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TAIGEN FANS HIMSELF 正法眼蔵 三十二
When a leaf leaves the treeit falls precisely where it should.When a flower petal is carriedoff on a strong wind itcomes to rest in the proper place.When you smell the sweet aromaof next summer’s rosesuse the nose you hadbefore your parents were born. A reflection on case 32 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye)…
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PRACTICE THIS
He is, he claims, a practitionerof feng shui, and will, fora nominal fee, arrange our homein the harmony it requires. His fee, of course, is nominalto him only, and hardly onewe would incur with the expensesof a new home, with twoof too many things, and noneof some necessities, whichour local merchants will providefor their own…
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PHOTOGRAPH
I saw a picture of you today, althoughI can’t be certain when it was taken,and while I can easily say that youlook exactly as I remember you,that is saying nothing really,for moments after I took the picturewe said goodbye to each other,intending to meet again, knowingthe chances of that were minuscule. I have returned your…
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CITIZEN OF . . .
There was a time that nowseems so very long ago, when Iwould freely admit, sometimes claimto be American, if not acknowledgingmy time in the Air Force as well. Those days are gone, as is the placeI knew, now morphed into somewheremuch the same, and entirely unrecognizable,and I am American by proximity, knowingmy welcome has been…
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-NESS
Last week it was hers but we felt it ours, and wondered why her furniture, her life was impinging on this “our-ness.” Today it is ours and empty, and it has a deep sense of “whose-ness,” where we can see how easily “ours-ness” might return. Next week it will be our home and we will…
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IN MOTION
This time when we move the question could be asked, are we moving to somewhere or away from somewhere or, you fear asking, away from someone. That may be a truth left unsaid, saying requires an explanation, a ripping open of a wound just scabbed over or still raw around the edges. And there is…
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EVERYWHERE BUT HERE OR THERE
It is odd, when you stop and think about it, that our sense of place is dictated by places other then here. For centuries we were the center of the universe, and all celestial bodies moved around us — without us, no movement, but if t here were no suns, moons, planets or stars to…
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DETOUR
He always wanted to take the scenic route home, it didn’t matter if it took longer, he probably preferred that and he rarely commented on the scenery. It was more that he didn’t want to get where they were going and the scenic route was guaranteed to take longer and with luck they’d get lost…
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WHERE, EXACTLY?
The one thing that will drive him crazy is a sign with a star, or square, or anything that says “You Are Here.” The one place he has never been, will never be, is standing on a map. He admits he may be nearby, but here is out of the question. He’s never really sure…
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HERE
We greet as long lost friends, having never before met save sharing a place a decade apart. I strive to cling to what was there in that place, she, fueled by the frustration, has turned away just because of it. I go home to my words, she to her art, and we know our paths…
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an old writer and his words 