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SOZAN’S FOUR DON’TS 鐵笛倒吹 九十二
You may seek to follow the path of the dove, for a fool knows many roads. You may wrap yourself in fine linen, an infant wears only his skin and knows this moment is already gone. Think long before you speak of how to walk along the path, of where it leads. The baby says…
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A MISTAKE IN SPEAKING 無門關 三十九
When you speak the words of the Buddha you are lost. Light is everywhere in silence but the tongue must hide in the dark of the mouth. Buddha’s words are flowers unfolding in the dawn by the side of the still pond, the eyes hear the song and respond in silent chorus. A reflection on…
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ISOLATION
She wondered what it would be like to be an island, set off somewhere in a vast ocean, tropical preferably where the only sounds were the ebb and flow of the waves, the thunder of the occasional storm and the whisper of leaves tossed by the omnipresent sea breezes. she liked isolation, the silence of…
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WORDS
He is looking for words. There are no words. He feels he needs to say something. There are no words. He feels deep pain. There are no words for his deep pain. Many are speaking. There are no words to speak. Everyone is looking for words. There are no words. Everyone wants to say something.…
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A POINTED REPLY
Between this point and that lies a vast uncharted space noted on every cartographers chart. If you ask how this could be possible, I reply it’s like listening to silence and hearing each sound deeply embedded in the one next to it, a glissando of what exactly? Uncertainty? That is the whole point in the…
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NANQUAN’S SICKLE
If you ask the teacher where you can find the key to enlightenment, what do you do when the teacher stares back at you in silence. If the teacher asks you where he can find the key to enlightenment, do you tell him that he possesses it, and if you do, will he simply stare…
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TOZAN’S GOING BEYOND BUDDHA
The greatest speech is given only when the mouth falls shut. To talk of peace is to be at war with peace, to speak of war is to be at war. When listening disappears peace re-emerges, when peace emerges the listener appears. A relection on case 12 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
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UNASKING
There is much you would ask the Buddha and so little he would tell you. But at the moment that you fall silent, when your last question slips away and you have no request – in that moment the Buddha will speak freely and provide the answer to unthought-of questions.
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TOPOLOGY
Between this point and that lies a vast uncharted space noted on every cartographers chart. If you ask how this could be possible I reply it’s like listening to silence and hearing each sound deeply embedded in the one next to it, a glissando of what exactly? Uncertainty? That is the whole point in the…
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A LIFE, LIVED
The moon, a warm summer night, two ducks, a pond, utter stillness, a mirror weeping, deep purple velvet, a feather racing a leaf across the morning sky, a door swinging, a gate without hinges.
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an old writer and his words 