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FINALS
It was approaching the end of another too long semester and the sign-up sheet for office hours was getting fuller with names I didn’t recognize, or did and not in a way that would please the student. It was always like this, the two weeks after it was too late to do anything, when the…
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ISAN’S I HAVE EXHAUSTED MYSELF 正法眼蔵 四十四
Approach the master sitting on his seat. The fool will seek answers having slept through the lesson but the wise student will bow silently and retreat having learned all there is and knowing absolutely nothing. A reflection on case 44 of Dogen’s True Dharma Eye Koans
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WAITING FOR TEACHER
It should come as no surprise, for both Buddhism and Hinduism grew out of the same fertile soil. An older Hindu man said, “do not look for your Guru. When you are ready, your Guru will find you.” I knew the Buddhist equivalent, and its corollary, when the student is ready, the teacher disappears. My…
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ISAN’S SUMMONS 鐵笛倒吹 三十一
When the master calls for a novice do you answer? When the inkin bell is struck do you begin or end zazen? As you follow your breath when do you leave your body, and who returns when you next inhale? Search instead for an answer that has no question. Who is the novice now? A…
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ISAN’S I HAVE EXHAUSTED MYSELF 正法眼蔵 四十四
Approach the master sitting on his seat. The fool will seek answers having slept through the lesson but the wise student will bow silently and retreat having learned all there is and knowing absolutely nothing. A reflection on Case 44 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Mind)
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SANSHU’S BLINDNESS 正法眼蔵 四十
If you come forward and ask no question the master will give you an answer, but if you approach with a question, the master will strike you with the stick. It is only when your eyes are blinded that you can take up the master’s staff and all is clearly seen.
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I’M LOOKING, SHOW YOURSELF
I’ve been searching for a teacher for such a long time but despite every effort, the goal eludes me They say that when the student is ready the teacher appears, but i know in my heart I am truly ready. I looked in all of the likely and a number of unlikely places, to the…
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ETUDE
Today was perfectly ordinary which is how I would have my days and how they so seldom agreed to be. I did pause and look at the Yamaha keyboard and remembered that when the Court of the Empress Theresa rejected Mozart, he attended the symphonies of Haydn as a form of consolation. That reminds me…
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ROSO FACES THE WALL
Come before the Master. If he turns from you and faces the wall he honors you. If the Master enters your room and you turn to the wall you will deserve his stick. As you cannot sit in the Master’s seat he may not sit in yours, but all seats are one seat, no wall…
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DESHAN’S THIRTY BLOWS正法眼蔵 三十一
If I come before the teacher he will give me thirty blows. If I do not come before the teacher he will give me thirty blows. It is the same for everyone, his arms never grow tired but if I never see my teacher, I give him thirty blows and my arms are suddenly heavy.…
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an old writer and his words 