Slices of Time

         The Fireplace Records, Chapter 39

 Slices of Time

The Arrows of Time
    never rest,
moving forward unrelenting
    irreversible
from hot towards cold
from organized to disorganized
from past to future
from moving towards stillness
from life towards death.
Or,
so it seems,
    to us,
    with our little particulars,
    with our homebrew views,
    with our social habits a must.

The Spiderwebs of Time
    are legion
multitudes of nows and thens;
Uncountable heres and theres
    unhitched
from any eternal present
everywhere.

The Moments of Time
    are a matrix of memories,
colored by fondness,
vaguer and vaguer by the day,
fading, cropped, mixed,
deleted, falling away.

The Times of Your Life
    from birth to death,
    can't be denied.
How did you live?
Where, when, why?
What did it mean?
Was a little a lie?

    running out of time
for catching up
    with the future
now

        my mind grinds
        my times
into memories

To dance at the still point
Of the Time beyond time,
Beyond pasts, within futures,
this Moment
Now and forever, beyond minds.

Comments, Sources, Observations, Koans, Poems, Quips:

Time

 

Riddles (200+ Riddles, with No Ads.)

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings, Quips, Maxims, Humor

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records (Blog Version) By Michael P. Garofalo

Red Coals Pulse Like Distant Stars

Red Coals Pulse Like Distant Stars

By mpgarofalo

The last light slips behind the ridge,

a thin ember of day still glowing.

Boots thud softly on the packed earth,

the air cooling with each step.

Evening begins before we notice.

A match flares against the breeze,

brief and stubborn in the dim.

Paper curls into orange petals,

logs shift as if waking.

Fire learns its shape slowly.

Smoke threads upward in loose spirals,

finding its own quiet route.

A kettle hums near the campfire coals,

steam rising like a soft prayer.

Night accepts our presence.

Tall trunks stand just beyond the glow,

their crowns lost to the dark.

The fire paints their bark in strokes

of copper, rust, and shadow.

Even giants enjoy a little warmth.

Voices soften as the flames steady,

words drifting like sparks.

Some tales are true, some nearly so,

all of them shaped by the night.

The campfire listens without judgment.

Logs collapse inward with a sigh,

a slow settling of heat and memory.

Red coals pulse like distant stars,

steady, patient, unhurried.

The night grows deeper around them.

The fire shrinks to a quiet glow,

its edges soft as worn cloth.

Ash gathers in pale drifts,

the remains of what kept us warm.

Nothing ends abruptly out here.

The final spark dims into silence,

leaving only the scent of smoke.

Stars settle into their places,

unbothered by our small rituals.

The forest closes gently around us.

From Bundled Up, Volume 8, BU 4020

My Original Face: Before and After

         The Fireplace Records, Chapter 36

My Original Face: Before and After

I was mulling over the famous Koan from the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-Neng, "What was your original face before you were born?" This question appears in many Zen Koans.

The Mind Door that opened and closed between the inside of After Awakening and the outside of Before Awakening, hung on the hinges of efforts and insights. The Gate swung open and closed, mostly closed but sometimes open, as daily life offered opportunities. Being unborn or reborn swung on the hinges of opportunities with Others. 

The terms "inside and outside,' or 'before and after,' were flexible, relative, ambiguous, often changing meaning, tools, open, moving, freely applied.

Before I was born, my original face was six-fold--- the faces of my parents and four grandparents.

Before I was born, my original face was a thousand-fold--- the faces of all my previous Karmic lives for kalpas of time.

Before I was born, my original face was embedded inside invisible DNA strands.

Before I was born, my original face was in water and I was only fleeting feelings.

Before I was born, some say, I had no original face--- I was nothing.

Before I was born, the Redwood tree supported the fog.

Before I was born, some say, I had the same face as my eternal soul.

Before I was reborn, my face was the same face as the dead still-born baby on the table of the morgue.

Before I was reborn, I never thought about or remembered what my original face appeared as.

