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NO MIND IS THE WAY
If you ask a teacherto show you the Waya wise teacher will saythat there is no Wayto show you, for you,waiting for his answerare looking outsideyourself whilethe Way waits within. A reflection on case 76 of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s True Dharma Eye 正法眼蔵
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THE FAR SHORE
The old monkstanding alongsidethe ever still pondpicks up a pebbleand tosses itinto the pond.The ripplesspread outever wideras the Buddhaon the far shoresimply smiles.
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NOCHES
Some look to the sky this nightto portend their future, certainfate is deeply encrypted there,and listen to the mellifluous chorusof a billion, billion stars offeringsongs as old as time itself.Others see the universe unfolding,all of its history displayed, and we leftto be cosmic archeologists alwaysin search of a Rosetta Stone, standingin awe of what cannot…
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HOMEGROWN
He only wanted to know if there wereplaces I had always wantedto visit but never gone, and didI still plan on going there.I could have asked “why that question”but he was someone who never traveled,was born, bred and would likely diein this city, content that it hadeverything of value that the worldcould possibly offer such…
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STILL MOURNING
I think about you often, lying besidemy grandparents on the hillsideoverlooking the Kanawha River,bathed in the utter silencethat only the dead can clearly hear.I think of you more often than shewho replaced you, she who laterreplaced me with her own, Ian adjacency, still useful butno longer fully or truly valued.I think of you lovingly, knowingfor…
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THE ALCHEMISTS HAND
He said that we are an amalgamof nature and nurture, and oftenthere is no real distinction between them.If only that were my case,I am bifurcated between whatI know what I imagine,lived and what I might have,what was imposedon me by otherssome of which others left me Ifor those they call their own.Blood may or may…
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YANTOU’S SIT STILL
When sitting on the zafuif you try not to thinkyou are thinking.If you sit and breathein the silenceeverything will appearbefore you andin that momentyou will see nothing. A reflection on case 75 of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s True Dharma Eye 正法眼蔵
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WITH STANDING
The nurse wanted to knowif I had pain with standing.I thought about this and said“Notwithstanding a silly questionif I say so myself and I do.”“No,” she said smiling, “withstandingyour answer do you or do you not?” ‘I don’t have pain, not with standing.Notwithstanding what shewanted to know so she said,” let’s try this again.Do you…
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YES MISTRESS
When you are owned by a catyou must be constantly wary,for every kindness hides behind ita claw poised as a reminder. Cats realize we are uniquely difficultto train, that we can be finicky,slow to respond to their demands,and they will forgive that, but only to a point. There is much they would teach usabout the…
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AROUNDING
He had no idea why hehad chosen this place, hadno memory of how he had gotten here.The night sky poured forthits endless cascade of stars,bathed him in the waves of the cosmos.He reached up as if to touch heaven,knowing he was an insignificant beingon an inconsequential bit of rock and magma.that the gods had long…
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an old writer and his words 