A week in retreat
Heading off to retreat in Portugal. Thus stillness visits for a week in the absence of words here. Yet the coming and going is open-ended. And presence is neither here nor there. How sweet it is.
juillet 2008
Zen retreat in France/retraite Zen en France
There is still space for the weeklong retreat with the Wild Flower Sangha in France (Normandy)/Il reste de la place pour la retraite d'une semaine en France (Normandie) avec le Wild Flower Sangha: August 23-30/ 23-30 août Information/registration: zenscribe@free.fr
Sitting with butterfly/Assise avec papillon
This morning, a butterfly in the garden was not like anything. I sat. The butterfly fluttered, then it didn't, it folded and unfolded its hazel-brown wings. I sat. The butterfly came and went nowhere, although it left my sight and entered it again. I sat. Only a thought made the butterfly like my mind, a [...]
Writing to no end/écrire sans fin
The pages filling please me. I write to no end: The traces of doing gratify without reward apart from the doing itself, stroking to the drop-off.
Build a seamless tomb
I rest quietly and Apollonaire brings this to mind: Emperor Shukuso asked Chu, the National Teacher, "After a hundred years (after you have died), what do you want me to do?'' "Build a seamless tomb for this old monk," replied the National Teacher. "I ask the National Teacher, please show me the design of the [...]
Une profonde statue en rien/A profound statue of nothing
Apollonaire, on the nature of a memorial for a fictional poet: "Il faut que je lui sculpte une profonde statue en rien, comme la poésie et comme la gloire." (I must make him a profound statue built of nothing, like poetry and fame.)
Traces of the Sacred/Traces du Sacré
What might that be --- "traces of the sacred''? A museum tries many replies, all valid, yet ... What of that which is not in the show --- the beggars and buskers, the fancy cars and cheap shoes, tired workers on the Métro returning home, girls reading celebrity papers, smokers outside cafés, kids on bikes, [...]
Summer practice/pratique d’été
Summer is underway, and there is still space for a week of intensive practice, in Portugal or in France. (Nous sommes en plein été, et il reste de la place pour faire une semaine de pratique intensive, au Portugal ou en France.) Portugal: 1-8 August France: 23-30 August 250 euros Beginners welcome. (Débutants bienvenus.) Infos [...]
Amazing grace
Someone dear to me, my dharma brother Frank de Waele, calls this morning to announce the birth of his daughter, Hannia. His joy shoots through the phone line, we are happy together across the kilometers, tears fill my eyes. We share this ancient transmission of life. There is no transition when he then announces the [...]
