Words and Phrases

June 06 · Dharma Discourses, Teachings · Annie Dillard, Dogen, Katagiri Roshi, Master Dogen, narratives, relative and absolute, Saying Yes, Spring 2018, stories, Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Wallace Stevens, Words and Phrases, Zuisei Sensei

by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei

The poet Wallace Stevens wrote:

After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
No was the night. Yes is this present sun.

The last line of the poem reads, “It can never be satisfied, the mind, never.” Is this true, that the mind can never be satisfied? From a conventional perspective, from the perspective of desire, we would say, “Yes, it’s true.” The mind always wants more and more, and this endless wanting keeps the sense of self going. As Annie Dillard once said, the mind wants to live forever. But is it possible for the mind to be satisfied—to know itself as complete and without lack?

According to the Gospel of Yes

June 05 · Creative Expression · poems, poetry, Saying Yes, Spring 2018, Words and Phrases

by Dana Levin

It’s a thrill to say No.

The way it smothers

everything that beckons—

Any baby in a crib

will meet No’s palm

on its mouth.

And nothing sweet

can ever happen

to No—

who holds your tongue captive

behind your teeth, whose breath

whets the edge

of the guillotine—

N, head of Team Nothing,

and anti-ovum O.

And so the pit can never

engender

the cherry—

in No, who has drilled a hole

inside your body—

No.

Say it out loud.

Why do you love the hole

No makes.