I Quit!

I quit my job. This is my last week and a chapter is closing in my life. I have been here for so long I almost can't remember what it is like not to get up and come to this office.

My desk is almost cleared of all its clutter of stuffed animals, stickers, scraps of paper, footballs, lotion, and books that I have collected over the years. The cards I have received that mean something to me placed in my purse, the strange things posted on my wall taken down and discarded, and the stuffed dogs given away. There is no longer anything left on the wall of my office save the fax number.

I am looking forward to moving to California and starting my life out there. All the adventure it will bring just waiting for me. My last day is on Friday and I am looking forward to moving on.

On Existence

Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.

Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no relaization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.

"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"