an old writer and his words

  • CUSHION

    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

  • SCENE 1 (ACT 0)

    First you should draw the scene with as much detail as possible, using the full palette of colors and adding depth and dimension. Next you should write the scene, again with detail, color, depth, for words are capable of all of this. Now compare the scenes, are they the same, and if not, how do…

    Lou Faber

  • THE COLOR OF BEAUTY

    They sat on the bench in the park looking out on the small lake, two ducks swimming slowly in circles. “Dawn is the most beautiful moment of the day, the sun chasing the moon and setting the sky ablaze, orange, crimson, flame, there is simply nothing,” he said, “in the world quite like it.” “It…

    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

  • HAWKING SANITY

    I am not the least bit certain why the red-tailed hawk chose that lamppost that day and peered down over the Expressway. Nature has her own logic and we question it at our own risk. Staring into his flaming eyes, for one small moment we both saw the foolishness rolling by below and alongside us.

    Lou Faber

  • PURE DHARMA BODY 正法眼蔵 二十六

    Standing at the foot of the mountain, what side do you see. Standing atop the mountain, what side do you not see. Close your eyes and you will see that the mountain has no sides. Close your eyes and you will find that there is no mountain. A reflection on Case 26 of the Shobogenzo…

    Lou Faber

  • TOKUSAN’S ASSEMBLY 正法眼蔵 三十六

    When the Buddha offered true wisdom, no one was present to hear it. Those who were not there understood it fully. Where will you look for true wisdom? Will your ears here what your mouth cannot say? Only with closed eyes will the light become clear. A reflection on Case 36 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s…

    Lou Faber

  • RELATIVITY

    I can no more imagine a lack of freedom then they can imagine the freedom I assume. It is always like that imaginings are real until you try to make them corporeal, then the evanescence is all that is real. It is easy to ask how can they live in such poverty, and had they…

    Lou Faber

  • PACIFYING THE MIND OF THE SECOND PATRIARCH

    Sitting on the cushion staring at the wall yet again, the wall seems familiar, as if you should know it, the paint, the fleck of something embedded in the paint. Still you search for something beyond the wall, hidden by the paint, but you find nothing, always nothing. Does this nothing finding frustrate you? Are…

    Lou Faber

  • NATURE’S PROPHET

    He sits still demanding your attention. He stares at you with green eyes and a defiant look, saying you are a visitor here, this is our world so do not abuse your privilege of sharing this space with us. We were here long before you arrived and our kind will be here long after you…

    Lou Faber