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TS’UI YEN’S EYEBROWS
The question is a simple one, really, but not one you were expecting, which is why you sit and grapple for an answer. Ask yourself, what if no answer is needed, what if there is no answer, can you remain silent, or will you feel somehow incomplete if you do not respond? All answers are…
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KEMBO’S TRANSMIGRATION 鐵笛倒吹 六十七
Awakening in the morning when you first see the sun and the dew resting on thee leaf which eye are you using. When you stare into the mirror through what eye do you see, and what eyes stare back at you. When you see the deer lying in the road which eye do you…
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JOSHU’S DWELLING 鐵笛倒吹 七十
If a poor man offers you the finest diamond do you take it, and what of the gift of a crust of bread from the wealthy man. Each gift, in its way, is worthy of rejection. Once I grasped at great thoughts – now I can forget my own name and wonder whose face…
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ULTIMATE TRUTH 鐵笛倒吹 四十三
When the stick is raised a truth hovers nearby, will you accept it? When the student is struck does truth leave the polished wood, sinking into the student’s shoulder or does it rise up within the student to meet the falling stick? Sitting zazen do you ask directions to the zendo? A reflection on Case…
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TRICKSTER
He imagines what it might be like to come down out of the foothills and roam the mesa, unseen unless he wishes, a complete freedom. And even if he chooses to be seen, he can take whatever shape he wishes, and they would see him only as he chose, for only as long as he…
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WITHOUT WITHIN
Within a rock there is another rock that sits in the middle of the stream, in sight, just out of reach. Within a cloud there is another cloud whose rain has fed a barren field. Within this city there is another city whose streets I have walked in countless dreams. Within this mirror there is…
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REISHO’S BRIGHT AND CLEAR
As you stare into the mirror it is your reflection you believe that you clearly see. As the face in the mirror stares at you, it is its face it believes that it sees reflected. There is one face and there are a thousand faces. A reflection on Case 88 of the Shobogenzo
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TS’UI YEN’S EYEBROWS
The question is a simple one, really, but not one you were expecting, which is why you sit and grapple for an answer. Ask yourself, what if no answer is needed, what if there is no answer, can you remain silent, or will you feel somehow incomplete if you do not respond? All answers are…
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HUI CH’AO ASKS ABOUT BUDDHA
When you look in the mirror do you hope to see yourself, and who is that face that stares back? If you turn out the light, are you still there in the mirror, or has the illusion of you disappeared? If you crack the mirror, do you feel the pain of the scar across your…
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ANOTHER VISIT TO SHOBOGENZO
YANGSHAN’S NO ENLIGHTENMENT Within nothing there are all things, within all things there is nothing. The Buddha asks in your binary electronic world how can I count on you to survive if zero is taken from you. NANYUE POLISHES A BRICK There is no reason to sit zazen, it is worthless yet it cannot be…
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an old writer and his words 