Nothing special

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Nothing special

The Métro is packed with returning. The babies and small children seem particularly weary and agitated.
Everyone, though, looks like they want and need something.
I wonder what that might be. I wonder where they have all been, where they are all going.
And me?
I like this verse from Layman Pang:

 »What I do every day
Is nothing special:
I simply stumble around.
What I do is not thought out.
Where I go is unplanned.
No matter who tries to leave their mark,
The hills and dales are not impressed.
Collecting firewood and carrying water
Are prayers that reach the gods. »

By | 2015-10-02T14:26:45+00:00 mars 26th, 2009|Textes|5 Comments

About the Author:

Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste. The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.

5 Comments

  1. tu es cela 27 mars 2009 at 22 h 50 min - Reply

    The life of a monk.

  2. little lake 27 mars 2009 at 19 h 31 min - Reply

    What would then be then be the life of a monk????

  3. tu es cela 27 mars 2009 at 18 h 05 min - Reply

    Pang’s life and words are nothing more than a manifestation of what really matters, the basic truth that whoever, whatever, wherever we are, the only thing to renounce after all is self. Then, without a trace, we are fully engaged in the world.

  4. Ting 27 mars 2009 at 8 h 10 min - Reply

    A beautiful woman in rags is still a beautiful woman. So why does she spent an hour or more dressing up?

    Life’s essence is present in every moment and there’s nothing we can do to make it grow or to make it go away. So why do we struggle with it? What are we striving for?

    Is this what Pang is saying?

  5. HJ 26 mars 2009 at 20 h 50 min - Reply

    Live a simple life.

    Do not try to be special, a enlightned one, a sensei or a roshi, the one that has resolved all koans.

    Just be and be yourself, an human being, living a simple and normal life, with all that your life is presenting to you.

    Is this what Pang is saying?

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