Before I was reborn, I worried about the appearance of my face, and disliked my acne.

Before I was reborn, I was chained in a dark cave, hidden from the true Forms, awaiting release and the light.  Only Plato's face was my face.

Before I was reborn, water flowed uphill, and smoke stayed on the ground.

Before I was reborn, a mother said “Face” and her baby pointed to his ear.

After I was born, my face was reflected four-fold in the distorting mirrors of a San Francisco amusement park.

After I was born, my original face was big, round, homely, with all parts intact--- a loved infant's face.

After I was born, my primary face once had two black eyes and a broken nose from a fist fight in Bandini, East LA.

After I was born, my face changed every decade, and my original face disappeared. My Primary Face remained the same.

After I was born, I was blind and never saw my face, only felt it.

After I was born, my head's shadow disappeared at night.

After I was born, my bearded face appeared in a dusty mirror.

After I was reborn, I looked more at the faces of others.

After I was reborn, I recognized many subtle hidden faces, including my own.

After I was reborn, an Original Face appeared to me immediately, but I did not recognize it.

After I was reborn, I paused trying to answer Koan Riddles and laughed at all the clever answers.  

 

Comments, Sources, Observations, Koans, Poems, Quips:

Original Face Koans: GB 23, ENT 2, WWSF 177, ENT 156, ENT 229, DDJ 19, DSE 22, 

Time

Five Senses

Seeing

Riddles (200+)

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings, Quips, Maxims, Humor

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records (Blog Version) By Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records (Text Version)

Prajnatara's "It's the Attitude that Counts"

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 16

Prajnatara's "It's the Attitude that Counts"

Bill and Frank were Dharma Buddies for a number of years.  Their 'Book of the Month Club' choice in April was the "Book of Serenity" translated and introduced by Thomas Cleary, 1988. They met at the local Brewed Awakenings coffee shop to discuss the book.

Bill opened the Book of Serenity and read from Case 3: The Invitation of the Patriarch to Eastern India:

"A Rajah of an east Indian country invited the twenty-seventh Buddhist Patriarch Prajnatara to a feast. The Rajah asked him, "Why don't you read scriptures?" The Patriarch said, "This poor wayfarer doesn't dwell in the realms of the body or mind when breathing in, doesn't get involved in myriad circumstances when breathing out. I always reiterate such a scripture, hundreds, thousands, millions of scrolls."

Frank said, "I know that some people constantly, mostly silently, repeat a sacred name or phrase or prayer as part of their spiritual training.  When I was a boy we said the Hail Mary Rosary in our Catholic Church. Yogis have their 'Om Mani Padme Hum.' Transcendental meditators had a 'mantra'.  Koan meditators had their 'Hua Tou.'  Pure Landers chant 'Namo Amida Butsu.' Nichiren encouraged worship of the Lotus Sutra and the repetition of the Sutra's Title: 'Namu Myoho Renge Kyo'. Taoists repeat verses from the Tao Te Ching. Christians sing the same favorite hymn over and over."

Bill said, "Good observations, Frank.  Just being alive today and able to think or behave in some way about our spiritual development, even by chanting, is a great opportunity.  However, I have some reservations about Prajnatara's path. When we are sleeping we come close to not dwelling in the realms of body and mind and we don't get involved with myriad circumstances when we are sleeping.  Does my snoring turn the scrolls of scriptures?" Even an evil demon sleeps, does it reiterate scriptures while unconscious?"

Frank said, "A poor traveling wayfarer like Prajnatara cannot haul around delicate paper scriptures. So he must find ways to interpret the ordinary in a sympathetic manner, find ways to use breathing to focus awareness, and find ways to become more detached from desires and less entangled in myriad circumstances. Whether he sits, stands or walks, if he/she keeps the Buddhist attitude he can be an awakened and compassionate person. By being this way, acting like a Buddha, is another way of turning the scriptures, honoring them, if not by reading them because of impoverished circumstances."

