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FOUR HAIKU
In this momentabsolutely nothingsamadhiBuddha, outside the zendoa hundred birds gatherchanting the Dharma the cat sitsat the foot of Buddhaenlightened a girl gigglesBuddha laughs aloudpigeons bow
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ZENGETSU SNAPS HIS FINGERS 鐵笛倒吹 八十七
When two students meetalong the road, eachacknowledges the otherwith the snap of fingers.When a student walks the Wayto who does he snap his fingersand who passes with a small bow? If you happen across a teacherand ask him the meaning of thiswill you bow or snapand how will you respondto the silencethat enfolds his answer.…
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KOTEI STRIKES A MONK 鐵笛倒吹 八十一
Bow before a kingand you may be rewardedbut bow before a teacherand expect to be shunned.Which has something to offer?Ask the teacher why he shuns youand he will turn you away. One offers a bit of gold,one offers a priceless gem.Gold can buy you many thingsbut the gem is worthlessto all but he to who…
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BOKUSHU’S BLOCKHEAD 鐵笛倒吹 語十語
Seeing your teacher on the roadif he says to youHonorable Sir, what do you do?You may turn, bow, and act the foolor pass, eyes avertedwithout acknowledgement, silentequally the fool. Speak in silence,face, bow without movinggreet him as you do yourselfin the morning mirrorand once past, offer gasshoand the fool is left on the pathdragging your…
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ISAN’S I HAVE EXHAUSTED MYSELF 正法眼蔵 四十四
Approach the master sitting on his seat. The fool will seek answers having slept through the lesson but the wise student will bow silently and retreat having learned all there is and knowing absolutely nothing. A reflection on Case 44 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Mind)
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THE REAL WAY 碧巌録 二
Heed Joshu’s words the real way is not difficult look within the mind come across words, thoughts and cast them over the edge into the abyss. Continue searching until no words or thoughts remain and you are left with mu. Then carry mu to the precipice and cast it, too, into the abyss make your…
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WRISTING
I used to think that the key to a great crepe was all in the wrist. That was before my wrist was fused by a doctor who explained that no motion was better than endless pain where motion ceased to practically matter. Now I realize that the forearm is capable of so much more that…
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NARA
It was inside Nara that it finally slipped away. Its tether had grown ever weaker, the first slip was decades before, a book, brief meetings an answerless question. It stretched further in Tokyo, basin incense under the watchful third eye and hung perilously by fewer and fewer threads until, with the monks’ gentle bow, it…
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GROWING
Buddha cares little for the endless prostrations preferring Summer. The sun ignores the Buddha and bows to the greening rice. The grass is growing When we are present to watch Without us — growing.
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ARCHER
The work of the bow is done when the arrow takes flight, when the vibration of its string is recurved into stillness. But what of the archer now having let go, can only await the fletched arrival. If the target falls will the bow know the pain, will the archer, will the fingers hold the…
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an old writer and his words 