an old writer and his words

  • CUP OF TEA 沙石集 一

    When the cup is half full what more can be added? In the garden, the moon can exist in a full cup or one only half full. It is the empty cup that can hold entire universes, infinite in capacity. A reflection on Case 1 of the Shasekishu (Sand and Pebbles)

    Lou Faber

  • THE WORLD HONORED ONE ASCENDS

    The student may comment, “Hillel was asked to sum up all of the teaching while standing on one foot and did so.” If this student asks the teacher to provide the essential nature of Dharma in one sitting, what choice does the teacher have but to rise and leave the room. The teacher may comment,…

    Lou Faber

  • AWAKENING

    He could not hope to remember how he got there, he had wandered in search of nothing in particular, save dinner as his hunger grew, but in Shinjuku you needn’t read Japanese since the menus sat molded in plastic in the window of even the smallest restaurants. He began to look more intently when he…

    Lou Faber

  • PARSINGS

    The old monk sits cross legged on a grass mat, a faint smile dances across his lips. He invites me to sit, our meeting, he says, is notable. I sit, legs folded as best I can, and begin to ask but he silences me, “First tea.”  He sets the cups down on the hardpack dirt floor, there is…

    Lou Faber