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ISAN’S SUMMONS 鐵笛倒吹 三十一
When the master calls for a novice do you answer? When the inkin bell is struck do you begin or end zazen? As you follow your breath when do you leave your body, and who returns when you next inhale? Search instead for an answer that has no question. Who is the novice now? A…
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SEPPO’S SANCTITY 鐵笛倒吹 三十七
You claim to seek sanctity – will you know it if you find it along the way? What if it sneaks up on you when you are lost in reverie, what if it reaches you in a strike of the teacher’s stick, will you jump in fear and frighten it away, or sit with it…
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KEGON RETURNS TO DELUSIONS 鐵笛倒吹 語十二
If a gentle flower falls from its branch do you mourn its departure. The fool attempts to place it back in the tree, the wise one waits for another flower to appear. Each is the same flower but how will the fool become wise. A reflection on case 52 of the Iron Flute Koans.
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HOJU TURNS HIS BACK 鐵笛倒吹 七十二
If a beggar approaches do you turn away from him. If a rich man calls to you, do you receive him openly. How do you tell them apart? If a poor thief in fine, stolen silks stands before you what do you offer in welcome, and what for his battered victim now wearing the thief’s…
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RINZAI PLANTS A PINE 鐵笛倒吹 十八
If you have a seed in your pocket what will you do with it? Even a small seed planted carefully in the middle of a forest may take hold and grow. Tamp the soil with your toe three time, three times again secure in knowing this tree will never provide you shade. A reflection on…
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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…
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FUNYO’S WALKING STICK
A fool may say I have been many places in search of true Zen and have found it here and there, go look. The feet of the fool have been all of those places but have the wisdom to stay silent. A Reflection on case 21 of the Iron Flute Koans
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TOKUSAN SPEAKS OF TEACHERS 鐵笛倒吹 二十
Why do you seek old Masters, they have no special gift. Your lineage is the surface of the sea never still, all waves. Your teacher has no answers, his silence instructs close your ears and listen, is that his breath you hear or only your own? In is out, out is in depending on where…
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TOZAN’S ADVICE 鐵笛倒吹 七十七
If I tell you there is a still more precious gem will you ask “what is it?” If I respond “it is not a diamond: what will you do then? The wealthy fool will throw off his rings and begin a futile search. Are you such a fool, or do you look inside secure in…
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SOZAN’S FOUR DON’TS 鐵笛倒吹 九十二
You may seek to follow the path of the dove, for a fool knows many roads. You may wrap yourself in fine linen, an infant wears only his skin and knows this moment is already gone. Think long before you speak of how to walk along the path, of where it leads. The baby says…
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an old writer and his words 