The Decaying Tree

                The Fireplace Records, Chapter 42

The Decaying Tree

The smell of the sea hugged the fog in the redwood trees,
All cool and dank, dimly lit and rank with green,
And in shadowed limbs the Stellar jays jabbered free,
And me, standing silently, an alien in this enchanted scene.

From behind the mossy grey stumps
the sounds of footsteps crunching fronds of ferns
caught my suddenly wary mind ...
What?

"Hello, old friend," said Chang San Feng.
"Master Chang, what a surprise," said I.
Master Chang sat on a stump, smiled, and said,

"Can you hear the Blue Dragon singing in the decaying tree;
Or is it the White Tiger roaring in the wilderness of your bright white skull?
No matter!  The answer is in the questioning; don't you Chan men see?
In the red ball flesh of this decaying tree
Sapless woody shards of centuries of seasons
Nourish the new roots of mindfulness sprouting. 
Yes, Yes, but how can it be?
The up-surging waves of life sprout forth from the decaying tree,
As sure as sunrise rolling over the deep black sea. 
Coming, coming, endlessly coming; waves of Chi. 
 

Tan Qian's raven roosts for 10,000 moons
     in the withered branches of the rotting tree;
     then, one day, the weathered tree falls,
     nobody hearing, soundlessly crashing
     on the forest floor, on some unknown noon. 
 

Over and over, over and over, life bringing death, death bringing life,
Beyond even the miraculous memories of an old Xian like me;
Watching, watching, sequestered from the strife,
Turning my soul away sometimes because I cannot bear to see. 

Even minds may die, but Mind is always free
Bounding beyond, beyond, far beyond you and me;
Somehow finding the Possibility Keys
And unlocking the Door out of the Voids of Eternities."

Master Chang somehow, someway,
slowly disappeared into the red brown heart of the decaying tree.

Then the squawk of the jay
opened my mind's eye to the new day -
Namaste."    

-  Michael P. Garofalo
   Remembering Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California
   April 27, 2012

 

 

Comments, Sources, Observations, Koans, Poems, Quips:

Dead things help produce life.
Don't underestimate the power of Nature.
Mysteries upon mysteries upon mysteries.
Dragons appear and disappear.
Ravens roosting in the boughs of trees for centuries.

Trees

Trees: Magick, Lore, Myths

Master Chang San-Feng

636 Riddles, Jokes, Witticisms, Humor

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings, Quips, Maxims, Humor

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records (Blog Version) By Michael P. Garofalo

Subject Index to 1,685 Zen Buddhist Koans

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo
Fourth Version, August 2, 2023. Updated Monthly. 358 Pages, PDF.
Green Way Research, Vancouver, Washington

Blue Cliff Record 100 Koans (BCR)
Book of Serenity/Equanimity 100 Koans (BOS)
Dao De Jing 81 Chapters (DDJ)
Dogen's Shinji Mana Shobogenzo 300 Koans (DSMS)
Dogen's Shobogenzo 95 Essays Buddhist (DSE)
Entangling Vines 272 Koans (ENT)
Fireplace Records 30 Chapters (TFR)
Flock of Fools: Parable Sutra 98 Koans (OHPS)
Gateless Gate 48 Koans (GB)
Iron Flute 100 Koans (IF)
Opening A Mountain 60 Koans (OM)
Philosopher's Garden (PG)
Record of Empty Hall 100 Koans (REH)
Record of Linji 50 Koans (LIN)
Rinzai Zen Buddhism (RINZ,SOG)
Samurai Zen 100 Warrior Koans (SAM)
Suzuki D.T. 10 Books (SUZ)
Transmission of Light: Keizan 53 Biographies (TOL)
The Whole World is a Single Flower 365 Koans (WWSF)
Zen and the Ways (ZWAY)
Zen Echoes 43 Koans (ZE)
Zen Flesh Zen Bones 100 Koans (ZFZB)
Zhuangzi 33 Chapters (ZUAN)

Zen Buddhist Koans and Discourses:
https://www.egreenway.com/buddhism/koansdup1.htm

The Psychology of Awe

Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.  By Dacher Keltner.  Penguin 2023.  Excellent overview, well researched, practical advice.  Notes, bibliography, index, 309 pages. FVR Library.

After extensive international surveys and interviews, as well as careful research, Dacher Keltner outlines the "Eight Wonders of Life."  These experiences are what most commonly led people around the world to feel awe:

1. Other people's courage, kindness, strength, or overcoming.

2. Collective effervescence: group rituals and ceremonies and events

3. Nature, outdoors, dramatic scenery, gardens, fearsome events

4. Music, dancing, singing

5. Visual Design, Art, Architecture, Beauty

6. Stories of spiritual and religious awe, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, films

7. Stories of life and death, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, films

8. Epiphany, Mystical Experience, Altered Consciousness

"We can find awe, then, in eight wonders of life: moral beauty, collective effervescence, nature, music, visual design, spirituality and religion, life and death, and epiphany."
- Dach Keltner, "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder," p. 18

Koan Database Project

Subject and Title Indexes
Koan Database Project

To Brief Spiritual Lessons, Parables,
Koan Cases, Stories, Definitions, Tales,
Questions, Dialogues, Lectures, Statements

Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo

Sparks: Brief Spiritual Stories, Dialogues, and Encounters

Matches to Start the Kindling of Insight
May the Light from Your Inner Fireplace Help All Beings
Zen Buddhist Koan Collections
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Hard Questions
Bibliography, Indexing, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

Gateless Gate or Gateless Barrier Koan Collection (GB)
48 Cases of Brief Koans, Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues
Compiled around 1250 CE
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft on March 25, 2023.
Source for Case Titles: The Gateless Gate, Translated by Koun Yamada Roshi, 2004.

