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BUDDHA HOLDS OUT A FLOWER 無門關 六
Shakyamuniholds up a fadinglotus flowerand we sit silently awaiting, not knowingpatient, afraid to smileto move, to shift posturemudra one smiles,dharma is transmitted,the kenshoof yellowed teeth. A reflection on Case 5 of the Mumonkan 無門関 (The Gateless Gate Koans)
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OBAKU’S DREGS
Why do you roamfrom teacher to teacherseeking the directionto the path of enlightenment.The teachers have no mapsto share with you, no shortcuts,no coupons for kensho.But a good teacherwill tell you that you arealready on the path you seekand leave you in silenceto follow it. A reflection on Case 53 of The Book of Equanimity (従容錄,…
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UMMON’S TWO SICKNESSES
As you wanderyour path, what is itthat you search for? When you seekinstruction from a masterwhat is it you expecthim to provide you? When you sitstill on the cushionyou may find a momentof kensho, butlabeling that momentdestroys it. Enlightenment cannotbe describedfor attaching wordsbrings it to the groundas rubble aroundyour feet. A reflection on Case 11…
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SENSO-JI
By hour six, the plane was just a lumbering beast dividing the sky, halfway from God knows where to nowhere special. His body cried for sleep but he knew he had to deny it. That much he had learned from prior trips. For when he landed, made his way painfully slowly into the city, it…
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ABOVE IT ALL
The cat likes nothing betterthan to sit atop the kitchen cabinetswithin easy reach of the ceiling. We thought at first it wasa place of safety, less to fearin a new home, new people. We know better now, for shegoes to high places, cabinetsbookcases, when the meditation bell rings., She’ll climb down afterthe ending bell rings,…
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KENSHO
Tonight, if all goes well, I will bea monk in a good-sized Buddhist temple.I am hoping it will be in Nara,at Todai-ji perhaps, or Asakusaat Senso-ji, or better still somewherein Kyoto, although it might well bein the Myanmar jungle or somewheredeep within the Laotian highlands. One problem with that world isthat I have no control…
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ARRIVAL
He arrived this afternoon, but she stayed only briefly and then departed silently. I did not see her arrive, did not sense his stay but am certain he was there, just as I am certain he has never been here. When she is here, you cannot see her, when she is gone, your memory is…
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KENSHO
She curls in my arm, head on my chest, offers a gentle smile which melts me and I stroke her small shoulder, as Sid the Sloth and Manny the Mammoth, two bodhisattvas, smile back at us from the TV screen. Enlightenment isn’t something you seek, it’s a five-year old who sits next to you on the…
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an old writer and his words 