octobre 2008
Boundlessness
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, [...]
septembre 2008
Every leaf is a sudden fall
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 [...]
Don’t seek it in anything at all
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 [...]
The universe is everywhere
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.
Nothing to lose
Beware of falling markets! Beware of rising markets! Better to have nothing at all than to have something good.
Neither near nor far
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. [...]
The essential seat
After this month away from writing here, I return with the essential: As Master Dogen said, "Why give up your own seat and wander about in the dusty realms of foreign countries?" If we don't [...]
juillet 2008
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 [...]
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/ [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
juin 2008
On revealing the nature of I
What is in question apart from me tonight? Not a thing: Emptiness is what is not. If I am not, then I, too, am not in question. All that is is in question. When I [...]
Sweet charms of the longest day
I would like nothing better than to sit and read and write all this day, the first of summer, the year's longest, full with sweet charms of light and softness deep into the night. But [...]
Happy Bloomsday!
Happy Bloomsday! Celebrate Leopold Bloom's marvelous day in the life, Dublin, June 16, 1904! Drink a pint! Take a walk! Eat a kidney! Serve breakfast in bed! Step out along the strand! Dream! Sing! Love! [...]
No rest, all at rest
Everything moves. This instant, without limit, is already gone. Bataille writes, "...l'énoncé se ruine à mesure qu'on l'énonce; même préciptée dans la possibilité du mouvement, ma pensée écrite ne peut l'épuiser puisque, écrite, elle a [...]
