an old writer and his words

  • ALONG THE WAY

      There are those desperately searching, who stumble along the way, tripping over the dharma gems lying in their path. Others proceed slowly, pausing to examine each pebble, each twig uncertain if it, just possibly, was the key to enlightenment. I wander along, going nowhere, knowing that is where the path must lead, and I…

    Lou Faber

  • MARKED

    The oddest thing about being Buddhist is what I once was, and not just in a prior life. Born, it turns out, and adopted into a secular Jewish family, I must still be Jewish even if I might have lapsed back to secularity, they say, because my Jewishness is a mark, Cain-like it seems, though…

    Lou Faber

  • BACKSTREET TEMPLE

    The afternoon sun glares off the polished roof tiles the bells strung on the pagoda of the small temple tinkle in the wind. There are so few birds in Osaka. First Appeared in Japanophile, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2000.

    Lou Faber

  • THROUGH THE LENS

    There are moments he said, when everything is suddenly clear and obvious to me. But they slip away and their shadows quickly fade away. She said if you stop looking for the fog the clarity might linger besides, how do you know what is clear and what is not.

    Lou Faber

  • ANOTHER GHETTO

    She sits in the bookstore cafe her head covered by a linen kerchief bobby pinned to the mass of walnut curls. She cradles the cup of cooling coffee and stares down at the slim book of Amichai, yielding to the Hebrew letters that seem to dance across the page. I sit at the adjoining table…

    Lou Faber

  • TOO-LY MUCH

    It is one thing to be short, quite another to be too short, just as it is one thing to be tall, another thing to be too tall. It is a separate thing determining where the border of “too” should be drawn for any dimension. I am short, but I will never be too short,…

    Lou Faber

  • PRESENCE

    He appeared rather suddenly, and didn’t seem to stay very long. Some claimed they knew he was coming, most never saw him arrive, although some said they saw him clearly, that he visited frequently, that they knew his presence unquestionably and spoke to him at some length. She knew there was much wishful thinking and…

    Lou Faber

  • THIS WAY?!

    The young man asked the old Buddhist monk, “If there are 64,000 gates, how will I know through which I should enter.” The monk paused, considered the question, then smiled broadly. “Why would you want to enter any gate?” the monk said with a wink. The young man replied, “because they are the gates that…

    Lou Faber

  • PARTIALLY WHOLLY

    It is incredibly difficult to be a truly holy man, it isn’t enough to inspire peace with your words and presence, you had better walk on water, turn water into wine, heal with the touch of a single finger. You can’t simply stand up for justice at the risk of your own life and limb,…

    Lou Faber

  • PEACE, PAX, SHALOM, SALAAM, SHANTI

    There is certainly a reason, though in the time it will take us to find it, we likely will no longer care. The easy things so rarely matter, and we turn our backs on them hardly thinking, only to regret it when they slip away, and only then does their value appear.

    Lou Faber