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Moments

Subtitle: Phantom Flowers

2-4 min read
A black and white pocket printer style photo of a crowd of people

“How can I be of service?”

…is a question that bodhisattvas carry in their hearts when they encounter another being, even just for a very brief moment.


Poem: Illusory dreams, phantom flowers—
Sixty-seven years.
A white bird vanishes in the mist,
Autumn waters merge with the sky.

—Hongzhi’s Death Poem
Zhengjue, Cheng-chüeh, Taigen Dan Leighton, and Yi Wu
Cultivating the Empty Field

Resting in trust…


Ignorance was banished and true knowledge arose, darkness was banished and light arose, as happens in one who abides diligent, ardent, and resolute.

—The Buddha
MN 4

Poem: finally…
a snowflake disappears
into its place


Poem: Crescent moon
nothing like
our similes

—Basho
David Young, Moon Woke Me Up Nine Times

Based on a handout from Koshu’s sumi-e course

A sumi-e painting of bamboo with leaves facing up