Strung a number of years ago between trees outside my bedroom window, the Tibetan prayer flag is now threading away into the foliage. Today in the icy drizzle, it seems at once destitute, diminished, alone, lost in the tangle of leaf and branch, its colors now faded from their once-brilliant glory, and unflappably resilient, an [...]
Among the birthday gifts I received and for which I am grateful, there was this, from students in Portugal, which I now offer here, like "the scattering leaves:" Make the universe your companion, always bearing in mind the true nature of things - mountains and rivers, trees and grasses, and humanity. Enjoy the falling blossoms [...]
A "last" entry of the month comes amid a chill across the Continent. The back garden has been white for two days. Also this entry comes amid another wave of "transparency" from the WikiLeaks people. What's this obsession with exposing everything and everyone? Within darkness there is light, but don't look for that light. Within [...]
A hectic week has led to this, a ragged Saturday for which there had once been other plans. Those plans changed. Which opened an unexpected vista of the "unexpected." I could think in terms of "lost and found": I "lost" what I had planned to do this weekend (Zen Art); I "found" what I had [...]
Paging through the day, from early to late afternoon. Desires abound, lurking around each corner. Streets in the Marais are packed with them. What happened there? What happened to Goldenberg's? Only the corner remains. And commercial real estate reigns. We visit the "Marché de la poésie." I'd like to be inspired, but instead find myself [...]
See some of my recent writing in the special France issue of the online magazine ekleksographia: http://ekleksographia.ahadadabooks.com/france/ And as long as we're at it, also online, although less recent: http://connaissances.blogspot.com/2008/01/bosquet.html
It might be in the rain that comes scattered lightly at moments and at others full, direct, as if in a linear flow, or in the sun that is known by absence these autumn days. Or in chatter among strangers on the crowded morning train. Or in multi-colored balloons strung along a café facade in [...]
The weekend newspapers are full of words, stories, images, reflections, conventions, stereotypes, observations, almost everything that can be said fast. After all, journalism is called "literature in a hurry." Much of it has already been "overtaken" by events before it's even printed. Wasn't it the Stones who sang, "Who wants yesterday's paper?" And speaking of [...]
It's wild "out there" tonight, fierce, icy wind whipping up rain and rousing the trees. Wild? As in out of control? Not tame? Free? Reminds me of a Zen story: A student asks a master: "All wild thoughts of mundane passions are hard to subdue; how can they be quieted?" The master replies: "Thinking of [...]
Two podcasts of teachings from the autumn retreat in Portugal, Oct. 29-Nov.1, are now available on the Wild Flower Portugal site: http://sanghazenpt.wordpress.com/