Bill said, "Yes, Yes. Sometimes, reading is just not feasible or possible. One's attitude is the primary concern."

Bill added, "Changing the subject, I read that the great California translator and commentator of over 80 classic Taoist and Buddhist sacred scriptures, Thomas Cleary, passed away.  He translated the book we are studying, 'The Book of Serenity.'  I have been reading his translations since 1977."

A Student's Considerations: 

Somewhere, Somehow, Someone is Chanting
A Funeral Chant:

Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Rest in Peace
Requiescat in Pace
Requiescat in Pace
Rest in Peace
Rest in Peace
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha
Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha

No More Breathing In or Breathing Out
The Prayer Wheels Turn Nevertheless

Related Links, Resources, References

Koans: BOS 03, 

Thomas Cleary (1949-2021)

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Dialogues.

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Taoism

Buddhism

Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood

Chinese Art

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong

Meditation Methods

Zen Koan Books I Use

Koan Database Project

Brief Spiritual Lessons Database Project: Subject Indexes

Sparks: Brief Spiritual Lessons and Stories
Matches to Start a Kindling of Insight
May the Light from Your Inner Fireplace Help All Beings
Taoist, Chan Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Philosophers
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Koans, Meditations
Indexing, Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo

Thomas Cleary (1949-2021)

God's Own Eye

                 The Fireplace Records, Chapter 31

God's Own Eye

Master Seung Sahn liked to write short enigmatic mystical poems.  He once wrote:

"Who sees the All as nothingness,
as nothing all that is,
sees everything through God's own eye.
Enlightenment is this."  (WWSF #63)

"The God who is pure emptiness
is created as form,
becoming substance, light and darkness
the stillness and the storm."  (WWSF #64)

It is quite unusual, also rare, for a Zen Buddhist to refer to the Christian God to support his own mystical theological-philosophical views.  Although, belief in and references to supernatural beings of various kinds is quite common in popular-folk Buddhism. 

Emptiness, nothingness, or the void are common themes, concepts, tropes or cliches in Zen Buddhist Koans and discussions.

Maybe Master Seung Sahn was playing on the sentences from the German Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart, who once wrote: "To be full of things is to be empty of God.  To be empty of things is to be full of God. The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me."

Avalokiteshavara, a supernatural being, has a thousand hands with one eye in each hand.  Lin-Chi asked, "Which is the real eye?"  (IF 95)

The "Eye that grasps the Universe" is for Zhaozhou an Eye that is empty of defilement, free of attachments, untainted by conceptualizing, and beyond being and non-being. A clear-eyed neutral realistic objectivity--- seeing things as they are? (DSMS #291)

Yunyan contended that the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion had eyes and hands all over its' (his/her) body. Yes, we can "see" (understand/feel) our world with our hands, even with our eyes closed. (BOS #54)

Eyes, seeing, watching, observing, viewing, and overall vision are essential for surviving, learning, moving, and being-in-the-world. 

We love to use sight as a metaphor in poetry about spirituality.  Soren Kierkegaard wrote "All human speech about the spiritual is essentially metaphorical speech." Nietzsche said, "Truth is a mobile army of metaphors." 

The same Eye between God and a Person? 
Is it the same God between two million persons seeing in a spiritual way; or, are there two million Gods? How many eyes does God have? Is God blind in one eye like Sartre. Is God blind in two eyes like Ray Charles or Helen Keller? Does God have a Third Eye like yogi adepts? Is God nearsighted or far sighted and needs spiritual glasses? Are these two Transcendental Eyes looking through each other a pleasant fiction, a distorted double vision, an empty darkness, a blurred visual hallucination, an unfocused metaphor?

Now, really, does even a postulated God of Emptiness (God = Pure Emptiness) give birth to Substance, to Forms, to the realities of sunlight and darkness, man and woman, toads and ravens?  I am doubtful, even if obviously charmed. 

