an old writer and his words

  • BUDDHA NATURE

    A singe egret sits calmly on the lowest branch of a long barren tree, where hours from now a thousand birds will arrive for still another evening and night. He stares at me as I am mindfully vacuuming, watching carefully. I pause and ask if by chance he is a Buddha and he lifts his…

    Lou Faber

  • Joshu Sees the Hermits 無門關 十一

    Joshu’s single question asked twice the same two answers, two raised fists each time the same Joshu responds to each fist each response different each the same a single light both seen and unseen both blessed curse and cursed blessing. A reflection on Case 11 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

    Lou Faber

  • PRAYER

    We bow our heads and utter words not to the cicada speaking through a spring night or the beetle crawling slowly across the leaf searching for the edge. We bid the crow silent, the cat mewling his hunger, just to crawl under a porch awaiting morning, the child to sleep. The stream flows slowly by,…

    Lou Faber

  • THE VISIT

    I have never visited the grave of my mother, either of them, which seems most odd primarily to me. The mother I never knew until it was too late to know her is buried in Charleston, West Virginia a place i intend to visit, grave site included in the coming months, to see where my…

    Lou Faber

  • SANSHU’S BLINDNESS 正法眼蔵 四十

    If you come forward and ask no question the master will give you an answer, but if you approach with a question, the master will strike you with the stick. It is only when your eyes are blinded that you can take up the master’s staff and all is clearly seen.

    Lou Faber

  • PUEBLO CHRISTMAS

    The night is that bitter cold that slices easily through nylon and Polartec, makes child’s play of fleece and denim. The small rooms glow in the dim radiance of propane lights and heaters as the silver is carefully packed away in plastic tool boxes. The pinyon wood is neatly stacked in forty pyres, some little…

    Lou Faber

  • GAME, SET, MATCH

    As a child, a Jewish child no less, December was always a bit difficult. We had Channukah, which no Jew would dare claim grew solely to compete with Christmas, although we all knew that was precisely what had happened. The problem was Christmas, but had nothing to do with Jesus, or the church or even…

    Lou Faber

  • NO MIND, NO BUDDHA 無門關 三十三

    Baso knows well only the ox truly understands the yoke but if you offer it the ox will not accept. Why would you seek to become the ox as it would be better to burn the yoke. A reflection on Case 33 of the Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • I’M LOOKING, SHOW YOURSELF

    I’ve been searching for a teacher for such a long time but despite every effort, the goal eludes me They say that when the student is ready the teacher appears, but i know in my heart I am truly ready. I looked in all of the likely and a number of unlikely places, to the…

    Lou Faber

  • ADOPTION FOR DUMMIES

    There is one thing that none of the books on discovering who you are when you are adopted bother to tell you. If they did, it wouldn’t change anything, but it is a burden you assumed you’d easily bear that grows heavy with time. What they don’t warn you is that you will discover yourself,…

    Lou Faber