-
Fuketsu’s Speech and Silence 無門關 二十四
Inward but not outwarda broken stick Outward but no inwarda broken stick A partridge singsin silenceflowers bloomat midnight Fuketsu smiles knowingly. A reflection on case 24 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)
-
SŌZAN’S NO CHANGE 正法眼蔵 三十
In entering, do you arriveor are you leaving.In departing do you leaveor are you arriving.Can the gate answeror does it chooseto remain silent.The mountain shoutsthe answer but onlythe river can hear it. A reflection on case 30 of the Dogen’s Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye)
-
YOKUSAN’S LECTURE 鐵笛倒吹 六十三
If you go to a lecture and listen carefully will you become wise? If you go to a hundred lectures are you a hundred times wiser? Where did the teacher find wisdom, did he sit in endless lectures. Watch him most carefully is he not wise with sleeping, and when eating, when he walks to…
-
JUST WATCH
It has been said, wisely, that all children speak a common language, regardless of what adults believe they are hearing. The proof of that proposition is simple enough, pause and watch a parent make demands of a child in the presence of other children, see the reluctant child glance at his foreign peers and gain…
-
PRAYER
We bow our heads and utter words not to the cicada speaking through a spring night or the beetle crawling slowly across the leaf searching for the edge. We bid the crow silent, the cat mewling his hunger, just to crawl under a porch awaiting morning, the child to sleep. The stream flows slowly by,…
-
GROVE
Living in a bamboo grove, she said, is very much like living in an old house. Look up at noon, into the canopy and imagine you see rays of light piercing the ill-thatched roof. Listen to the growing winds or autumn and hear the ghosts of the old house making their way up creaking stairs.…
-
A MISTAKE IN SPEAKING
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…
-
THREADS
This morning I plucked a thread of silence from the dawn, watched, carefully by a cardinal who knew not to break the purity of the moment. I do this as often as I can sometimes grabbing one from the moon, as it sits overhead, holding out its promise of quietude as people retreat into homes.…
-
SETTLING
Settling into perfect stillness, each of us in our brown robes on brown chairs, benches cushions, note his entry is somewhere between the thundering of a forgotten storm or the garbage trucks crawling slowly down the street. His gray-blue shirt and jeans flash by. He is large in every dimension, even his breathing nice and…
-
BLESSING
There is a blessing in silence that we so often deny ourselves, unaware that it lies just beyond the noise of our minds and lives. We crave it, beg for it, and hearing the beggar, shun him for the noise he carries like the skin he cannot molt. Beethoven understood silence in his later years…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
an old writer and his words 