an old writer and his words

  • REFLECTING

    There was a time, once, when in the mirror I saw a young face, but the smile then is the same as that of the old man who greets me early every morning.

    Lou Faber

  • THREE CALLS 鐵笛倒吹 三十九

    If your name is called how do you answer? If it is called again and then again, will your answer always be exactly the same, or will you grow angry and deny even yourself? Surely your teacher knows who you are but knowing yourself, that is the highest mountain you will be asked to climb.…

    Lou Faber

  • RAISON

      There is a reason – there must be a reason for everything, that is just how things are supposed to be, how we decree them. And when things are events, we are at liberty to tell them to comply with our direction. If they fail, then we consign them to miracles or the work…

    Lou Faber

  • I DON’T MIND

    Sanity is a state of mind, he said, which I visit only from time to time. It’s a dark and scary place where a majority live and that is reason enough to dwell among the insane.

    Lou Faber

  • DONGSHAN’S ILLNESS

    When someone says you are not looking at all well, who is it that is ailing? When that person says you looked better the last time he saw you, which you did he see? If you look in the mirror do you see someone looking ill, and if you do, who is that person, for…

    Lou Faber

  • WHERE?

      Take the pencil in hand and grasp it firmly and flex and extend your wrist until loose. On a clean sheet of paper mark a small X which will become of great importance shortly. Look around you in all directions, starting as close to yourself as possible and expanding out as far as the…

    Lou Faber

  • MIRRORED

    It isn’t the seeing of something that matters, for what is seen was there to be seen so seeing is just its natural consequence. It is only when you label it, give it a name that it ceases to exist, for you at least, for at that moment what exists is the label and no…

    Lou Faber

  • THE AVATAMSAKA SUTRA’S WISDOM

    If you wish to find true wisdom where do you begin to look? Everywhere you look is the wrong place, for true wisdom is everywhere. If this confuses, first look for yourself. Where will you find yourself? If you say in the mirror, all will laugh for the mirror is nothing more than reflective glass.…

    Lou Faber

  • FROM HERE TO

      He finds it hard to believe that no matter which path he chooses, and he has chosen so very, very many over time, each path seems always to lead him to one particular place. The place always seems the same, here, though he knows it should be different each time he arrives. It frustrates…

    Lou Faber

  • HUI CH’AO ASKS ABOUT BUDDHA

    When you look in the mirror do you hope to see yourself, and who is that face that stares back? If you turn out the light, are you still there in the mirror, or has the illusion of you disappeared? If you crack the mirror, do you feel the pain of the scar across your…

    Lou Faber