in a letter of intent addressed to friends to friends to come healed of wounds of wounds to come this softening of pain surrendering to a smile in brief repentant tone harms undoable done passing on blames to gales to tide-awakening mistral where roars gather 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

ZAZOOM erring cloud sangha 25th of November 2025 Carl: Today's talk, I would like to return again to the topic of silence. We could call it an echo of silence, as it is a reaction, a response to the lecture from two weeks ago, which was about silence and the main question, "What is silence ?" At that time, two weeks ago, I read a text by John Millington Synge , Gerry wrote me that I spelled the name right, but Gerry, you never heard it, because you just read it in the scri

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 reines 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 sound box to nimbus dome of timeless music

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

Carl: So, where is my talk? I'll need a moment to find my talk. Where is it? It's funny. Please patient. There it is. Okay. So now I see only Hamid. Good. Okay. So, my friends, this talk is a kind of . . . it's about silence. It is an echo of silence from our last retreat in Karuna. In the last talk on Saturday afternoon, Hamid spoke about silence. This talk should be different. It should be a talk where the audience, we who were sitting around, could also take part answering

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

Walls, floors, and windows eaten by time. Photo credit: Jorge Zamora What an experience it was to have the opportunity to sit, share meals, laugh, and listen to Master Tokuda. I honestly didn’t know what to expect; I was simply thrilled to meet Hamid and his teacher. Witnessing the way they interacted and how the teacher carries himself through life was something very special. A lot happened during the retreat, but I won’t recount everything here — those are stories for the

One week has passed since the end of our sesshin (a week of intensive meditation practice) with Zen master Ryotan Tokuda, a Japanese monk who has been a missionary in Brazil and France for more than half a century. I don’t understand what brought us there, and where it’ll lead us to. But it is always through the unexpected that the path weaves itself, and one just walks, step by step, into the unknown, as countless others have walked and paved... just for you to walk. Abru

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

some photos of our retreat at ei tai-ji temple with sensei tokuda that may give you a glimpse into the week we spent in the mountains...

I had been repeatedly listening to a song that goes "if you don't like your job, quit; if you don't have enough time, stop watching TV;...

talk transcript, edited version : June 24, 2025 I would like to explore today ways in which dissonant notions such as confusion and...

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