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octobre 2008

Easy Rider

By | 2015-10-02T20:23:31+00:00 octobre 21st, 2008|Textes|

A conference at the Cinémathèque was billed as "A cinema lesson," given by the actor/director/counterculture hero Dennis Hopper. It ends up being Hopper just chatting about Hopper and his (famous) buddies. Not much about the art of cinema. A few film clips. He wows the audience by crying as a demonstration of "method acting." I'm [...]

The finest place

By | 2017-04-04T06:58:22+00:00 octobre 20th, 2008|Textes|

Afternoon is in its final retreat. Evening is enveloping the city. Today I went out for an appointment, ran errands, then returned. Soon, after cooking, I'll be leaving again. The best place is always where I am, nothing finer. A traditional Zen story: Crossing a marketplace, Banzan overheard a conversation between a butcher and his [...]

What I want?

By | 2015-10-02T20:20:42+00:00 octobre 13th, 2008|Textes|

It's a quiet night now after the busy day. I see I'm anticipating more of that dailyness in the week ahead. Is that what I want? As Joyce said, "I'm like a blind man walking in the street. I trip on something and when I bend down to pick it up, I discover it's exactly [...]

Untwisting a pretzel

By | 2015-10-02T20:20:24+00:00 octobre 8th, 2008|Textes|

Question from a colleague: How can I make the benefits of practice remain with me throughout my day at the office? That is, how can I not become caught up in the tensions and frictions of (the working) life? He then says that according to the Dalai Lama, "Buddhism" as such cannot "succeed" as such [...]

Boundlessness

By | 2015-10-02T20:20:05+00:00 octobre 4th, 2008|Textes|

Boundlessness, the Heart Sutra says, is the nature of all things. The limits, too, are limitless. That is, I am not limited by the limits of my boundless body. I go to sleep at night, or I am sleepless, and I wake in the morning, ready or not.

septembre 2008

Every leaf is a sudden fall

By | 2015-10-02T20:19:38+00:00 septembre 30th, 2008|Textes|

A runny nose has caught up with me in this season of fading away. The sidewalks in Paris are paved with a golden dropping off. One by one, every leaf is a sudden fall. As Joshu said: "A clay buddha does not pass through water. A gold buddha does not pass through a furnace. A [...]

Don’t seek it in anything at all

By | 2015-10-02T20:19:17+00:00 septembre 26th, 2008|Textes|

It's Friday night. They're still taking sides across the Atlantic. Which calls for more from Vimalakirti: "Therefore, Shariputra, if one would be a seeker of the dharma, one must not seek it in anything at all." Or, I might add, seek it everywhere.

The universe is everywhere

By | 2015-10-02T20:18:56+00:00 septembre 23rd, 2008|Textes|

Autumn now. Day remains broad, but under threat of darkness (everything is illuminated by the hang of it) there is constantly no way out: The universe is everywhere at this very sliver of a moment.

Neither near nor far

By | 2015-10-02T20:18:17+00:00 septembre 7th, 2008|Textes|

The garden wilder than ever today, Sunday morning wind seems to whip even the sun here and there. Is something ending or beginning? September is neither near nor far. What season is it? This one. And in his sutra, the layman Vimalakirti said: "Ah, Rahula, you should not speak of the benefits and blessings gained [...]