-
MU MONKAN
Walking on the road today, I didn’t see the Buddha and thus had no need to kill him. I did find what I thought to be a dog’s Buddha nature, but it proved to be nothing- ness, so I walked on through the gate that led exactly nowhere. This evening it rained and I picked…
-
AD INFINITUM
When all is said and done and everything that can be written has been, when the questions have all been answered or forgotten, when you grow tired of answers, ask yourself this:
-
JOSHU’S DOG (SHOBOGENZO 114)
Joshu’s dog and Schrödinger’s cat- are they one and the same. Leave the lid on the box of the mind. What is the half-life of a thought?
-
CHAO CHOU’S FOUR GATES
Standing on the edge of the precipice with your eyes closed, what will you do? If I turn you around, where is the edge and where is the land from which you approached? If I say you must take a step, do you gently place your toe out and seek to feel the earth,…
-
NOW
If the time is now how will we know it? And if we miss it how will we know what the consequences are? The better question is whether it matters, for if we can be in each moment to the extent possible, then nothing is missed and every moment is now and there can never…
-
AROUND IT
It is remarkably simple, really, a single circular brush stroke in a monochrome black on rice paper, always nearly perfectly round, never is the circle complete, always some small thing left wanting. You stare at it, more at the small gap, imagining it filled, hoping it cannot be for it holds out the promise that…
-
BLOWING OUT THE CANDLE無門關 二十八
Ryukan and Tokusan, one an old fool one a young fool. Burn your notes, set fire to them both, enlightenment can be found in the ashes, where words and thought are carried off on the winds. A reflection on Case 28 of the Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate)
-
TIPPING POINT
The hardest thing is knowing that this precise moment, this precise place is the tipping point, and things could go either way from here, although the Buddha would suggest that there are ten directions in which everything always can go. You cannot pause and reflect on this, for this precise moment, this precise place…
-
TIPPING THE WATER BOTTLE 無門關 四十
These few words gathered neatly on a scrap of simple paper, what do you call it? Answer carefully for you response may carry the keys to the doors of Mount Tai-i. Better still, upend the water bottle, watch the ink and water form a gentle pool into which no pebble drops. A reflection on…
-
DOING THOUGHT TIME
The hardest prison to escape is the one whose walls are built by the mind in fear and trepidation. It is like the open gate you dare not enter fearing that you are leaving and will not be allowed to return. Atop a pole there are an infinite number of directions in which…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
an old writer and his words 