Wednesday, 17 July 2024

WW: July mountain


(Mt. Rainier, icon of much of the Puget Sound Basin.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Thursday, 11 July 2024

Fearless Practice


"I'm going to try speaking some reckless words and I want you to listen to them recklessly."

Zhang Wuzi

Quoted in Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, translated by Burton Watson.

(Photo courtesy of Rawpixel.com.)

Wednesday, 10 July 2024

Thursday, 4 July 2024

The Way

Master Dongguo asked Zhuangzi, "This thing called the Way – where does it exist?"

Zhuangzi said, "There's no place it doesn't exist."

"Come," said Master Dongguo, "you must be more specific!"

"It is in the ant."

"As low as that?"

"It is in the panic grass."

"But that's lower still!"

"It is in the tiles and shards."

"How can it be so low?"

"It is in the piss and shit."


(From Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, translated and with commentary by Burton Watson.)


(Photo courtesy of Donald Giannatti and Unsplash.com.)

Wednesday, 3 July 2024

WW: Native rhodendron



(Rhododendron macrophyllum, the Pacific rhododendron, is the state flower of Washington. In late spring it bursts out in the grey-green twilight of the North Coast jungle, where its pale pink blossoms seem to glow above the undergrowth. When my mom was in high school, kids in her small Puget Sound town used to cut truckloads of these from the forests along the bay, to fill the gym for prom.

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Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Wednesday, 26 June 2024

Thursday, 20 June 2024

Poem: The Frog Sutra


Could they be sutras?
In the temple well
frogs chant

Kansetsu


(POV photo of well courtesy of Gary Meulemans and Unsplash.com.)