an old writer and his words

  • UMMON’S MOUNT SUMERU

    When you ask your teacherwhat happens when youstop thinking, allowno new thoughtswhat you expect himto tell you? The dead have no thoughtsbut that is not the doorto Nirvana. But if thoughts abandon youwithout your effort, withoutbeing asked to do so,then the door you seekwill open before you. A reflection on case 19 of the Book…

    Lou Faber

  • UMMON’S MOUNT SUMERU

    When you ask your teacherwhat happens when youstop thinking, allowno new thoughtswhat you expect himto tell you? The dead have no thoughtsbut that is not the doorto Nirvana. But if thoughts abandon youwithout your effort, withoutbeing asked to do so,then the door you seekwill open before you. A reflection on Case 19 of the Book…

    Lou Faber

  • CURFEW

    We sat in the cramped kitchenhuddled around the stovethe open oven door spreadinga faint warmth that barelyslid through the winter chill.The bare bulb in the ceilingstrained and flickeredfighting to hold as the generatorswere shut down, and darknessenveloped our small world.The sky was lit by the flaresand the odor of exploding shellsseeped through the towelsealed windows…

    Lou Faber

  • SONNET TO A PORTUGUESE

    You came into my life last week, your nameforever locked away inside her mind.My life, she felt, would never be the sameand therefore left all thought of you behind.You loved her, I suppose, that summer nightthen left her, bearing me, until she turnedme over for adoption, that she mightforget the love that you so quickly…

    Lou Faber

  • RECALL

    As you sit in your suburban homes,by the pools at your country clubs,in your vacation resort villas, tryfor the sake of the patriarchsand matriarchs of our faith, to rememberthat we were the poor, we werethe huddled masses, we yearnedto breathe free, we the tempest tossed. Remember the tenementsof the Lower East Side,the sweat shops, the…

    Lou Faber

  • TOO LATE

    Do those, whoimagine themselves leaders,or smarter and betterthan the rest of us, andwho deny science, (no,the amassing of moneyis not a law of physics)plan to take up swimming? Or will they waituntil the bears areat their door, theirwhite coats grayedby the lastbelches of soggycoal, and then bemoanthe fact thattheir yachts havefloated off onthe rising seasthat…

    Lou Faber

  • IDEOGRAPHING MIND 鐵笛倒吹 四十六

    If you will mark your gatewhat word will you use,what for the door, whatfor the window?The gate knows quite wellwhat it is, as to door and windowand need no marking. Even the fool knowsthrough each youmay enter the house,but even the wise mancannot tell youhow the house may enter you. A reflection on case 46…

    Lou Faber

  • KEYS

    He sits, suited in black, with 88 keys at his command, and we fall silent. He opens the lock of joy, the lock of sadness, the lock of elation, the lock of tears, the lock of laughter, the lock of darkness, the lock of light, the lock of surprise, the lock of compassion, the lock…

    Lou Faber

  • EARLY NIGHT AT THE CLUB

    It begins lowly quietly, then grows builds until, all players together, it hits a point where you hope it is a crescendo, but it still grows ever louder and you retreat from the club, half-finished glass of wine on the table, knowing that when you reach the back door your evening is over.

    Lou Faber

  • NANSEN’S REJECTIONS 鐵笛倒吹 四十四

    If you come before Master Nansen will you come holding the posture of a monk or a lay person and when Nansen turns you away how will you exit the room? Nested hands and gassho hands both are so easily manacled, why leave the room at all? A Reflection on case 44 of the Iron…

    Lou Faber