an old writer and his words

  • YANGSHAN’S SUCCESSION

    If you ask a masterafter many yearsto transmit the dharmato you, whatdo you expect?A true master willsmile and continuesitting zazenthe transmissionlong since complete. A reflection on case 103 of Dogen’s True Dharma Eye koans (正法眼蔵)

    Lou Faber

  • YUNMEN’S DHARMA BODY

    If you ask a masterhow to develop a dharma bodyhe will ask you whatyou imagine that bodywould be like.If you say it wouldbe becoming a Buddhahe will tell youit needs no developmentonly your recognition,for it is always present. A reflection on Case 100 of the Shobogenzo Koans 正法眼蔵 (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • SHUSHAN AND THE STONE WORKERS

    If, in searchingfor enlightenment youcome across a masterand you ask him in whichof the four cardinal directionsyou should seek your goalhe will tell you to looknorth, east, southand west at once.If you say you cannothe will tell you to lookin all four direction whichyou can do from whereyou are then standing. A reflection on Case…

    Lou Faber

  • DONGSHAN’S “EACH STITCH”

    If you come acrossa wise master and heasks you whereyou are going, whatdo you tell him.There is no goingand there is nocoming from,there is only herenow. A reflection on Case 93 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans 正法眼蔵 (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • UMMON’S ONE TREASURE

    A master willtell you that there isa great Buddhist treasurethat you must seek.He will not tell youwhere to find itbut if you ask himhe will bow and thenhand you a mirror. A reflection on Case 92 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • NANSEN’S PEONY

    If a master holdsa rose in frontof you and asks“what do you see?”how will you answer.If you say you seethe world and allthat is in it he willleave you to your practice. A reflection on Case 91 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • CRANING

    I wait patiently for the wingsto move, as though attachedto a butterfly slowly emergingfrom her too brief chrysalis home.I want to feel the air shiftever so gently as shelifts into a cloudless sky.I want to marvel atthe grace she showsswooping overhead,then alighting once again.But I am no God,no origami masterand so my cranes sitwith their…

    Lou Faber

  • RULES

    I learned from John Berrymanby way of W.S. Merwin that as a poetI should paper my walls with rejection letters.I thought this a good idea whenI lived in a small apartment, butall too soon the walls appearedto be growing ever smallerand I was papering over paper,like the latest in a too longline of tenants who…

    Lou Faber

  • GUTEI’S ONE FINGER

    As you sit with the sutras,as you search for the dharmaand for a teacherto guide you on the pathshould you cometo a true masterdo not be surprisedif in answerto any question you askhe gives you one finger. A reflection on Case 84 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • BOTH AND NEITHER

    We are both master and slaveand reverberating between rolescan be exhausting and exhilarating,on occasion both simultaneously.It seems we are always strivingto catch up to technology, that itis outpacing us and that the racemay soon enough be lost.We say that we cannot live withoutthese technologies and while theymay do things faster and more simplythey do so…

    Lou Faber