an old writer and his words

  • WHAT WOULD YOU SAY

    I am just wonderingwhat you would sayif you were calledto testify about allthat you had seen,all that had disgusted you,all that you condemnedbut did and saidnothing while it occurred.What would you sayif you had no choicebut truth, no shading,no mincing of words,just the harsh lightand you in a chairin an empty room,a disembodied voiceasking endless…

    Lou Faber

  • ASKING

    Asking saints to intercedeis something quite new to me,having never considered that saintswere people whom I might seek out. I’ve started carefully, onlyseeking saints who hangon my family tree, Margaret,Itta, Begga, Adela, Arnulf, and I’ve vowed to ask nothingfor myself, for karma willsee to me one way or another,so I ask only for those in…

    Lou Faber

  • IDENTIFYING WITH CAUSE AND EFFECT

    You offer to methat which I cannot take,I refuse to give youthe one thing you can accept.We each have nothingand give nothingand are happyfor the perfect gift. A reflection on Case 90 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • JOSHU’S DOG

    My teacher once asked me“what do you haveto say for yourself,” and Ianswered “absolutely nothing,”or did I smile and remain silent? You assume the teacher wouldbe upset with the silent studentand in most cases you wouldbe perfectly correct. But if this occurredin a zendo, having nothingto say is a step toward no-selfand you can bein…

    Lou Faber

  • AN INVITATION FOR THE PATRIARCH

    Do not ask meto recite the DharmaWhen I am breathingthere is only breath inand breath out.Be like the poor manlost and wanderinggoing nowhere, eachbreath the only breath.Having nothing, simplybeing. A reflection on case 3 of the Book of Equanimity Koans

    Lou Faber

  • TREASURES

    I keep in my pocketall the treasures of my family,all of the keepsakes from my mother,and those from my fathergiven to me when they died. I would share them with you,but they are highly personaland would not mean much to onewho never knew my parentsor my step brother, the one with whom I have not…

    Lou Faber

  • ON THE MANTLE

    Perhaps it is just that Ido not have a mantle on whichto place the cherished artifactsof my life, my parentsand grandparents photos,a family Tanach, the tallismy first adoptive father woreto his Bar Mitzvah. I have nothing, which this dayseems sadly appropriate,for their history really isnot mine, never was, Isimply borrowed it for a timebut all…

    Lou Faber

  • FOUR HAIKU

    In this momentabsolutely nothingsamadhiBuddha, outside the zendoa hundred birds gatherchanting the Dharma the cat sitsat the foot of Buddhaenlightened a girl gigglesBuddha laughs aloudpigeons bow

    Lou Faber

  • THE CHARM

    The first one felt right,there was nothing deeper considered,just that feeling that now,I know, anyone might have providedbut then, it was somethingin a world of nothing. The second, really, wascertainly right, for life this time,the wisdom of a single failureenough to ensure success,and when it came apartthirty years later, it wasapparent it was never right,just…

    Lou Faber

  • Seizei’s Poverty 無門關 十

    Sozan shoutedto no onein particular“You may yet havethe finest wine, butonly when youhave nothing willyou taste iton your tongue. A reflection on Case 10 of the Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber