...things are just what they are.

 

True practice brings us more and more into that plain 

and undramatic space in which things are just 

as they are—just functioning. And that functioning 

cannot come from self-centeredness. 

—Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen

...the best you can say is "not two."

If you want to describe its essence,

the best you can say is "not two." 

In this "not two nothing is separate and

nothing in the world is excluded. —Trust in Mind

Death?

I don’t think many believe that the body lives forever. You seem to avoid the difficult question of “what are we?” Are we a bag of bones and flesh? That is questionable, given that “our” molecules come and go (alive or dead). Which leaves our permanent essence to be a structure, one that it is impermanent at best—perhaps even the structure itself doesn’t exist as a physical “thing.” She (as we knew her) is now part of the ocean. Before that, she answered the door when you knocked (and because she can no longer do that is the sorrowful part of her change). And before that, she was something else, and someone else would have answered that door. You are treating the issue as a Newtonian, yet you understand from modern physics that existence is far more complex than we used to believe.

This is in response to: http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/2009/08/concerning-intuitions-of-immortality.html

Walt Whitman had this to say in Leaves of Grass:

To you suspect death? If I were to suspect death I should die now,
Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward annihilation?

Pleasantly and well-suited I walk,
Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,
The whole universe indicates that it is good,
The past and the present indicate that it is good.

How beautiful and perfect are the animals!
How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!

What is called good is perfect, and what is called bad is just as perfect,
The vegetables and minerals are all perfect, and the imponderable fluids are perfect;
Slowly and surely they have pass’d on to this, and slowly and surely they yet pass on.

I don't think the samurai would agree with Whitman when he says "Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward annihilation?"

As the river surrenders....

"As the river surrenders itself to the ocean,

what is inside me moves inside you." —Kabir

...the stone woman gets up to dance.

When the wooden man begins to sing,

the stone woman gets up to dance."

—Song of the Jewel Mirror

TrunkFence/CrimeWatch/Strut

Even the manniquins are hit with the hot sun.
Even when the store is closed, they need to strut.

It first stuck me that suspicious persons has a double meaning.
Then how someone(s) messed up this sign.
One hostile act followed by another?

My wife thinks I'm slow because I haven't gotten
the idea yet that things change.
From a tree to a fence to ashes.
Here, one state accommodates another,
all decorated with jewels of light from the hot sun.

The true self knows no separation.

"In fact, I am not married to somebody or something; I am that person, I am that thing. The true self knows no separation." —Charlotte Joko Beck Everyday Zen

...keeps my mind from wandering.

"Fixing a hole where the rain comes in
Keeps my mind from wandering." The Beatles

To everything there is a season...

""To everything there is a season and time for every purpose under heaven." —Ecclesiastes 3:1

Turning away and touching are both ....

"Turning away and touching are both wrong for it is like a mass of fire. Just to depict it in literary form is to relegate it to defilement." –Song of the Jewel Mirror

...knock, and it shall....

"Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened." —Matthew 7:7-8

Here's the Wacom digitizing pad I'm using right now:

The Great Way is not difficult....

"The Great Way is not difficult for those who are unattached to their preferences." —Trust in Mind

A man's life....

"A man's life consists not in the abundance of things he possesses." –Luke 12:15

Austin Punk

至道无难,唯嫌拣择
The ultimate way is without difficulty,
if only one rejects picking and choosing.

Two roads diverged.... (v.2)

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference"
–Robert Frost

...communing with the process.

"Communing with the source and communing with the process, it includes integration and includes the road." –Song of the Jewel Mirror

And the sketch:

Two roads diverged....

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference"
–Robert Frost

Two Signs

Progress is not a matter of far or near.

"Progress is not a matter of far or near,
But if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way." –Merging of Difference and Unity

...may this cup be taken from me.

"If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.
Yet not as I will, but as You will." –Matt 26:39
(Click here for full text.)

Below is the sketch for the painting:

Its use removes all pain.

"It is bright just at midnight; it doesn't appear at dawn. It acts as a guide for beings. Its use removes all pain." –Song of the Jewel Mirror

Click here for another translation of the entire song.

And an animation of the above picture:

Stone Circle

This circle seemed to say it all.

...not all those who wander are lost.

"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost." J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Dead and Beautiful

This stump reminded me of the fiber work by Jane Sauer, who now runs a gallery in Sante Fe.

Family Dentistry

So this man named Jim Stinks asks the judge for a name change. "To what do you want to change it," the judge asked. "James Stinks, the man answered."

...infinity is right before your eyes....

"There is no here, no there; infinity is right before your eyes. The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have disappeared." –Trust in Mind

It was the best of times.... (v.2)

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way...." Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

A man has to know his limitations.

"A man has to know his limitations." –Clint Eastwood as "Dirty Harry"

If you don't understand the path....

"If you don't understand the path as it meets your eyes, how can you know the way as you walk?" –Merging of Difference and Unity

Instead of the cross....

"Ah! well-a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung!"
–Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner