Cape Disappointment WA Campground

 I really enjoyed the privacy of this yurt campground. Nobody was camping in the area. Very quiet.

Sit Quietly: Focus and Forget

"Teach us to care and not to care.
Teach us to sit still."
- T.S. Eliot

"You are sitting on the earth and you realize that this earth deserves you and you deserve this earth.  You are there - fully, personally, genuinely."
-  Chogyam Trungpa

"Remain sitting at your table and listen. 
Do not even listen, simply wait, 
be quiet still and solitary. 
The world will freely offer itself 
to you to be unmasked, 
it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy 
at your feet."
-  Franz Kafka


"Sit quietly
focus and forget
rest with the great achievement.
The ancient child asks
"what is the great achievement?"
It is beyond description in any language
it can only be felt intuitively
it can only be expressed intuitively. 
Engage a loose, alert, and aware
body, mind, and sound
then look into the formless
and perceive no thing.
See yourself as a sphere
small at first
growing to encompass
the vastness of infinite space. 
Sit quietly
focus and forget then
in a state of ease and rest
secure the truth of the great achievement.
Employing the truth will not exhaust its power
when it seems exhausted it is really abundant
and while human art will die at the hands of utility
the great achievement is beyond being useful.
Great straightness is curved and crooked
great intelligence is raw and silly
great words are simple and naturally awkward. 
Engaged movement drives out the frozen cold
mindful stillness subdues the frenzied heart.
Sit quietly
focusing
forgetting
summon order from the void
that guides the ordering of the universe."
-  Tao Te Ching, Chapter 45, Translated by John Bright-Fey, 2006



"There are many matters and many circumstances in which consciousness is undesirable and silence is golden, so that secrecy can be used as a marker to tell us that we are approaching the holy."
-  Gregory Bateson, Angels Fear




Sitting in the Garden

Zuowang Meditation

Spirituality and Nature

Ten Transformative Practices (Paramitas)

 The Essence of the Ten Transformative Practices

"Generosity arises from unselfishness and nonattachment.

Ethics involves virtue, integrity, and self-discipline.

Patience requires resilience, acceptance, and fortitude.

Effort means courage in joyous perseverance.

Meditation implies mindfulness, concentration, reflection, and introspection.

Transcendental wisdom includes discernment and self-knowledge.

Skillful means arise from resourcefulness and imagination.

Spiritual aspirations include noble intention and resolve.

Higher accomplishments require leadership, powers, and positive influence.

Awakened awareness means pristine realization.

These are the ten arms and legs of the radiant body of the Bodhisattva,
Whose heart is Bodhicitta, selfless love and compassion.

- Buddha Is as Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened Living By Lama Surya Das, 2007.

Virtue Ethics Studies
Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, Philosophers
By Michael P. Garofalo

 

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons

Virtue Ethics

Paramitas

The Ethical Precepts and Philosophical Tenets of Zen Buddhism

The Ten Grave Precepts (Rules, Guidelines, Principles of Behavior)

Pragmatism

Taoism

Buddhism

 

Complexity is Closer to the Truth

 

        The Fireplace Records, Chapter 40

Complexity is Closer to the Truth

 

In my experience, life is rightly characterized as diverse, complicated, varied, rich in multiplicity, saturated with the 'ten thousand things.'  Personally, I find little need to seek or to find or to have the "experience of unity."  This state of "unification," when actualized, is in most cases rather fleeting.  It may be profound, but no more so that the beauty of complexity and the fascinating reality of diversity.  I do not find the experience of the multiplicity of things distressing, disturbing, or disheartening.  

Just because all of the eggs today are in one basket does not make the colored basket more real or more interesting or more valuable than the eggs.  

Ignoring the facticity of the complexity of the natural and mental realms seems to me a more serious ignorance, not very sensible, and ultimately unwise.  I long ago gave up on any quest for "enlightenment" (in Hindu or Buddhist terms) and prefer the ordinary state of mind grounded in a world that is not simple, not one, not unified, complex, and rich in details.  To claim that our normal experience of complexity and variety is an "illusion" or "ignorance (avidya) seems to me a form of incorrect judgment.  

No doubt, trying to simplify one's life has its benefits, reducing sensory overload can reduce stress, and not becoming overly infatuated with novelty can be helpful; but, pushing on this strange path towards the "enlightenment" or "realization" of a pure and uncluttered "Unity" can produce its own distressing and disturbing predicaments for a person.  

Many philosophers, ancient and modern, have made a sharp distinction between appearances and Reality, the many and the One, the phenomena and the Noumena, and multiplicity and Unity.  For me, it is muddled thinking to call all of our experiences "just fleeting illusions" and fabricate a true realm of being outside of our personal and social and practical experiences.  Indeed, we can't "see" in any ordinary sense of "see," the cells, molecules, atoms, and the subatomic particles that constitute the objects of our macro-cosmic world; but, this in no way means the multiplicity of objects in our ordinary environment are in any way "illusions."  The meaning of "objects" is much more complicated, varied in linguistic usage, and functional in many practical contexts.  Again, complexity is closer to the truth. 

