Bring me your mind
but leave the body behind,
this is what you must do
to attain enlightenment.
You may sit where you are
in total silence, or
you may come over here
and sit quietly at my feet.
Both paths lead
deeply into the way.
A reflection on Case 64 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
In your endless search
for enlightenment,
the best course, the only course
is to stop looking.
It may strike you,
unexpected or it may
arise without your seeing
as you continue your practice.
You say there are many Buddhas
and you are correct, but I say
there is but one Buddha and I
am also correct, and you are
that one Buddha and I am
that one Buddha as well.
A reflection on case 14 of the Book of Equanimity (SHôYôROKU 従容錄)
You are a searcher, you
look for answers, you look
for the right path
that will lead you
to enlightenment.
You see everything
as black or white, good
or bad, right or wrong.
You are a master
at division.
Stop searching, stop
seeking answers, stop
dividing, then sit
with Nansen’s cat.
That will be enough.
A reflection on case 8 of the Book of Equanimity
Our problem is one of blindness.
We are constantly seeking
for that which we have, that
which have no need of, that
which we think we need
but cannot be certain.
If we limited our blindness
to things life would be
simpler, but our blindness
carries over to our search
for enlightenment, for redemption,
for absolution, and we
fail to realize that we have
all of that already, if only
we would stop looking for them.
How long have you wandered
always searching for the one
answer, the hidden truth
that, when revealed to you,
will show you enlightenment?
Where have you searched
for this one truth, one
that will collapse the past,
present and future into
a single moment of pure
presence which you can grasp
and carry with you through life?
Stop and ask the infant
strapped to his mother’s chest,
for he has the answer
and his silence will speak
of it if only you will listen.
A reflection on case 5 of the Book of Equanimity Koans
What is the way
no way is the way
You are on the way
of no way, when
you stop seeking
a way to the way
when all is empty
and the way
is clear.
As you walk
in search of enlightenment
stop at a temple
and seek it there.
If you cannot find
a temple, build one.
Look at where you are
and be there
in that temple
and stop searching,
for you are home.
A reflection on Case 4 of the Book of Equanimity
When teacher and student
sit face to face,
mat to mat, looking deeply
one at the other,
which is the teacher
and which is the student?
You are wrong.
There is no teacher,
there is no student,
there is only the silence
of the moment
in which all dharma
is made obvious.
A reflection on Case 2 of the Book of Equanimity
Enter the room slowly and look carefully,
since you are here to find something.
There is much within this room, but you
can see nothing save the old man,
sitting calmly, staring at nothing, staring
through you at nothing in particular.
You know he is the teacher, the one
for whom you have been searching,
Still, he ignores you, staring at nothing.
You walk around the room, from end
to end to end to end and he does
not move or speak, and so you leave.
He has given a great lesson, do you
appreciate what he has taught you?
You walk away angrily, say that he
is no teacher at all, that you are no
closer to enlightenment leaving
than when you entered, for you
found nothing but yourself.
As you leave the old man bows
as teachers do to Buddhas.
A reflection on Case 4 of the Hekiganroku {BLue Cliff Record)
You say there are
a thousand ways
of seeing this moment
but which is the real way?
I respond there are
a thousand ways
of seeing this moment
but which is the real way?
You may take my place,
you may look
through my eyes,
but you will still
be blind
to this moment
or that.
A reflection on Case 95 of the Iron Flute Koans
an old writer and his words 