Maybe all this emptiness talk is just about negation. God was lonely, wanted to be creative, wanted to watch something, rejected being alone, and negated his present to create a future. So, It/He/She created ex nihilo the ordinary world. But, in this view, God is not emptiness; It/He/She is Something that rejected the emptiness of aloneness, negated his unpleasant solitude, and projected Somethings into existence. The Ten Thousand Things of Taoist ontology were born from the Dao embracing Change, rejecting and negating undifferentiated Nothingness.  

Ah ... the mysteries of ontology keep us wondering. I need a long walk!

Comments, Sources, Observations

Emptiness has little creative potency.
Somethings give birth to somethings.
Emptiness is not a metaphor for something.
Emptiness may make room for somethings to play.
"God" is maybe another metaphor, analogy, or acronym.
Emptiness is a lonely affair.

Emptiness is the subject of over 50 Zen Koans.

Meetings with Master Chang San-Feng 

Zen Master Raven

Sunyata, Emptiness, Void, Nothingness

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records  By Michael P. Garofalo

Or

Give Up Learning

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 11

The student asked, "How can I best pursue the Buddhist Way?"

The Master said, "Don't give up learning."  

The student said, "But don't all the masters in the sets of Chan koan collections tells us not to think, not to read, not to have intellectual or literary quibbles, to let go of body and mind, to free yourself from the tainted worship of scriptures, to stop reasoning using only dualistic logical viewpoints, to introspect and intuit, to give up the pursuit of knowledge and scholarship, to stop judging between right and wrong, to focus on emptiness?"

The Master said, "It is true that for the illiterate person listening and seeing are more fundamental in their lives than other learning methods.  Cutting Nansen's cat in half, hitting a student hard with a cane, or yelling at someone are dramatic teaching encounters. However, I only know now how that person thought or acted or chose not to think or felt by reading what some scholar historian wrote down about them.  In some ways, "The Buddha" is just a bunch of footnotes on awakened and compassionate living."

The Master continued, "Increasing your learning is like adding gathered firewood to cut up and dry for later use.  Then, when you need wood for cooking or heating you will have some resources at hand.  To learn more by studying scriptures or introspecting koans is like adding a new log to a new fire in the Fireplace of Your Spirit.  I still believe that guided book learning is very beneficial when pursuing the Buddhist Way.  Indeed, other methods for "learning" are possible, but book learning appeals strongly to some people and is an effective method for helping them become more like the Buddha."

The Student's Considerations

Logic requires both true and false. 
Seek the true, valid, accurate, sensible, reasonable, practical,
   most probable, beautiful, fair, and useful.
Face the false and deal with it. Know what is false. 
There are limits to reasoning and limits to introspection. 
Figure it out in terms of your life choices today. 
Stupidity and ignorance won't necessarily lighten
   your worries or troubles. 
Learning takes a lifetime of effort.
There are a number of ways to learn.
Book learning, scholarship, spiritual literature,
   writing, reading, research, comparisons, and
   intellectual endeavors are good ways to learn
   for some people on a spiritual quest.  

    

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Chapter 20

"Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles.
Is there a difference between yes and no?
Is there a difference between good and evil?
Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!
Other people are contented, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox.
In spring some go to the park, and climb the terrace,
But I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am.
Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile,
I am alone, without a place to go.
Others have more than they need, but I alone have nothing.
I am a fool. Oh, yes! I am confused.
Others are clear and bright,
But I alone am dim and weak.
Others are sharp and clever,
But I alone am dull and stupid.
Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea,
Without direction, like the restless wind.
Everyone else is busy,
But I alone am aimless and depressed.
I am different.
I am nourished by the great mother."
-  Translated by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English, 1989, Chapter 20  

