-
OH MY GOD
On the subway there was a placardtelling me and all of the other riderswhere we could find God, promisingsalvation if we made the search. Someone had scrawled beneath it“God is ded.” I was left to wonderif the writer also thought that Godwas now somehow deceased, and how you would knowif that were really the case,…
-
BLINDNESS
Our problem is one of blindness.We are constantly seekingfor that which we have, thatwhich have no need of, thatwhich we think we needbut cannot be certain. If we limited our blindnessto things life would besimpler, but our blindnesscarries over to our searchfor enlightenment, for redemption,for absolution, and wefail to realize that we haveall of that…
-
ZHAOZHOU’S “LOSING THE MIND IN CONFUSION”
Be forewarnedthe greatest wisdomis written on wateron a cloud –the sun reads it clearlyso why are youso blind to it? A blind man will notbe mislead by signsa deaf man cannotfall victimto the siren’s song. A reflection on Case 11 of the Shobogenzo Koans (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
-
AFGHAN, ANYONE
Symbols have deep meaningeven to those so blind theycannot see them, and our politicshave become wholly retail. Any good retailer will tell youthat $19.95 is significantlyless than $20.00, a nickelthat swallows the dollars. So we got out, and nineteenyears and 354 daysis considerably shorterthan twenty years we are told, but everything blew up around us,but…
-
JOSHU’S CYPRUS TREE
A young childdoes not ask for meaning,all things areas they areuntil they are not.The foolishness of agecauses men to starein search of meaningthey will never find.It is the blind manwho will find the diamond. A reflection on case 119 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo (True Dharma Eye) Koans
-
MARCHING TO OBLIVION
The most disturbing thingabout lemmings is notthat they follow one after anotherover a cliff or into traffic,it is not the carnagethat inevitably ensues,one after another doomedby the need to follow blindly. The disturbing thingis not the knowledge thatlemmings only follow,so someone directedthe first in line intoa suicidal act. The most disturbing thingis that lemmingsdo not…
-
Nansen’s Reason Is Not the Way 無門關 三十四 
If you see the Buddhayou have certainly gone blind,if you hear his wordsyou demonstrate your deafness. Nansen will grow old,hearing and vision will fadeand he will sit and shoutin a sun warmed rain. A reflection on Case 34 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) Koans
-
IN THE KINGDOM
We sit in the waiting room,for we have grown accustomedto waiting for so many things,not wanting to rush a life thatappears ever more finite in duration. We stare at our phones, strugglingto see, to help bide the time, an ironynot lost for we are here becauseour vision is problematic or worse. Erasmus said the one-eyed…
-
DEAR ERASMUS, DIE
Today we welcome the rain, hopethat the wheaty winter lawn willshow some other color under its care. The birds ignore the clouds,accept the rain, care little howour lawn looks, their next mealof always greater importance. I am losing the vision in one eye,know I may soon be kingof the country of the blind,and sadly curse…
-
FORGETTING
What they don’t want to see, or areperhaps blind to, is that it alwayscame down to boats, and fear wasalways overcome, the ocean tamed. Today, it is trucks, trailers, and stillboats, and fear is still overcomefor the promise of better, forthe hope for life without terror. None of the arrivals came invitedmany were turned away…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
an old writer and his words 