If you pet a dragon
does it become a cat?
If you make a cat roar
does it become a dragon?
How high
is over your head,
how deep
is beneath your feet.
Build it just so.
A reflection on Case 60 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
depth
ON ARRIVING
They arrive after a long flight
from tyranny, from oppression
from the nightmare of endless
fear, from hunger, from faith
denied, from the bottomless
depths of poverty, scarred
memories etched in their souls,
hoping for an ending as much
as wishing for a new beginning.
They have been here, a new
generation, raised on the stories,
versed in the painful history,
still residual anger born
of love for those who fled,
without the pain of experience,
who can forget when it is
others who now wish only
to arrive to the freedom they
have known since childhood
First appeared in Circumference, Issue 5, June 2022
https://poetryatpi.wordpress.com/
ADMISSION
We do not like to admit
that nature laughs at us
as we pretend to bend her
to our will and desires.
We dam and reroute rivers,
but the river knows well
that it will return, flow
where it wishes, for it
will be here long after
we have returned to the soil.
Still, now and again nature
grows weary with our meddling
and unleashes her fury
in ways we are incapable
of stopping, and laughs
when we seek divine
intervention from the utter
depths of our powerlessness.
DOGO’S GREATEST DEPTH 鐵笛倒吹 六十六
If you walk into the room
and many are meditating
how will you know which
is the teacher, which the students?
If one sits on a higher platform
will you assume him teacher
and ask the depth of his Zen.
If he comes down to you
and says he has no depth to offer
do not think him a fool.
When you sit at the bottom
of the ocean and look down
the water beneath you is shallow
but the surface of the sea
cannot be seen.
A reflection on Case 66 of the Iron Flute Koans
LIVING ALONE 鐵笛倒吹 九十四
Why do you climb the mountain
and seek entry
into the small cabin.
Why do you give up
your home in the valley.
You should be turned away
for if you seek
a higher understanding
you demonstrate to all
there is no depth
to your practice.
A reflection on Case 94 of the Iron Flute Koans.
DOGO’S GREATEST DEPTH 鐵笛倒吹 六十六
If you walk into the room
and many are meditating,
how will you know which
is the teacher, which the students?
If one sits on a higher platform
will you assume him teacher
and ask the depth of his Zen?
If he comes down to you
and says he has no depth to offer
do not think him a fool.
When you sit at the bottom
of the ocean and look down
the water beneath you is shallow
but the surface of the sea
cannot be seen.
Reflecting on Case 66 of the Iron Flute (Tetteki Tosui)
PERIPHERAL VISION
Open your eyes.
What do you see?
The sky
Close your eyes.
What do you see?
Nothing
Then open your eyes.
What do you see?
The sky
Close your eyes.
What do you see?
Nothing
Now open your eyes.
What do you see?
The sky
and a large hawk
Close your eyes.
What do you see?
Nothing
Open your eyes.
What do you see?
Nothing,
it is night
Close your eyes.
What do you see?
Deep into the universe.
an old writer and his words 