"Longya's Thief in an Empty Room" from Eihei Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo

The Main Case - A monastic asked Zen master Judan of Longya (Zhankong), "When do the teachers of old get stuck?" Longya said, "When the thief slips into an empty room."

Capping verse - When the mind is empty, the eyes are finally clear. Shining through detachment and subtlety--the root of creation.


Just to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding between you, the reader, and myself, the writer, I’ll make it clear right off the bat: for me, ideas, concepts, and theory are not methods for acquiring objective knowledge but rather catalysts for subjective experience of life; my life; anyone's life. While I admit I’m not averse to being able to posit a thesis that many can agree on, what’s more important to me is to instigate reflection. Similar to the manner in which a koan operates, activating consciousness of premises, assumptions, and prejudices in a dialectic process leading to the emptiness of knowing, so I hope to illuminate my subjects, not by shedding light on them, but by casting shadows, tracing their forms in darkness, in silhouette relief, to know them only by inference, by what they are not. My tools? Arbitrarily constructed in language and consciously divided for the sake of an intellectual pursuit: my mind (reason and awareness), my body (instinct and corporeality), and my spirit (presence and desire).

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Koan - Why don't you dance?


A photographer asked a dancer, “May I take a photo of you dancing?”
The dancer replied, “Yes, but you won’t enjoy the shoot.”
“But I’ve long been an admirer of your work,” asserted the photographer, and raised his camera.
The dancer stood still and stared into the lens.
“Why don’t you dance?”, pleaded the photographer from behind the shutter.
The dancer stated, “I told you so.”


Breath. The cycle of life reveals itself when we open our lungs in the first moment after exiting the womb and when we close our mouths in the last moment before entering eternal sleep. In every moment, when millions of body cells burst and fade and congeal and rise.  We stand in line and hold on when we could be walking in circles and learning something. See what you’ve taken for granted, then notice what you’ve taken for yourself to live. Use what you have, and keep moving.


With what image did you breathe your first? With what gesture will you breathe your last?
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