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NATURE’S VACUUM
Nature abhors a vacuum a fact not lost on God, who spent considerable time filling voids and creating vessels, pots and the odd variety of containers, some quite will suited to their contents and others, man as a shining example, illogical, and worse still, leaky so that once packed with thought and emotion it spends…
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SUMMER NIGHT
The moon etches itself into the cobalt sky. Orion rests on the margin of too tall eucalyptus that reach up to ensnare him. Luna’s face floats on the gently shifting pond staring up at the moon recognizing no one. She wonders why the stars move slowly as she sits transfixed. On the window sill Shakyamuni Buddha…
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ALBERT AND I
Time folds in on itself, the arrow bends, grows recursive we lapse slowly backward slipping into a protean state. Our universe is neatly bisected, the inner workings laid open showing craftsmanship far beyond our meager comprehension, as we cling to the surface, fear sliding deep into its depth, spiral freely in infinite progression, slowing, approaching…
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PARSINGS
The old monk sits cross legged on a grass mat, a faint smile dances across his lips. He invites me to sit, our meeting, he says, is notable. I sit, legs folded as best I can, and begin to ask but he silences me, “First tea.” He sets the cups down on the hardpack dirt floor, there is…
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KANNON
Under the compassionate eye of the Bodhisattva the cats at Senso-ji Temple curl around the incense burners on a cold December morning, ignoring countless pigeons hopping impatiently, awaiting flocks of school children in neat uniforms and rainbow backpacks, each with a slice or two of stale bread. The Buddha watches with a gentle smile.
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AT THE TEMPLE
The Buddhist priest in golden robes rocks gently to and fro, chanting from the prayer cards over the din of the flea market swirling around him, The faithful stand with heads bowed, as the stone Buddha draped in red and gold nods his approval
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A DRY GARDEN LAUGHING
In the heart of Nara Park there is a five story pagoda. Deer appear, standing sentinel along the lantern lined walk. Up the unseen hill the Temple bell announces the full arrival of morning as the Golden Buddha awakens. Young children can see all of this through eyes unlensed, and fetter free. They watch clouds…
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BOUNDARY
What is on the other side of this wall that is just too tall to peer over? No one seems to know, though many have surmised it is a completely different world looking little or nothing like the one we inhabit. Last week a young man picked up a ginkgo leaf and said “ahah, it…
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KNOWING
She wants to know if I could be an animal which would I choose. Part of me wants to answer panther – sleek, black, catlike eyes glowing in the night – but never coyote, crawling out of the hills in search of rabbits darting through the sage, never the trickster. I am an animal, I…
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ANGELIC
The Buddha said we could all sit comfortably on the head of a pin in perfect knowledge and you would never see us, but if we danced, our music would deafen you.
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an old writer and his words 