"Get rid of "learning" and there will be no anxiety.
How much difference is there between "yes" and "no"?
How far removed from each other are "good" and "evil"?
Yet what the people are in awe of cannot be disregarded.
I am scattered, never having been in a comfortable center.
All the people enjoy themselves, as if they are at the festival of the great sacrifice,
Or climbing the Spring Platform.
I alone remain, not yet having shown myself.
Like an infant who has not yet laughed.
Weary, like one despairing of no home to return to.
All the people enjoy extra
While I have left everything behind.
I am ignorant of the minds of others.
So dull!
While average people are clear and bright, I alone am obscure.
Average people know everything.
To me alone all seems covered.
So flat!
Like the ocean.
Blowing around!
It seems there is no place to rest.
Everybody has a goal in mind.
I alone am as ignorant as a bumpkin.
I alone differ from people.
I enjoy being nourished by the mother."
-  Translated by Charles Muller, 1891, Chapter 20  

"Cease learning, no more worries
Respectful response and scornful response
How much is the difference?
Goodness and evil
How much do they differ?
What the people fear, I cannot be unafraid

So desolate! How limitless it is!
The people are excited
As if enjoying a great feast
As if climbing up to the terrace in spring
I alone am quiet and uninvolved
Like an infant not yet smiling
So weary, like having no place to return
The people all have surplus
While I alone seem lacking
I have the heart of a fool indeed so ignorant!
Ordinary people are bright
I alone am muddled
Ordinary people are scrutinizing
I alone am obtuse
Such tranquility, like the ocean
Such high wind, as if without limits

The people all have goals
And I alone am stubborn and lowly
I alone am different from them
And value the nourishing mother"
-  Translated by Derek Linn, 2006, Chapter 20 

唯之與阿, 相去幾何.
善之與惡, 相去若何.
人之所畏, 不可不畏.
荒兮其未央哉.
衆人熙熙.
如享太牢.
如春登臺.
我獨怕兮其未兆, 如嬰兒之未孩.
儽儽兮若無所歸.
衆人皆有餘, 而我獨若遺.
我愚人之心也哉, 沌沌兮.
俗人昭昭.
我獨昏.
昏俗人察察.
我獨悶悶.
澹兮其若海.
飂兮若無止.
衆人皆有以.
而我獨頑似鄙.
我獨異於人,而貴食母.
-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 20

wei chih yü a, hsiang ch'ü chi ho.
 shan chih yü wu, hsiang ch'ü jo ho.
 jên chih so wei, pu k'o pu wei.
 huang hsi ch'i wei yang tsai.
 chung jên hsi hsi.
 ju hsiang ta lao.
 ju ch'un têng t'ai.
 wo tu p'o hsi ch'i wei chao, ju ying erh chih wei hai.
 lei lei hsi jo wu so kuei.
 chung jên chieh yu yü, erh wo tu jo yi.
 wo yü jên chih hsin yeh tsai, t'un t'un hsi.
 su jên chao chao.
 wo tu hun.
 hun su jên ch'a ch'a.
 wo tu mên mên.
 tan hsi ch'i jo hai.
 liu hsi jo wu chih.
 chung jên chieh yu yi.
 erh wo tu wan ssu pi.
 wo tu yi yü jên, erh kuei shih mu.
 -  Wade-Giles Romanization, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 20  

 

"Leave off fine learning! End the nuisance
Of saying yes to this and perhaps to that,
Distinctions with how little difference!
Categorical this, categorical that,
What slightest use are they!
If one man leads, another must follow,
How silly that is and how false!
Yet conventional men lead an easy life
With all their days feast days,
A constant spring visit to the Tall Tower,
While I am a simpleton, a do-nothing,
Not big enough yet to raise a hand,
Not grown enough to smile,
A homeless, worthless waif.
Men of the world have a surplus of goods,
While I am left out, owning nothing.
What a booby I must be
Not to know my way round,
What a fool!
The average man is so crisp and so confident
That I ought to be miserable
Going on and on like the sea,
Drifting nowhere.
All these people are making their mark in the world,
While I, pig-headed, awkward,
Different from the rest,
Am only a glorious infant still nursing at the breast."
-  Translated by Witter Bynner, 1944, Chapter 20 


"Renounce knowledge and your problems will end.
What is the difference between yes and no?
What is the difference between good and evil?
Must you fear what others fear?
Nonsense, look how far you have missed the mark!

