an old writer and his words

  • SAMADHI

    He is certain that there is that single moment when it will be exactly the right time for it. There must be such a moment, for it will not happen until that instant arrives and he knows it must be arriving soon. He isn’t sure how he will know when the moment arrives, just that…

    Lou Faber

  • RE-ENTRY ALLOWED

    He sits on the cushion staring through hooded eyes at the wall in front of him. He expects exactly nothing to happen, expects there to be no sound within his mind, only what happens without, expects that time will cease for him, or will at least cease to matter. He is not disappointed. The bell…

    Lou Faber

  • SEPPO’S TURNING THE WHEEL 正法眼蔵 三十八

    The wisest of men when asked “at what time it is best to pursue the Way,” will answer when a thousand stars have made their presence known. The wisest student will say “when cleaning myself by bathing in the mud.” This will become clear when the frog consumes the dragon. A reflection on Case 38…

    Lou Faber

  • SEPPO’S WOODEN BALL 鐵笛倒吹 八十九

    The teacher rolls a wooden ball past the students seated around his feet. Will you pick it up and return it to him? The teacher rolls a wooden ball past the students seated around his feet. I sit still and let it pass. Which of us deserves the stick, which a silent smile. Buddha is…

    Lou Faber

  • GENSHA’S IRON BOAT 鐵笛倒吹 八十語

      Do not suggest you can only be enlightened on a cold day in hell unless you are prepared to carry the air conditioner across the River Styx. Even Cerberus has Buddha nature although none of the heads will say so. A reflection on Case 85 of the Iron Flute Koans

    Lou Faber

  • ALONG THE WAY

      There are those desperately searching, who stumble along the way, tripping over the dharma gems lying in their path. Others proceed slowly, pausing to examine each pebble, each twig uncertain if it, just possibly, was the key to enlightenment. I wander along, going nowhere, knowing that is where the path must lead, and I…

    Lou Faber

  • THIS WAY?!

    The young man asked the old Buddhist monk, “If there are 64,000 gates, how will I know through which I should enter.” The monk paused, considered the question, then smiled broadly. “Why would you want to enter any gate?” the monk said with a wink. The young man replied, “because they are the gates that…

    Lou Faber

  • NANQUAN’S SICKLE

    If you ask the teacher where you can find the key to enlightenment, what do you do when the teacher stares back at you in silence. If the teacher asks you where he can find the key to enlightenment, do you tell him that he possesses it, and if you do, will he simply stare…

    Lou Faber

  • AWAKENING

    The epiphany comes, he says with a smile, when you first discover the puzzle within the puzzle and the hidden logic finally triumphs. It is always there, she notes, right in the title as clear to the eyes as the nose on the face of armless man who has no mirrors.

    Lou Faber

  • SELFLESS

    The true self is no-self, and this self is not self, but illusion and delusion, where delusion is enlightenment, and nothing is as it seems for nothing is and only seems and so it is with self, so let go of this self and no-self will appear, though it was always there.

    Lou Faber