' learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate your self.' fukenzazengi / eihei dogen light does it enter does go out does it ever leave the dark take the light and turn it inward we heard the master say moving inward the outer moving outward the inner is this movement is movement another name we give to what we can not grasp inscrutable for incessable turning it in is what returns you to emergence of light where inward and outward inflow   this is th

birds' path you follow call it treading flying falling you are born here with branches vernal notes adrift in the evening breeze unseen traces unfold song-clusters in echo return to what we never leave silence its one body one sphere from one end to another azure it's what knows no end mirrors coming passing abiding nowhere chiming bells of stones meld with sighs of grass slowly waking in the prairie throbbed with morning light alentejo

in a letter of intent addressed to friends to friends to come healed of wounds of wounds to come softened with pain surrendering to a smile in a brief repentant tone harms undoable done passing on blames to gales to a tide-awakening mistral where roars gather to deliver the unspoken word unroll sea scrolls of seas to come amis où sont les amis java

over and again i read the poem you didn’t write write yet keep sending between it's unwritten lines lushness of spring fall’s transparency evenness of pain in summer’s full glow in it i hear the wind roam without direction shaking early leaves with uprooted years feeding our path with snow nowhere a shelter except in waiting for the poem never to be written never to be read murmured on quiet lips restless echoes of stirrings unaccounted by strife nowhere a question of us spec

dust on your shoulders mound of incense ash at your feet no flowers to ornate your vase bouddha an oversight telling of my state of mind as without so within chaos with chaos merging seamlessly  an early morning breeze ruffles the curtain ubud, bali, 2014 pak ou caves, luang prabang, laos

her voice is still with me in waves she comes and goes prompts the stand of casuarinas lining the coastilne to speak by nature they'd rather listen happy to offer passage to tumults both far and near she prompts them to speak her voice so clear is what remains of me⁹ murmur of unknown spaces where what you will never find that is lost to you though out of reach is safekept in oblivion alone the sea offers such release may it be so kudat, borneo, 2015 er voice is still with me

sensei ryotan tokuda explains the meaning of my ordination name tetsu un a day after clasping my hand you said the teachings laid bare what's right around you what is down below a dreamer's invention here and yet not here destined to be a cloud let winds let their absence decide the drifting's course from skies disconsolate to this mountain shelter when weary do return paths all come to names all come to come here to rest this moment ei tai-ji temple le rocher de la baum

wondrous too our grieving samsara where with a smile adjourning time you tie the seas that sunder us where slowly i waken as you wheel the soul with rings of songs together we blaze by fire’s breath untouched and it is light uplifting light mougin, côte d'azur, 2005

we can say it with silence our native tongue - w.s.merwin * things falling away arrayed yet ungraspable slowly the hand opens the mind stillness is * the heart realm of all paths the home crossings here and there movement incessant closures none * in its fullness just empty space knows no hurdles the heart * whose heart whispers here in this mountain heat bracing for winds unflinching * everything opens up is laid bare before the rocks before the sky becomes breath * ni

only now starting to view umbrellas differently it took this long as in younger years i looked at you with some disdain thinking thinking umbrellas you are a mere diversion from exposure to the inclementies of the skies in nine years of living dans une chaumière en haute normandie où les pluies sont reine not once did i take a look at you refreshing mea culpa to let go the dilluded view that keeping humans dry is your higher purpose in life sound box to nimbus dome of timeles

it measures all things itself cannot be measured to silence no entry or exit gate enter or leave it you cannot in the midst of noise it doesn't leaves you it is what carries you carries everything along wherever unnoticed unheard 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 deepest we can never leave it as we cannot leave s

not yet begun the ever ending year knowing there is no soul soothes soul the most look how with ease dharma gates open before you open to no gate to no dharma at all open to what early morning to wake up to swallows darting across a beclouded sky more joy than enough pemuteran, bali, december 2022

sitting still are we this moving circle of night and what comes with night a bonfire holding the center tongues blazing ascend into darkness quiveringly but the sparks their fate a door open to the mystery we face at the still point where knowable ends all come to rest vanish all

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