Paris – 21 janvier 2011 – Layman Pang’s Practice

Winter chill upon us again here. Predictions are for snow --- in the south of France, in the back country above Nice and the Côte d'Azur! The unexpected never ceases. How funny, then, that most of the time we wander along living within the confines of what we expect. I know that I expect the [...]

I stumble across this bit of information in the newspaper, in an article about the "expansion" of the universe; the report asserts that as the universe expands, galaxies will be pulled farther and farther away from Earth: "Light emitted by such galaxies will therefore fight a losing battle to traverse the rapidly widening gulf that [...]

Heading to the post office tonight on a busy avenue crowded with vehicles and passers-by, I hear the strange call of a bird. I pause. It's coming from above, somewhere high in the bare branches of a tall tree. In the dim light I can make out what appears to be two nests and a [...]

Late again. Or is it? Seems more dark, quiet, restful than late. As if the obscure slide into night brings welcome nonresistance. Which reminds me of a variation on "yes meditation" proposed by the piano maestro Keith Jarrett: “If I let my hands play, my only rules are: ‘Don’t say no to harmony, don’t say [...]

Someone reminded me today about this poem that Leonard Cohen wrote about his Zen teacher, entitled "Roshi": I never really understood what he said but every now and then I find myself barking with the dog or bending with the irises or helping out in other little ways. Rare and precious words. Don't know what [...]

This afternoon at Monoprix, a local down-market department store and supermarket, there is a commotion by one of the exits. A woman's shouts rise, a small crowd has assembled. The guard is trying to wrestle a shopping bag away from the woman. Looks like a foiled shop-lifting attempt. Except that she's hanging on for dear [...]

Heartfelt greetings as the "new" and "old" rise and fall. May the richness of every moment be yours! So it's that time again. True, it's a hollow convention of the relative world. True, "New Year's Day" is every day - every day, every minute, every second, a "new" one. And still... And still, it's that [...]

An entry today in honor of Patti Smith on her 64th birthday, in the name of poetry, in the name of art, in the name of rock 'n roll, in the name of Rimbaud, Dylan, Ginsberg, Joyce, in the name of New York, in the name of Paris, in the name of no in-betweens, in [...]

Past days have flowed all one into the other, silent with the seamless closeness of family at holiday time. Together could also be to-gather. And now we're all moving on. I've missed writing here. The words were elsewhere. I read in instructions for Chinese calligraphy that lines begin in the interior and end in the [...]