Today, wars all around and other natural disasters, the "economy" in tatters, hunger, disease, plastic surgery rampant. And in my weekly agenda, dotted with quotes from artists through the ages, there is this: "Il réalisait parmi les hommes cette figure parfaite que le cercle réalise parmi les lignes géométriques. C'était un zéro." Victor Hugo, note [...]
It's been a couple of weeks since I learned of Lou Reed's death, the day after he died, as I returned to Paris after retreat in Portugal. And only now did I finally find what his wife, the great Laurie Anderson, had to say about his death, about him, about them. Here's a beautiful excerpt: [...]
Finally yesterday the book I've been awaiting for months and months arrived. When the postman knocked and rang at my door, I was sure he had what I wanted: "The Hidden Lamp. Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women." My delight did not meet with disappointment. What a treasure this is! The book is a [...]
Back in Montreuil today. Lazing in the late afternoon with Proust. I look up from the book for a moment, out the window, and there, a magnificent rainbow curves across the cloudy sky like a dome. It seems to hang there, stretching horizon to horizon above the trees, forever. But then finally once when I [...]
Here I am on retreat in Portugal, amid ribbons of highways, under brilliant sun overlooking Coimbra. Great sitting all day altogether. Someone said this morning he was happy to be here and thanked me for coming. I told him the same thing. Meanwhile, a fly has been hanging around in my room since Friday night. [...]
Without giving much thought to my intention, I left this blog in suspension for awhile. Then I picked it up again. Did it stop? Did it start? Before this item was posted, what was there? You might say, "There was the previous item." But before that previous item, what was there? You might say, "No [...]
Having never left, I'm back again... The itinerary, as Roshi Joan Halifax said recently as a tip to travelers, is always subject to reality. Myself, I let the summer run its course, with many twists and changes of terrain, before returning to my entries here at zenscribe. I hope you've not given up on me! [...]
Celebrate another (happy) Bloomsday! (tomorrow, June 16) Celebrate your life, the whole and all the parts! We'll be sitting together in Paris, and there's room for you to join wherever you are. “If Socrates leave his house today he will find the sage seated on his doorstep. If Judas go forth tonight it is to [...]
A monk asked Yun Men: "What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?" Yun Men replied: "An appropriate response." Not really anything else to add... Yet there remains the question: What is the "appropriate response"?
“There is the world that we see, and then there is the world that artists like Mr. Dorsky see and generously share.” — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times Save the date: The experimental San Francisco filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky is back in Paris for a projection of some of his recent films at Beaubourg on [...]
