on Case 17 of the Iron Flute Koans

    Lou Faber

  • BLIND SEARCH

    She wants to know where to look and thinks it must be either without or within, she assumes a Christian looks outward, a Buddhist within, and every other faith either aligns with one or plumbs the middle. She is searching for the answer to the inevitable question, the question that cannot be answered. She asks…

    Lou Faber

  • DRY CREEK 鐵笛倒吹 四十

    When you are parched and come upon a dry creek bed will you assume there is water flowing freely beneath the soil and rocks, and how will you drink it? If you give up your thirst your attachment to life may wash downstream and the bitter waters may run both sweet and deep. You may…

    Lou Faber

  • HANGING BY A THREAD

    In Riga, my grandfather was a master tailor, the great and the rich would come to his shop some bringing bolts of fine cloth and others trusting him knowing that wools and silks were not beyond his reach. Even after they marked his home as that of the Jew, the Captain, who rode through the…

    Lou Faber

  • ISAN’S GIFT 正法眼蔵 語十六

    If someone has much, give him little, if someone has little, give him much. If you have much, give much, but if you have little, give only little. Little and much are both the same when given and received. A reflection on Case 56 of the Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • MEDITATION

    A wise Buddhist teacher once told me that anything you do, if you do it mindfully, can be a form of meditation, and I have taken this into my practice, albeit with mixed success, but that is one reason they call it practice. Walking silently, following your breath in and out, aware of your feet,…

    Lou Faber

  • INSTRUCTIONS

    Go into the hills an bring back logs, straight, peel the bark and smooth them satin fibers, the main pole at least eight arms the cross no less than six. Lash them well so they will not yield under the weight of the body where you might hang. Do not speak to the shepherd, he…

    Lou Faber

  • Two Monks Roll Up Blinds 無門關 二十六

    Both are asked to bring more light into the hall. Together each rolls up his shade. One’s action is gain one’s action is loss there is only one shade there is only one light. A reflection on case 26 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

    Lou Faber

  • 33,000

    As 33,000 feet, you want the smoothness that experience tells you, the sky will once again deny. Strapped in, you contemplate cursing the gods of travel, but no, they are simply meeting your expectations. Getting this close to heaven was once, she says, a mystical and spiritual experience, but then we transcended all of that…

    Lou Faber

  • METASTASIS

    She could barely move her head the cancer climbed her spine reaching upward, clutching vertebrae reaching out, tendrils grasping tearing fragile organs. She would cry, but that would be an admission of defeat, a welcome to death. I cried out for her, entreated our God for compassion that she might stand by her sons when…

    Lou Faber