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I WONDER
As a poet I would bemost interested in learningwhat you read when youare reading one of my poems. I know it sounds strange, after allI wrote it, but often when I readone of my poems it is differentin small or large waysfrom the last time I read it. I know that each reader in turnrewrites…
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UMMON’S MOUNT SUMERU
When you ask your teacherwhat happens when youstop thinking, allowno new thoughtswhat you expect himto tell you? The dead have no thoughtsbut that is not the doorto Nirvana. But if thoughts abandon youwithout your effort, withoutbeing asked to do so,then the door you seekwill open before you. A reflection on Case 19 of the Book…
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WHEN WE STOPPED
It was probably that momentjust after we sat downat our new, huge or sothey seemed, desksand the large personin the front of the roomsmiled at us and said“I will teach you allthat you need to learnthis year so pay attention.” Perhaps we stoppedthinking the year beforeduring kindergarten,but I do think the firstday of first gradetruly…
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PENSEE
I do some of my best thinking he whispered, when I think of nothing at all. Did you know that if not for the Babylonians entire worlds would be cubes. In fact they were for centuries. It’s like sex he continued, it’s best when you are celibate. But then again Bally shoes are no longer…
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STARING
She stares at you, unwavering. You find this strange, wanting to see something more in her looks, but you get nothing from her, as you have gotten nothing from so many others before her. You know men are as capable of such stares as she, but you don’t tend to see them, your own gender…
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NOTHING, AND LESS
The hardest thing, he said to his teacher, both sitting on their mats, is not not thinking, but what to do when the thoughts come anyway. I can’t seem to get rid of them no matter how hard I try.” “Do not try to do anything,” the Sensei said, “for anything you do introduces another…
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PRACTICE
It always seems odd that the teacher asks me to think about my practice when the heart of my practice is learning how not to always think about things. But the heart of practice is exactly these oddities, for nothing is exact. In the fourth vow I strive to attain the great way of Buddha,…
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COGITO
She said, “I truly think that a large part of your problem is that you spend too much time thinking about what other people think of you.” He wasn’t inclined to agree, but she did think that so he had to give it consideration. “I don’t think so,” he replied, “but if you think so,…
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PEACE, PAX, SHALOM, SALAAM, SHANTI
There is certainly a reason, though in the time it will take us to find it, we likely will no longer care. The easy things so rarely matter, and we turn our backs on them hardly thinking, only to regret it when they slip away, and only then does their value appear.
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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.
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an old writer and his words 