an old writer and his words

  • IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING

    Of course, the cat knows what is about to happen but she will not tell us. She always knows what is about to happen, she claims. When we push her to share the information with us she says that we do not speak her language fully enough and she is tired of repeatedly trying to…

    Lou Faber

  • BUDDHA’S TEACHING OF A LIFETIME

    If you ask a teacherto teach you Zenin a single lessonwhat do you expecthim to say to you?If he sits on the cushionsaying nothingin deep zazenyou have the answer. A reflection on Case 94 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • NANQUAN’S “NOTHING SPECIAL”

    While you are sitting zazenfacing the wallif your teachertaps you on the shoulderand asks what you are doinghow do you respond?If you say “I amdoing zazen,”he will frown.If you say “I amfacing the wall,”he will frown, butif you say “I amdoing nothing”he will smile. A reflection on case 87 of Shinji Shobogenzo 真字正法眼蔵 (True Dharma…

    Lou Faber

  • HOGEN’S SUBSTANCE AND NAME

    As you wander searchingfor that dharma you believeyou need to attain enlightenmentyou may ask many teachersto point you to the dharma.Some will point to the ground,others to the sky, butthe wise teacher willtell you there is no dharmayou can grasp so pleasestop looking for nothing,it has already found you. A reflection on Case 74 of…

    Lou Faber

  • INSTAHELL OR METAHELL?

    Some might call us linguistic sadistsand it would be difficult to argue that point.We take a perverse joy in torturing language,as though trying to make it agree with whatwe imagine it should do in our delusional world.And I am willing (and quite able) to lay someof the blame on social media, that baneof modern existence…

    Lou Faber

  • SHINZAN QUESTIONS THE NATURE OF LIFE

    Why, when you sit on the cushiondo you imagine yourselfbecoming a Buddha?If you can imagine yourselfbecoming a Buddha, youare not yet readyto become a Buddha.If you sit on the cushionand imagine nothingyou grow ever more readyto find what you nolonger seek so much. A reflection on Case 70 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • THEY SAID

    She said, “If youhave something to sayjust say it.”He said, “I already did,I said it all.”She said, “Saysomething else, then.”He said, “I havenothing else to say,it has allbeen said already.”She said, “Thatis the problemwith you,you never wantto talk aboutthings I want.”He said, “I do haveone more thingI must say to you –Goodbye.”

    Lou Faber

  • AND COUNTING

    How many timeshad they almost metover the years before that evening? What if the Fateshad allowed meetings,what would have changed?Likely everything, nothing,for when they might have metneither was available,he a student imagining himselfalready in love, or both marriednever thinking those relationshipswould possibly end in divorce. And how many times had theybeen in the same placeseparated…

    Lou Faber

  • HYMNAL

    Open to page 147 of your hymnals.There is nothing to sing therefor the words of promise oncefound there have witheredand faded, carried off on nowtoxic winds, so hold your breathor whatever heaven you imaginewill be too soon be approachingat a speed exceeding imagination. You don’t remember how you got here,things happened around youwhen you weren’t…

    Lou Faber

  • SEPPO’S POISON SNAKE

    When you lookin the mirrorwhat do you really see?If you say yourselfyou are blind.If you say nothingyou have graspedthe heart of the Dharma.If you shatter the mirroryou have found Nirvana. A reflection on Case 24 of the Book of Equanimity 従容錄, Shōyōroku

    Lou Faber