an old writer and his words

  • SO, JEAN-JACQUES

    I suppose, with some effort,I, too, could become oneof Rousseau’s savage menbut I have to ask myself if thatis a path that I would choose to walk.It isn’t the walking that give me pause,for that, as Rousseau said,enables contemplation and notmere thoughts flitting about,and is a means of meditationin my frantically moving world.And it isn’t…

    Lou Faber

  • RAKUHO’S LAST MOMENTS

    If you sit before the teacherand he asks you “how isyour practice, good or not”how do you answer?If you say your practiceis good, your teacherwill call you a liar.If you say your practiceis not good, your teacherwill tell you to practice. A reflection on Case 41 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • THAT SUMMER

    That summer was onehe would always remember.She was special, she told him soand he had no reasonto doubt her. Thatand he was one to fallso easily into whathe thought was love.It lasted well into August,when she said it was over.He did not understand whybut he was not one to argueso he consigned herto a memory…

    Lou Faber

  • RAKUHO’S LAST MOMENTS

    If I ask you “do youwish to find enlightenment,”how do you answer?If you say you doyou are yet another stepin the wrong direction.If you say you do notwish to find enlightenment,why are you practicing?If you sit on the cushionin total silence saying nothingyour answer willecho off the walls. A reflection on Case 41 of the…

    Lou Faber

  • A QUICKLY PASSING SEASON

    That summer was onehe would always remember.She was special, she told him soand he had no reasonto doubt her. Thatand he was one to fallso easily into whathe thought was love.It lasted well into Augustwhen she said it was over.He did not understand whybut he was not one to argueso he consigned herto a memory…

    Lou Faber

  • DISCLOSING IS NOT AS GOOD AS PRACTICE

    To speak of hours of practiceis not as good as 10 minutesengaged in practice.So, too, an hour speechon practice paleswith even a moment of silence.But to be silent and alsonot practice is to turnyour back on the pathand blind yourselfwith your stick. A reflection on Case 77 of the Shobogenzo (True Dharma Eye) Koans

    Lou Faber

  • KYOZAN PLANTS HIS MATTOCK

    In your endless searchfor enlightenment,the best course, the only courseis to stop looking. It may strike you,unexpected or it mayarise without your seeingas you continue your practice. You say there are many Buddhasand you are correct, but I saythere is but one Buddha and Iam also correct, and you arethat one Buddha and I amthat…

    Lou Faber

  • A WELL REHEARSED SILENCE

    Of course there is something I oughtto say, moments like this require it,it goes without saying, painfully. I practiced lines for hours, rehearsedin my dreams for weeks, knewfor years I’d be rendered mute. My tongue swells, threateningto escape my mouth or take refugedeep within my esophagus. Your silence is only compoundingmy anxiety, how can I,…

    Lou Faber

  • DEMANDED TIME

    I’ve made a practicewhich feels more like a demand,that each day I take a fewmoments or more and stopwhatever else I was, orshould have been, doingto write a poem. There are days, perhaps thisone where it seems morea short bit of prose to whichI have added line breaksdespite the protestof the words, condemning themto bear…

    Lou Faber

  • MANDATORY, FOR NOW

    They were not optional in our family,once a week, half an hour, that andat least 20 minutes daily, the youngestgot the choice of times. He quit after a year, his sisterwas three years in and went on anotherand I was eight years staringat the 88 keys, so many of whichwould never get used, uselessas were…

    Lou Faber