November 2018 – Ameravith

Emma (not her real name) lifted the crinkly garbage bag with effort, and let it drop into the community bin, doing it fast and neat so that she wouldn’t have to breath in the foul stench of whatever else was in the dumpster. She closed it with a loud thud, took a few quick steps away and filled her lungs with the fresh dawn air.

She stood straight up, feeling good about herself, until she saw the slim runner-girl from the next block come down her apartment steps, toss her ponytail in Emma’s direction and take off on a run, her perfect figure clothed in her perfect sporting outfit, oozing self-awareness of the very fact. With a snort Emma turned towards her own building and began marching, having lost the nice feeling she had tasted momentarily after she’d dropped the lid on the dumpster. Continue reading “Emma’s Garbage”

A young guy named Mori went to Japan, to one of the temples around Kyoto, with the intention of learning meditation. He brings along an interpreter, gains permission to join the class of a Zen master and begins lessons. The master neither encourages nor discourages the presence of the interpreter.

A couple of weeks go by. Rising early, Mori attends daily meditation sessions, joins the communal meals, helps with cleaning tasks and other duties, same as everyone else at the temple, who were mostly novice monks. All the while, the interpreter explains things and relays instructions to Mori, who believes he is doing well and is on his way to becoming an adept meditator.

Then, unexpectedly, the interpreter falls ill and is taken away to another part of the compound. Young Mori is left in a quandary, thinking if he is not able to understand the Zen master’s instructions, he will need to stop. Continue reading “Mori the Student”