Mind Writing Slogans, Part II, by Allen Ginsberg

   II Path (Method, Or Recognition)
 
1.  "No ideas but in things." "... No ideas but in the Facts." — William Carlos Williams
2.  "Close to the nose." — William Carlos Williams
3.  "Sight is where the eye hits." — Louis Zukofsky
4.  "Clamp the mind down on objects." — William Carlos Williams
5.  "Direct treatment of the thing ... (or object)." — Ezra Pound, 1912
6.  "Presentation, not reference." — Ezra Pound
7.  "Give me a for instance." — Vernacular
8.  "Show not tell." — Vernacular
9.  "The natural object is always the adequate symbol." — Ezra Pound
10.  "Things are symbols of themselves." — Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
11.  "Labor well the minute particulars, take care of the little ones.
      He who would do good for another must do it in minute particulars.
      General Good is the plea of the Scoundrel Hypocrite and Flatterer
      For Art & Science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars." — William Blake
12.  "And being old she put a skin / on everything she said." — W. B. Yeats
13.  "Don’t think of words when you stop but to see the picture better." — Jack Kerouac
14.  "Details are the Life of Prose." — Jack Kerouac
15.  "Intense fragments of spoken idiom best." — Allen Ginsberg
16.  "Economy of Words" — Ezra Pound
17.  "Tailoring" — Gregory Corso
18.  "Maximum information, minimum number of syllables." ─ Allen Ginsberg
19.  "Syntax condensed, sound is solid." — Allen Ginsberg
20.  "Savor vowels, appreciate consonants." — Allen Ginsberg 
21.  "Compose in the sequence of musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome." — Ezra Pound
22.  "... awareness ... of the tone leading of the vowels." — Ezra Pound
23.  "... an attempt to approximate classical quantitative meters . . . — Ezra Pound
24.  "Lower limit speech, upper limit song" — Louis Zukofsky
25.  "Phanopoeia, Melopoeia, Logopoeia." — Ezra Pound 
26.  "Sight, Sound and Intellect." — Louis Zukofsky
27.  "Only emotion objectified endures." — Louis Zukofsky

-  Mind Writing Slogans, Part II, compiled by Alllen Ginsberg, 1926-1997. 

Allen Ginsberg. "Mind Writing Slogans," copyright © 1993 by Allen Ginsberg, in
What Book: Buddha Poems From Beat To Hiphop, Gary Gach, ed., copyright © 1998, Parallax Press.]

Can You Grasp Emptiness?

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 1

Can You Grasp Emptiness?

One drizzling cold afternoon, Shih-kung and Hsi-tang stopped along the steep trail up to the Temple on Mount Wudang.  They rested while quietly sitting.  Shih-kung picked up a small rock and tossed in down the hill. A short while later, Shih-kung asked Hsi-tang: "Can you grasp emptiness?" Hsing-tang replied: "Yes, I think I can."  Shih-kung continued: "How would you grasp emptiness?"  Using his hand, Hsi-tang then grasped at empty space.  Shih-kung replied: "You are 70% correct, and 30% uncertain." "Then how do you do it?" asked Hsi-tang.  Shih-kung then grasped Hsi-tang's ear and pulled it. Hsi-tang exclaimed "Ouch, your hurting my ear!"  Shih-tang said "You can grasp and hear emptiness only in this way."  Hsi-tang gently rubbed is ear, laughed, and told Shih-kung, "You are a clever devil, Shih-kung, and your diligent practice on your zither has improved your music." 

Hsi-tang then picked up a small rock and tossed it down the canyon.  

Both listened.  Both smiled.

Capping Verse

Opening bell
echoes from the canyon walls —
raindrops on the river.

The sounds of rocks bouncing off rocks;
the shadows of trees traced on trees.

We sit quietly, still.
The canyon river chants,
moving mountains.

The sermon spun on the still point:
dropping off eternity, picking up time;
letting go of self, awakened to Mind.

Can You Grasp Emptiness?  A Dialogue.
By Michael P. Garofalo

- For a insightful discussion of Eihei Dogen's (1250-1253 CE) views on Buddha-Mind, expressions and actions, existence, emptiness, the total exertion of a single thing, thusness, and time read Chapter 4 of "Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist," by Hee-Jin Kim, 2004.

Another version of the Shih-kung and Hsi-tang dialogue is found on p.134 of Hee-Jin Kim's fine book.

Spiritual Stories and Dialogues

Zen Poetry

Refer to Fireplaces, Stoves, Hearths, Campfires

"There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot." - John Cage

The Fireplace Records Compiled with Commentary by Michael P. Garofalo

A Sidewalk Poem by Esther M. Sternberg, M.D. 

Adam Hurst and His Cello

While waiting in the Portland airport in August of 2017, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Adam Hurst.  He composes for and plays the cello, and has numerous albums to his credit.  

I now have four MP3 digital music albums by Adam Hurst.  I really enjoy his compositions.  In the background, they help make for a nice ambiance in my home office.  

Obscura

Ritual

From Silence

Elegy

Falling on Deaf Ears

 The Fireplace Records, Chapter 12

Falling on Deaf Ears

 "Mulla Nasreddin was at the teahouse one afternoon when Arif the Hakim Doctor walked in. “How are you, Mullah? I hope you and your family are well,” Arif asked politely. 

“I’m fine, thanks, Arif, but I’m worried about my wife, who seems to have become very hard of hearing. Is there any cure for her problem?” asked Nasreddin.

“Well, some degree of age-related hearing loss is normal,” Arif said. “If you bring your wife to my dispensary, I can check her hearing and prescribe the necessary treatment. But before you do that, you can try this simple test. When you go home this evening, call out to your wife from the gate and see if she hears you. If not, then try speaking to her from the front door and keep reducing the distance until she responds. This way you will be able to gauge how serious her hearing deficiency is.”

Nasreddin thanked the doctor for the free medical advice and headed home. Calling out to Fatima from the gate in the front yard, Nasreddin said loudly: “I’m home, dear. What are we having for dinner?”

 Getting no reply, Nasreddin opened the front door and yelled: “I’m home, dear. What are we having for dinner?”

 Still getting no response, Nasreddin pushed open the kitchen door and repeated loudly: “What’s for dinner, dear?”

Fatima, who was stirring a large pot on the stove, turned to face her husband. “Are you deaf, Nasreddin?” she said angrily, wiping her hands on her apron. “For the third and last time, I repeat: we are having fish stew and pilaf, followed by apricot halva for dessert. And, Nasreddin, please get me some more kindling for the kitchen stove fire.”

Mulla Nasreddin could not hear her very well.  He had a sudden insight.    

My teacher said, "Mulla Nasreddin is often portrayed as a gentle dimwit.  His little tales intrigue us with humor, cleverness, stupidity, and puzzling remarks. Many Zen Koans seem rather dumb, nonsensical, puzzling, and illogical, but seldom as off base as the crazy wisdom of Nasreddin." 

A Student's Considerations:

Look into your own skills and limitations first.
Hearing and listening are not the same.
Get closer and speak softly.  Don't yell so often.
Listen to yourself talking more carefully.
Think and reason before making a judgment.
Ride a donkey or horse--- or walk.
What's with that big hat on Mulla Nasreddin's head?

 

 Related Links, Resources, References

Mulla Nasreddin (1208-1285) 

The World of Mulla Nasreddin. Translated with commentary by Idries Shah. Kindle Scribe, 2020, 493 pages. VSCL, Kindle E Book.

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

The Daodejing by Laozi    Best? 

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

Taoism

Buddhism

Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood

Chinese Art

Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong

Meditation Methods

Zen Koan Books I Use

Song Dynasty, China, 960-1279  

Koan Database Project

Brief Spiritual Stories, Dialogues, and Encounters
Zen Buddhist Koan Collections
Bibliography, Quotations, Indexing, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records By Michael P. Garofalo

Sounds of the Surf

 "Long long I lay in the sands

Sounds of trains in the surf
in subways of the sea
And an even greater undersound
of a vast confusion in the universe
a rumbling and a roaring
as of some enormous creature turning
under sea and earth
a billion sotto voices murmuring
a vast muttering
a swelling stuttering
in ocean's speakers
world's voice-box heard with ear to sand
a shocked echoing
a shocking shouting
of all life's voices lost in night
And the tape of it
someow running backwards now
through the Moog Synthesizer of time
Chaos unscrambled
back to the first
harmonies
And the first light"
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Adoration of Silence

"Seek silence.
Gladden in silence.
Adore silence.

As one progresses on the path, one seeks silence more and more.
It will be a great comfort, a tremendous source of solace and peace.

Once you find deep solitude and calm, there will be a great gladness in your heart.
Here finally is the place where you need neither defense nor offense -- the place where you can truly be open.
There will be bliss, wonder, the awe of attaining something pure and sacred.

After that, you will feel adoration of silence.
This is the peace that seems to elude so many.
This is the beauty of Tao."
-  Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao Daily Meditations

Hearing and Silence

Meditation

The Beauty of Inflections

"I do not know which to prefer -
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after."
-  Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, 1923

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listed to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius.  When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand."
-  Karl Menninger

The Five Senses

Listening and Hearing