Other people are joyous,
as though they were at a spring festival.
I alone am unconcerned and expressionless,
like an infant before it has learned to smile.

Other people have more than they need;
I alone seem to possess nothing.
I am lost and drift about with no place to go.
I am like a fool, my mind is in chaos.

Ordinary people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Ordinary people are clever;
I alone am dull.
Ordinary people seem discriminating;
I alone am muddled and confused.
I drift on the waves on the ocean,
blown at the mercy of the wind.
Other people have their goals,
I alone am dull and uncouth.

I am different from ordinary people.
I nurse from the Great Mother's breasts."
-  Translated by John H. McDonald, 1996, Chapter 20 



"Suprime el adoctrinamiento y no habrá preocupaciones.
¿Qué diferencia hay entre el sí y el no?
¿Qué diferencia hay entre el bien y el mal?
¡El dicho “lo que otros evitan, yo también deberé evitar”
cuán falso y superficial es!
No es posible abarcar todo el saber.
Todo el mundo se distrae y disfruta,
como cuando se presencia un gran sacrificio,
o como cuando se sube a los jardines de una torre en primavera.
Sólo yo doy cabida a la duda,
no copiando lo que otros hacen,
como un recién nacido que aún no sabe sonreír.
Como quien no sabe a dónde dirigirse,
como quien no tiene hogar.
Todo el mundo vive en la abundancia,
sólo yo parezco desprovisto.
Consideran mi mente como la de un loco
por sentir umbrías confusiones y críticas.
Todo el mundo brilla porque solo las luces buscan,
sólo yo me atrevo a transitar por las tinieblas.
Todo el mundo se conforma con su felicidad,
sólo yo me adentro en mi depresión.
Soy como quien deriva en alta mar,
voy contra la corriente sin un rumbo predestinado.
Todo el mundo es puesto en algún uso;
sólo yo soy un ermitaño intratable y aburrido.
Sólo yo soy diferente a todos los demás
porque aprecio a la Madre Naturaleza que me nutre."
-  Translation from Wikisource, 2013, Capitulo 20  


"Give up learning, and you will be free from all your worries.
What is the difference between yes and no about which the rhetoricians have so much to say?
What is the difference between good and evil on which the critics never agree?
These are futilities that prevent the mind from being free.
Now freedom of mind is necessary to enter into relation with the Principle.
Without doubt, among the things which common people fear, there are things that should be feared; but not as they do, with a mind so troubled that they lose their mental equilibrium.
Neither should one permit oneself to lose equilibrium through pleasure, as happens to those who have a good meal or view the surrounding countryside in spring from the top of a tower with the accompaniment of wine, etc.).
I, the Sage, seem to be colourless and undefined; neutral as a new-born child that has not yet experienced any emotion; without design or aim.
The common people abound in varied knowledge, but I am poor having rid myself of all uselessness and seem ignorant, so much have I purified myself.
They seem full of light, I seem dull.
They seek and scrutinize, I remain concentrated in myself.
Indeterminate, like the immensity of the oceans, I float without stopping.
They are full of talent, whereas I seem limited and uncultured.
I differ thus from the common people, because I venerate and imitate the universal nourishing mother, the Principle."
-  Translated by Derek Bryce, 1999, Chapter 20 

A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Chapter.   

Chapter 20, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List

One Old Daoist Druid's Final Journey  

Related Links, Resources, References

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Dialogues.

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Taoism

Buddhism

Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood

Chinese Art

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong

Meditation Methods

Zen Koan Books I Use

Song Dynasty, China, 960-1279  

Subject Index to the Cases of the Gateless Gate Koan Collection

Brief Spiritual Stories, Dialogues, and Encounters
Zen Buddhist Koan Collections
Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

25 Steps and Beyond:
The Collected Works of Mike Garofalo

Mt. Adams Emerges in the West

The Fireplace Records Case #58

Mt. Adams Emerges in the West

"Master Yellow-Bitterroot Mountain asked me,

'What is the meaning of Old Pahto emerging in the West?'

