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'The Casting of Shadows'
Easton, ME
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Knowing never satisfies, ... It’s as if you say, “Oh, I got it,” and then go to sleep.
*Kobun Chino Otogawa. Embracing Mind: The Zen Talks of Kobun Chino Otogawa.
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when we feel the power and beauty of Truth
we feel Truth celebrating Truth
we are only a participant
by and in Grace
but what is this Truth? this Grace?
who knows what no one can say?
one knows the Sun by the Sun
not learning about the Sun
one knows the sweetness of the Beloved's lips
in the meeting of lips with lips
* * *
Zen Master Mu-Nan sent for Shoju, his disciple. Said Mu-Nan, "I'm an old man, Shoju, and you'll carry on this teaching. Here is a book passed down seven generations, master to master. Also, I've added some notes you will find valuable. Here, keep it with you as a sign I've made you my successor." Immediately, Shoju burned it!
The letter [i.e., written law, instruction, teaching] brings [spiritual] death, but the Spirit gives life.
*2 Corinthians 3.7
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while the 'Abrahamic faiths' each are
a People of the Book
Koran
TaNaK
Holy Bible
Zen is not
a People of the Book
yet Zen
has and does encourage
reading, studying, and publishing words
while Zen reminds us
words are words, never Truth
one moves among words
to catch, not Truth, but a scent of Truth
words are what Zen calls
the finger pointing to the moon
words, some more, some less,
reflect Truth and inspire a love for Truth
the Word is not a word
neither is the Word opposite words
for in the Word is no opposition
only harmony
if one feels a need for words
if one does not feel a need for words
words remain
and Truth remains amid words
while the face is not the face in the mirror
the face is the face seen in the mirror
likewise Truth beyond means
reflects off surfaces
even one shred of a broken mirror
can give one insight into the whole Truth
so cling not to words
so cling not to not words
Truth reveals as Truth reveals -
only Truth
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So, we can learn and remain asleep. We easily forget. When we encounter Truth, we do not so easily stay asleep. Truth jolts us, shakes us up. Knowledge adds to the accumulation of ideas. Truth wakes us up.
This is a beginning, and we will have to begin over and over - the whole Way is a beginning, even as it is an ending. So, beginning never ends, for ending never ends.
The more we are prepared to see the Truth, then, the more the Truth appears to reveal Itself to us - It was already there in its fulness. Each taste of Truth is an ending and a beginning. We are ever being reborn.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book is a collection of poems based on mystical traditions, especially Christian and Sufi, with extensive notes on the teachings and imagery in the poetry.
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