an old writer and his words

  • BODHIDHARMA’S VAST EMPTINESS

    If you go walking one day and meet a person you think may be the Buddha, ask him what is the heart of all of the sutras. If he answers you with Dharma will you be certain this person is not the Buddha? If, on the other hand, he says nothing at all, and merely…

    Lou Faber

  • HEART OF NIGHT

    The morphology of dreams is partially reliant on the whims of a single god, and Morpheus is, to say the least, a truly fickle bastard who dangles before us joy and nightmare each always just out of reach, but never out of sight or hearing. So we are left to grasp like marionettes operated by…

    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

  • PAX ET VERITAS

    When you suddenly stop and freeze all that is going on around you, when silence replaces the sounds of life, you can finally hear yourself not think. This is the peace that always seems to lurk just out of reach, out of sight. Let it embrace you if you dare.

    Lou Faber

  • TOKUSAN’S ASSEMBLY 正法眼蔵 三十六

    When the Buddha offered true wisdom, no one was present to hear it. Those who were not there understood it fully. Where will you look for true wisdom? Will your ears here what your mouth cannot say? Only with closed eyes will the light become clear. A reflection on Case 36 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s…

    Lou Faber

  • HAWK

    A red tailed hawk watches carefully from the tall pine that stands proud in the next yard. It is not clear for what he is watching, perhaps it is nothing at all, or something my human vision cannot discern. I stare at him, but he does not return my stare, and after some time lifts…

    Lou Faber

  • THE MUSIC OF SPRING

    The music hides, just out of sight, beyond the edge of hearing. We assume it must be something by Mozart or at least Bach, a tocatta and fugue, swallowed by the trees, the cardinal singing faintly, mirroring the tune, but there is only the wind meandering throught the pines which have cast off the weight…

    Lou Faber

  • TRICKSTER

    He imagines what it might be like to come down out of the foothills and roam the mesa, unseen unless he wishes, a complete freedom. And even if he chooses to be seen, he can take whatever shape he wishes, and they would see him only as he chose, for only as long as he…

    Lou Faber

  • PURE DHARMA BODY 正法眼蔵 二十六

    Standing at the foot of the mountain what side do you see. Standing atop the mountain what side to you not see. Close your eyes and you will see the mountain has no sides. Close your eyes and you will find there is no mountain. A reflection on case 36 of the Dogen’s Shobogenzo 

    Lou Faber