• VISITORS

    We keep looking, some of uscertain they are there,others as certain they are not,as God didn’t mention them. We hope to see themto reach out to themto understand them,to learn from them. Of course, we knowthat if they are herethey are so much moreintelligent than we and hardly likelyto announce theirpresence given whatthey must know…


  • PATIENCE

    Even a cat knows when the screen is on Zoom, you sit and wait. Or stick your head in the picture so all can acknowledge your presence. Either works, and you know patience is not a virtue, but at times a necessity. You are a cat, after all. Patience is for dogs, poor beasts, having…


  • 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…


  • RINZAI’S REAL EYE 鐵笛倒吹 九十語

    You say there area thousand waysof seeing this momentbut which is the real way?I respond there area thousand waysof seeing this momentbut which is the real way? You may take my place,you may lookthrough my eyes,but you will stillbe blindto this momentor that. A reflection on Case 95 of the Iron Flute Koans


  • HAUNTING MOMENTS

    All too soon, I will returnas a ghost and how youand others deal with thathas yet to be seen, althoughknow that ghosts arereflective, and your thoughtswill determine both my presenceand mood during such visitsas I choose to make to you. You may not believein ghosts, I did not for years,but as you approachthat state of…


  • NOT YOU, NOT NOW

    The cat ignored him totally this morning. She wouldn’t give him the time of day if she could have told time. It was surprising, and for him it was painful. He loved the cat, and he thought the cat loved him. Once he thought he saw her sneer but he knew cats did not do…


  • ON BEING

    They arrive unannouncedoften not seen untilthey have been among usand won’t say howor when they arrived.Some claim to have seentheir arrival as theyhave seen other visitorsvisible only to them,and predict their departurewith a certainty bornof a delusion or a sensebeyond the understanding.Others say that theare merely us in masquerade,it is we who are deludedfor there…


  • MOBIUS STRIP

    You imagine tomorrow will arrive without warning or notice, and even though you are skeptical, you accept the possibility, and if it doesn’t arrive what are the odds you will miss it? If, as expected, it arrives, what the hell, it was supposed to do that so nothing is odd about it, and if not,…


  • ASTROGEN

    I could never understand as a child why the moon was female, the sun always male, and most stars but ours had Arabic names. Now makes much more sense to me, the moon is never one to hog the sky and even when she commands more than her usual space, you only want to stare…


  • TOZAN’S NO GRASS

    As the seasons change I will stand with one foot on the highest peak and the other at the bottom of the deepest sea. But do not ask that I stand in a place where there is no Buddha, or my feet and legs shall fall away into the void. A reflection on Case 68…