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NO REPLY
You must be home now, or somewhere you can answer my call, and the busy signal or disembodied voice, purporting to be you can only mean that this very moment if you are calling me the busy signal or disembodied voice purporting to be me is giving you a momentary frustration rivaling my own. This…
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SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN
When you visit the Southern Mountain what will you say of its Northern brother? Returning northward what words will best describe the Southern peak? Answer carefully after much thought or remain silent, both choices are yours to select, as both mountains caress the passing clouds and reach out for the sun which neither may grasp.…
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CAUSALITY DILEMMA
There is a reason for all things and therefore there is a reason for this although we cannot begin to fathom what that reason could possibly be, which may be reason enough, for reason has a twisted soul — now playful, now angry, now vengeful in irregular turns without warnings. The problem with seeking the…
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CHOSHA’S STOP ILLUSORY THINKING
Before life there is death, before death there is life. In life there is death, in death there is life, a worm cut in two, each half moves, in each a new worm or is there one worm. This I ask you, but answer or no answer both are full of Buddha nature. A reflection…
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HARYO’S SECRET TRANSMISSION
When you are puzzled by the words of old masters you may seek answers from your teachers. Will this one or that one know? The answer cannot come from the tongue of your teacher, a shelved book cannot speak words have no magic. But all is not lost for the question always contains its answer…
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ANSWERS EVERYWHERE
You assume you know the answer, and wait patiently for the question which is not forthcoming. This becomes your dilemma. You have acquired a catalog of answers, all awaiting questions that never come forth. Of course it isn’t fair, you know that full well, but that, too, is an answer that must await a question…
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MIND THE GAP
The difference between love and lust is as thin as the blade of a fine razor, as broad as the Rio Grande Canyon outside Taos, so how can you tell one from the other? Some will say it is an impossible task others will take the “I know it when I see it” route leading…
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MA KU CARRYING HIS RING-STAFF
When you sit before the master he will ask you a question. Consider your answer carefully then offer it to the master. He will simply say, “correct.” Later, when you sit before the master he will ask you the same question. Offer your answer to the master. He will simply say “incorrect.” If you ask…
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SEKITO’S ASK THE PILLAR 正法眼蔵 四十一
If you want an answer do not ask a question – your answer cannot be mine nor can mine be yours. Instead, ask the stone wall, it has nothing to say and in its perfect silence all questions are asked and all answers are found. A reflection on Case 41 of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s True…
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THE LAST TIME
The last time we spoke you asked me when the end was coming. I didn’t have a good answer for you, wasn’t even quite sure what you meant by the question, the end of what? Of time, of your life or mine, or merely the end of a conversation we had been carrying on for…
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an old writer and his words 