Alphabetical List of the Gateless Barrier (GB) Koan Collection Cases. PDF, 2 pages.

List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Gateless Barrier Koan Collection. PDF, 2 pages.

Subject Index to Cases in the Gateless Barrier (GB) Koan Collection. PDF, 9 pages.

PDF files are searchable. Use the keyboard strokes: Ctrl + F This will open the Search or Find box.

[I just started using Microsoft Access again on 3/23/2023. Just learning this database software by reading books and by creating this Koan Database Project in 2023. I am focused on improving my indexing skills, adding content, and improving my database Report creation skills.]

Reminder: When you find a hypertext document or file (PDF, JPG, .doc, GIF) on the Internet that seems valuable to you, then download the hypertext document or file to your computer's hard disk drive or on your external hard disk drive. Why? That hypertext document or file might be gone tomorrow!

 

The Blue Cliff Record Koan Collection (BCR)
100 Cases of Brief Koans, Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues
Compiled around 1125 CE
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft on March 25, 2023.
Source for Case Titles: The Blue Cliff Record, Translated by Thomas Cleary and J. C. Cleary, 1977.

Alphabetical List of the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) Koan Collection Cases. PDF, 4 pages.

List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) Koan Collection. PDF, 4 pages.

Subject Index to Cases in the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) Koan Collection. PDF, 21 pages.

 

Daodejing by Laozi, Te Ching by Lao Tzu (DDJ)
Daodejing by Laozi.
81 Verses, Cases, Chapters. Our popular version compiled around 220 CE.
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. Third Draft in June 2014.

A typical webpage created by Michael P. Garofalo for each one of the 81 brief Chapters (Verses, Cases, Sections) of the Daodejing includes 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Daodejing includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Daodejing Chapter.

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List

One Old Daoist Druid's Final Journey

Daodejing by Laozi (DDJ)
81 Verses, Cases, Chapters, Sections. Our popular version compiled around 220 CE.
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft in June of 2023.
Source for Case/Verse/Chapter Titles: Tao Te Ching translation by Lin Yutang in 1955.
For the Koan Database, I limited search terms/Tags to 3 entries.
My more extensive online searchable Concordance for the Tao Te Ching is described above.

List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Daodejing (DDJ). PDF, 3 pages.

Alphabetical List of the Cases in the Tao Te Ching (DDJ). PDF, 3 pages.

Subject Index to Cases in the Tao Te Ching (DDJ) PDF, 15 pages.

 

The Book of Serenity (BOS) Book of Equanimity
100 Cases of Brief Koans, Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues
Compiled and published around 1224 CE.
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft on June 1, 2023.
Source for Case Titles: The Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues. Translated with commentary by Thomas Cleary, 2005.

Alphabetical List of the Book of Serenity (BOS) Koan Collection Cases. PDF, 4 pages.

List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Book of Serenity (BOS) Koan Collection. PDF, 4 pages.

Subject Index to Cases in the Book of Serenity (BOS) Koan Collection. PDF, 21 pages.

 

 

Master Subject Index
Koan Database Project
Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo
First Draft, April 1, 2023
This subject index includes Cases from the:
Blue Cliff Record (BCR), 100 Cases
Gateless Barrier (GB), 48 Cases
Book of Serenity (BOS), 25 Cases
Daodejing (DDJ), 20 Cases
Fireplace Records (TFR), 12 Cases
PDF files are searchable. Use the keyboard strokes: Ctrl + F This will open the Search or Find box.

Master Subject Index of the Koan Database Project. PDF, 42 pages.

PDF files are searchable. Use the keyboard strokes: Ctrl + F This will open the Search or Find box.

 

What's Coming in 2023 and 2024:

Michael Garofalo's Brief Spiritual Lessons Indexing Project

Indexing Brief Spiritual Lessons, Stories, Koans, Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Lectures,
Sermons, Lore, Dialogues, Inspirational Verse, History, Scriptures, Advice, Poetry,
Buddhist and Taoist Literature, Collected Lessons, and Lore

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. Daodejing by Laozi. 81 Cases, Verses, Chapters. Our version compiled around 220 CE.

Book of Serenity (BOS) 100 Koan Collection; Compiled around 1224 CE.

Master Subject Index of the Koan Database Project

Dogen Koan Collection (Shinji Mana Shobogenzo) (SMS) 301 Koan Collection; Compiled around 1220 CE.

Transmission of Light. 53 Biographies, compiled by Keizan around 1310 CE.

Open a Mountain. 60 Koan Collection, compiled by Steven Heine, 2001.

Entangling Vines. 272 Koans; compiled and printed in Japan in 1658.

Modern (MOD) Modern (1800-1999) Contemporary Brief Spiritual Verses, Key Leaders, Information

The Record of Linji. 50 Koan Collection; translation and commentary by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, 2009. Compiled around 850 CE.

Books I Use in My Research and Study of Koan Collections

Sparks: Brief Spiritual Stories, Dialogues, and Encounters
Matches to Start the Kindling of Insight
May the Light from Your Inner Fireplace Help All Beings
Zen Buddhist Koan Collections
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Hard Questions
Bibliography, Indexing, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo