I’ve added a new essay to this site.
Sex, Sin and Buddhism (see all)
A supplement to Sex, Sin and Zen by Brad Warner
Brad Warner writes near the beginning of his recent book, Sex Sin and Zen: “I only really know Zen, myself, so that’s all I’m going to be addressing here,” which appears to be accurate, but then, “… we Zen Buddhists tend to be so arrogant that we just call what we believe ‘Buddhism’ without specifying the sect. I’ll be doing a little of that, too. Deal with it.” What follows is my attempt to deal with it. …
December 5, 2010 at 4:18 am |
Mirror of the Sun
Getting dressed to go to church this morning,
I glanced out the bathroom window at the dumpster
that sits at the edge of the parking lot in the back of my building
and saw some blinding flash at the bottom of it.
I leaned into the window well, and stared.
Nothing.
Just a blinding shimmering flashing
at the foot of the dumpster.
It was wierd, nothing to see
but the huge flashing light.
And a twenty yard dumpster
right behind it.
I tried to imagine what it might be,
as I knotted my tie, and shined my shoes.
Nothing.
Except, of course, my churning imagination.
On my way to the car, I walked over to the dumpster
and saw a six foot by four foot mirror leaning against it,
with the shimmering image of the sun
becoming clearer and clearer as I approached it.
I stopped for just a minute and admired it,
but I was almost late for church.
So I turned around and headed for the car
thinking about Nyogen,
and the great city of Los Angeles.
–For Nyogen Senzaki, 11/16/2010
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December 5, 2010 at 4:20 am |
Mirror Images
Even as a kid, I was obsessed with mirrors.
I used to swipe my grandmother’s hand mirror
and go stand in front of the dining room sideboard
with the mirror mounted on the back
and peer around the hand mirror into the big one,
trying to line up the endlessly receding images
so I could see down the middle of them.
Later, I thought maybe if I could bore a hole through the smaller one,
and look through the middle of that mirror,
that I might be able to see what was at the end of the curving reflections.
But I never did.
Today I thought about it again
for the first time in years.
And realized I wouldn’t see anything but smaller and smaller hand mirrors
until they were too tiny to discern.
But that if I could see what was finally there,
it would only be my eye,
looking back at the mirror in my hand.
To Janwillem van de Wetering, 11/12/2010