ei-tai ji monastery, le rocher de la baume, septembre 2025 twenty-five years on retreating at ei-tai ji who i really am eternal truths ... morning mist covers the valley full circle comes back the beginning is that was that another's lifetime you you erring on mountain trails leaf fall cold water mossy rocks murmuring

insects chirping the jungle slowly darkens this is our moment in time as silence lights her candles in a flurry sparks leave the glow of home streak deep into night sky we follow their suit not knowing where where awe is taking us leaving fire seeking fire going home __________________________________________ last night of silent retreat july 2025 , payangan, bali

remember it was april standing side by side on the temple terrace the cherry-tree abloom easterly a breeze un- petalling the whiteness as we looked beyond the pond at misty southern ranges -what doesn't change as everything changes? - -change doesn't - simply seeing seamless mind and mind one mind no mind hearing a hand's sound echo in the valley this was the scenery. we had just finished a week-long sesshin. an exchange with our teacher, master ryotan tokuda, inspired me to

not arriving not starting on the move still   who is a vagabond a cloud above an island adrift at times human a passingness whether still or on the move nowhere to go is we are reaching port carried away by the sea take the tides with you you wander on to wherever lands no not alone the road goes with you travel companion true

no matter in what state the old buddha’s mind i’ve always been here sitting in the palm of his hand heart flooding with grieving and love a poem i wrote many years ago and posted here on this blog before. i can’t find any other words to add to these at the moment. are you grieving this world of ours as well right now? is the grieving deepening the love that you feel, the love that you are, that we all are? how can we know how to love if we have not grieved? how can we grieve

starting a silent retreat here in bali. ‘just this’, what is it? we practice to find out what is here, what has always been here even if it's looking for what is there that brings us here to practice. here, what is closest while we are far, lost in thought. lost in thought is also just this. whatever we may think this is, wherever we think it may be or not be, it is always ‘just this.’ ______________________________________ early morning lush greenery look outside bejewelled

and there is a time for the wind to break the loosened pane- t.s.eliot / four quartets in case of loss to whom to turn to when to return is no more there is no return is what loss is what remains is what is no more it's ocean deep to swim here is to drown to drown learning to swim don't turn away from it let it tug at your heart let it break you open let it open you to just open you to open you to what that what is vastness it gives life and receives all traces home to everyt

jatiluwih, bali, november 2024 master dogen: expounding a dream within a dream ________________________________________ nightfall storms rage the termites' road stops in front of the mountain a dream ferries me to the other shore the one you leave the one you reach apart in thought alone is what drifts in the river's voice rain swollen

silent retreat september 2024 / payangan, bali ______________________________________ in and out of silence words freely move where there is no in there is no out * fatal crossing juvenile serpent you are now one with the road * nighttime finding refuge in my room a fly falls asleep what tomorrow will offer you i don't know * the master's words i pray god to rid me of god invite us to silence * bouts of sleep in sleepless nights  in the land of dreams awakening is never far *

" so you should view this fleeting world..." the lotus sutra so between two tides our lives this presence mirage on a shore appears shadow play of surfaces on sinking sands mirror to skies immeasurable to twinklings washed away pantai kedungu, bali september 2024

" anché peye āni āni / what you seek is seeking you. " - jallaledin rūmi " the fire boy comes seeking fire." - zen koan ______________________________ this poem a vastness unnamable the twilight sky call it dharma is a calling that all things passing echoes endlessly mirror mirroring recite in a silent way a calling to you the calling is you

fades away the muzzin's call as we leave port lember behind old boat rust eaten traval companion true vessel of emptiness you plough a path in the sea ferry us from island to island in search of in search of what you know there're no shores to be reached you know our thirst of crossings is an invention of waves just as our shape that brush stroke of her iridiscence suspended in mid-air and yet

pantai ann, lombok, august 2024 on reading okumura roshi in the shallows of speech water words ripple over murmuring algae where light begins to descend shimmering gains in intensity silence spreads out her stars night sky day sky they illumine the old boat's dreams can go on blazing for now

unusual for the season, it rained all night long. you know this because of the drizzle you heard falling in your sleep. you have lived long enough on this planet to know the sound the rain makes as it falls on tinned-roofs and leafage. not one sound, myriad of sounds. how shallow your sleep has been, misty now, gains a little depth thanks to the rising waters.. dreams heavy with the fragrance of soaked rice fields. unclear whose deams they could be, provisionally you can clai

karuna center, monchique, portugal, april 2024 silent retreat ____________________________________ everywhere hills undulating on the pathless path whom or whatever we may meet we meet as fellow travelers no one walks here alone even when at times walking feels lonely treading the same footpath with ants looking up at the stars and moving thunderstorms maybe it's in their slumber that we are sleepwalking

_______________________________ " If time merely flies away, you would be separated from time. The reason you do not clearly understand the time-being is that you think of time only as passing. / uji - master dogen ___________________ ? passage of time rather we are the same time of both being the passage where time slides and the oblivion carrying its traces along... ? passage du temps plutôt nous sommes à la fois le chemin chemin par où passe le temps et l'oubli qui porte s

december retreat 2023 bali it rained heavily the morning of our last day of retreat in december. i was in a contemplative mood, not surprising given the stillness and silence and the many hours of sitting during the week. the downpours were compelling. i wrote the lines below when it struck me that the common expression; it is raining outside, was no longer the experienced reality of that moment as i could no longer say something is happening outside for it no longer felt th

candi dasa, bali, november twenty-three " as one side is illumined, the other is darkened. - master dogen" sunday you are vast and without limit your midnights unstoppable you are of time true yet released by time sound of waves breaking on the reefs out of the ocean's breath to just be this succession of what arises and falls this bottomless blue where shadows play with the breeze supreme messenger our sole remembrance of earth blowing us to the far and near

silent retreat october twenty twenty-three monchique * no entry no exit point to silence enter or leave it you cannot * in the midst of noise it never leaves you it is what carries you wherever you go * it is what carries along everything unnoticed unheard in a silent way * in the midst of silence we are forgetful of it lest we listen to raindrops pattering on the roof to a crow’s cawing as it flies over treetops on hillside slopes * forgetful of it though it indwells the dee

curtains drawn from the paddies sunlight pouring in cicadas screeching pouring in inside no one outside no one the dweller left his: nowhere a dwelling will you find in praise in waves golden to no end pouring in