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

Now is Real, a Unified Instant, but Fleeting.

Time

Complexity and Diversity 

Nature Mysticism:  Resources, Quotes, Notes

Gardening and Mysticism

Riddles (200+ Riddles, with No Ads.)

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

Mystical Experience: Sakipata

"My own experience of śaktipāta occurred at the age of 16 through meeting a powerful and loving meditation master.  It was not the product of wishful thinking, because I didn't even want to be there, at least on the level of the conscious mind.  My mother had persuaded me to take a two-day meditation retreat and I had acceded because I wanted the reward she was offering me; I had neither expectation nor hope that anything particularly magical would happen.  And indeed, the whole thing was fairly boring, though in the final meditation of the weekend, I did make a grudging effort to be fully present in the warm, dark stillness of the meditation room.  It was nice, but nothing special, until I opened my eyes and walked outside.  I was astonished to discover that the whole world had apparently changed.  Everything was more vivid and real, and almost sparkling.  Not only that, I was feeling an incredible energy in my heart, and it was flowing palpably between my heart and the hearts of everyone else I could see.  I call it "energy" for lack of a better word; it was a tangible power or force, not a passive feeling, and it had the nature of exquisitely pure love.  It was connecting the hearts of all the people around me, coursing freely in a kind of web or grid of power, entirely independent of whether the people liked each other or not.  Then I noticed it was really everywhere; the very air around me seemed thick with it; it was undoubtedly the most "real" thing in reality, though not perceptible with any of the five senses!  It was astonishing, and I was never the same, now that I knew this power, this love beyond anything I had ever imagined, was a real possibility in human life."
-  Christopher D. Wallis, Tantra Illuminated, 2012, p.323


Tantra Illuminated: The Philosophy, History, and Practice of a Timeless Tradition   By Christopher D. Wallis, M.A.  Illustrations by Ekabhumi Ellik.  Woodlands, Texas, Anusara Press, 2012.  Index, endnotes, bibliography, three appendices, 506 pages.  ISBN: 978-1937104016.  VSCL.  In 2012, the author was a Ph.D. candidate in Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley.  This book takes as its exemplar and focal point the lineages of nondual Śaiva Tantra most clearly typified by the Kaula Trika lineage.  Written for the educated lay reader.  The author shares his personal life, his spiritual life, his practices, his yoga, within this tradition of Tantra.   

Tantra: Path of Ecstasy  By Georg Feuerstein (1947-2012), Ph.D.  Boston, Shambhala, 1998.  Index, bibliography, notes, 314 pages.  ISBN: 157062304X.  VSCL.  An excellent introduction to Tantra, and a great starting point for readers.  I own, and have read and reread in the last ten years nearly all of the books by Dr. Georg Feuerstein.  If my understanding is correct, Dr. Feuerstein personally followed the path of Vajrayana Buddhism, a Tibetan Buddhist tradition, a lineage of Tantric Buddhism.  


"Tantra's body-positive approach is the direct outcome of its integrative metaphysics according to which this world is not mere illusion but a manifestation of the supreme Reality.  If the world is real, the body must be real as well.  If the world is in essence divine, so must be the body.  If we must honor the world as a creation or an aspect of the divine Power (shakti), we must likewise honor the body.  The body is a piece of the world and, as we shall see, the world is a piece of the body.  Or, rather, when we truly understand the body, we discover that it is the world, which in essence is divine."
-  Georg Feuerstein, Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, p. 53  


Somaesthetic Practices and Theory

Tantra: Bibliography, Quotations, Links, Resources

Nature and Spirituality 

Potholes State Park, Yurt Camping Trip, Day 4

Potholes State Park, Yurt Camping Trip, Day 4

We packed up all our gear in the Ford. Said our last goodbyes to Mick and April. 

Karen drove to Umatilla, I drove to Hood River, and Karen drove back into Portland/Vancouver.

The Magical Cane Master

The Magical Cane Master

I. Sudden vs Gradual

Master Pita asked Shifu Miao Zhang,
"What is sudden enlightenment?"

Shifu Zhang immediately
threw his staff on the muddy ground.

Master Xita asked Shifu Miao Zhang,
"What is gradual enlightenment?"

Shifu Zhang stomped on his muddy staff three times,
and yelled "Get to Work!"

 

II. Slicing Through Nothing

Mayoku walked around his old
Daoist friend, Shifu Miao Zhang,
three times, and he then thumped
his oak staff once on the ground.

Miao Zhang stood up,
walked around Mayoku once,
tapped his pine cane
three times on the wall, and said,

"The power of the wind can topple trees
      and is gone by morning.
My cane can cut through the wind."

 

III. From the East to the West

Master Sound of Bitterroot Mountain
      asked Shifu Miao Zhang,
'What is the meaning of Old Pahto
      emerging in the West?'

Shifu lifted his cane and placed it in his mouth,
      saying nothing.

Later, zany Zen liar that he was, he wrote:
"No minds, no Dharma.
No-mind, much Dharma."