I lifted my cane and placed it in my mouth, saying nothing.

Later, zany Zen liar that I am, I wrote:

"No minds, no dharmas. No-mind, much Dharma."

Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo

Zen Koan Collections Studies

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Reading Wittgenstein 1975-

Buddhism

Taoism

Meetings with Master Chang San-Feng

Philosophy

Quintain Poetry

Mount Adams, Old Pahto, Washington

Pulling Onions

 

Shifu Miao Zhang Takes A Walk

The Fireplace Records Case #57

Shifu Miao Zhang Takes a Walk

Toju Zenchu brandished his staff before Daoist 

Shifu Miao Zhang and challenged him "Miao 

Zhang, speak and you get whacked with Nanten's

staff. Do not speak and you still get whacked with

Nanten's staff." Shifu Zhang stood up quickly, 

lifted his cane strongly in defense, and quietly

said, "Yunmen's shit stick stinks and Nanten's 

staff is cracked! I am leaving now to take my

evening walk. Goodbye."

Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo

Zen Koan Collections Studies

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Reading Wittgenstein 1975-

Buddhism

Taoism

Philosophy

Quintain Poetry

Pulling Onions

 

Cutting Through the Wind

The Fireplace Records Case #56

Cutting Through the Wind

Mayoku walked around his old Daoist friend,
Shifu Miao Zhang, three times and then thumped
his staff on the ground. Miao Zhang stood up,
walked around Mayoku once, tapped his cane three
times on the wall, and said "The power of the wind
can topple trees and is gone by morning. My cane
can cut through the wind."

Shifu Miao Zhang

Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo

Zen Koan Collections Studies

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Reading Wittgenstein 1975-

Buddhism

Taoism

Philosophy

Quintain Poetry

Pulling Onions

 

Wittgenstein Supposedly Said

 

The Fireplace Records Case #55

Wittgenstein Supposedly Said

suppose somebody says
suppose one wanted to ask
people will say
you may answer
someone says to me

you may say
suppose it were asked
one might ask
it will be said
suppose he might say

subjunctive mood swings
no one would say
there is a tendency
when do we say
we are inclined to say

Look at it this way
Compare it to this and not to that
More pictures, fewer muddles
Contrast with something similar
Change your point of view

Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo

Zen Koan Collections Studies

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Reading Wittgenstein 1975-

Buddhism

Taoism

Philosophy

Quintain Poetry

Pulling Onions

 

Become a Stronger Swimmer

 Fireplace Records Case #54

Become a Stronger Swimmer

If one sees me in forms,
If one seeks me in sounds,
He practices a misleading way.
He cannot see the essence of creeds:

All conditioned creeds
are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
like dew drops and a lightning flash:
contemplate them thus.

Creeds and doctrines are like a raft
to carry one to the other shore,
and then to relinquish.
Neither cling to the raft forever,
or reject it when drowning.

Even better,
become a stronger swimmer.

Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo

Zen Koan Collections Studies

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Reading Wittgenstein

Buddhism

Taoism

Philosophy

Quintain Poetry

Pulling Onions

 

Thou Are Not That

Fireplace Records Case #53

 

Thou Are Not That

"You are That."
i am not That,
but part of That am i
and i a bit of That,
for the time-being

for awhile, for a lifetime,
while That changes.
"That Thou Art."
Thou are not That,
except "That" as understood

as idea, as assumed, as imagined;
          as i
think i am, believe i am, wish i was;
while That changes what i am,
or will be

"That" is elusive, expanding to
the edge of the Big Everything,
at either end of the inside of infinity...
that is the way that That is.
Not like this piece of popcorn on the tip of my tongue.

Zen Koans: The Fireplace Records
Koans by Mike Garofalo

Zen Koan Collections Studies

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Reading Wittgenstein

Buddhism

Taoism

Philosophy

Quintain Poetry

Pulling Onions