natalia jakubek / requiem

I have studied and become intimate

with the speed of darkness. It’s so fast

it’s always here. When the light withdraws

the dark comes from no place. It always lives

with us. Your heart and brain are black.

They never see the true light except in violence

or autopsy. Of course the brain can cast

its own blinding light that we wait for in a poem,

at least blinding to us. In our trances the loves

of long ago enter the room unescorted, silent

perhaps from the black bottom of the ocean

where we all die in perfect darkness, a sense

of whirling that recedes back to the time

the ocean swallowed the smallest stars

then heated us into our early life.

Darkness is always there,

it only stands revealed.

Jim Harrison

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The

art of war lies

not in relying upon the

opponent’s not coming, but in

making ready for him; not on the hope

of his not attacking, but rather on

becoming invulnerable

to attack oneself.

There are

five flaws which can

undermine a leader: recklessness

may lead her to destruction; timidity

may cause her to succumb; temper may

make her susceptible to insults;

delicacy of honor may render

her sensitive to shame;

solicitousness may

expose her

to worry.

Trading in

these is disastrous to

the conduct of war. If a force is

overthrown and its leader destroyed,

the cause will be found among

these flaws. Meditate

on them.
 

from The Art of War, Chapter VIII

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Dogen Zen-ji says,

“Even though it is midnight, dawn is here.

Even though dawn comes, it is nighttime.” This kind

of statement conveys the understanding transmitted from

Buddha to the Patriarchs, and from the Patriarchs to Dogen,

and to us. Nighttime and daytime are not different.

The same thing is sometimes called nighttime,

sometimes called daytime. Nighttime

and daytime are one thing.

Zazen practice and

everyday activity are one thing.

We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.

But usually we think, “Now zazen is over, and now we

will go about our everyday activity.” But this is not the

right understanding.  They are the same thing. We

have nowhere to escape. So in activity there

should be calmness, and in calmness

there should be activity. So

calmness and activity

are not different.

Shunryu Suzuki

Our

understanding is not just

an intellectual understanding.

True understanding is

actual practice

itself.

Shunryu Suzuki