 

IV. I Will Take Your Staff Away

Zen Master Baqiao told his old friend,
Shifu Miao Zhang, "If you have a staff,
I will give you a staff; if you have no staff,
I will take your staff away."

Shifu Zhang replied "I have a cane and
you don't. Would you like to borrow yours?"

Baqiao replied, "Miao Zhang, you will
have to walk into Hell!"

Miao Zhang raised his eyebrows and said,
"Well, Baqiao, then I will need to
borrow my cane for the long hot walk
with you. Sorry, but I can't lend your cane to you."

 

V. Same or Different

Zen Master Seung Sahn held up his staff
in front of Shifu Miao Zhang, and said
"Then, Miao Zhang, what are this staff,
this sound and your mind? Are they the
same or different? If you say "same," I
will hit you ten times. If you say "different,"
I will also hit you ten times. Why?"

Miao Zhang lifted his cane slowly, grounded himself,
prepared to block Seung Sahn's strike and then said,
"Don't know! Same or different,
nobody can hit the sound of our minds."

Meetings with Master Chang San Feng

Shifu Miao Zhang Points the Way

Zen Koans

Zatoichi and Kung Fu TV Characters

 

Exercising with a Ball

Martial Arts, physical culture, and Qigong enthusiasts can benefit from using a medicine ball when doing exercises.  There are many routines developed by Taijiquan and Qigong masters using a medicine ball.   Qigong Ball exercisers can get into a calm mode, mellow their mood, and go with the Flow.  

Medicine Ball Training and Exercises: Bibliography, Links, Resources .  Prepared by Mike Garofalo.  A general introduction to the use of medicine balls in exercise programs. 

I developed my own medicine ball routine called: Magic Pearl Qigong. 

Magic Pearl Qigong, Part I, Movements 1-8 .   Instructions, Bibliography, Links, Handouts, Resources, Mythological Associations, Lore.  Prepared by Mike Garofalo. 
The Magic Pearl Qigong can be a very vigorous physical culture routine if you increase the weight of the ball, lower the stances, and increase the number of repetitions of each movement.  Serious Qigong Ball enthusiasts use a very light wooden ball, move slowly, stay relaxed, sink, play.  

In addition, upper body strength and athletic fitness is also be improved by practicing longer Taijiquan Forms using weapons like the saber, sword, cane, and staff. 

Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas - Reading, Studies, Information

Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas

I will be Yurt Camping for four days at Belfair State Park, Kitsap Peninsula, Washington, in September of 2024. I have read and studied a number of fine books about this area. Here are a few of them:

Salmon, Cedar, Rock and Rain: Washington's Olympic Peninsula. By Tim Mcnulty and many others. Braider River, Mountaineer's Press, 2023, 206 pages. Outstanding  photography, informative essays. VSCL.

Cascadia Revealed: A Guide to the Plants, Animals, and Geology of the Pacific Northwest Mountains. By Daniel Mathews. Timber Press Field Guide. 2016, index, 582 pages. Outstanding guide, color photos, handy field guide. Superior on Geology. VSCL.

Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry. Edited by C. Marie Fhurman, Elizabeth Bradfield, and Derek Sheffield. Mountaineers Books, 2013, 400 pages. VSCL.

Heaven on the Half Shell: The History of the Oyster in the Pacific Northwest. By David George Gordon, Samantha Larson, and Maryann Barron Wagner. Second Edition. Foreword by Kenneth K. Chew. University of Washington Press, 2013, index, 228 pages. VSCL.

The Chinook Indians: Traders of the Lower Columbia River. Robert H. Ruby and John A. Brown. University of Oklahoma Press, 1988, 372 pages. VSCL.

Razor Clams: Buried Treasure of the Pacific Northwest. By David Berger. University of Washington, 2017, 223 pages. VSCL. 

Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula. By Craig Romano. Mountaineers Books, 2nd Edition, 2016, 354 pages. VSCL.

Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest By Ella E. Clark. Illustrated by Robert Bruce Inverarity. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1953, 2003. Glossary, 225 pages.  VSCL.

Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are. Edited by Jacilee Wray. Second Edition. University of Oklahoma, 2015, 224 pages. VSCL.

Olympic Peninsula: The Grade and Gradeur. Text and photographs by Mike Sedam. Voyageur Press, 2002, 144 pages. A coffe-table photgraphic book. VSCL.

Olympic Peninsula with Olympic National Park. By Jeff Bulingame. Moon, 5th Edition, 2024, 260 pages. The definitive and current travel guide to this area. Essential! VSCL.

The Sacred Wisdom of the Native Americans. By Larry J. Zimmerman. Chartwell Books, 2016, 220 pages.

Between the Tides in Washington and Oregon: Exploring Beaches and Tidepools. By Ryan P. Kelly, Terrie Klinger and John J. Meyer. University of Washington Press, 2022, 253 pages, index. FVRL.

A Birder's Guide to Coastal Washington. By Bob Morse. Featuring Ocean Shores, Long Beach Peninsula, Forks, Westport, Tokeland, and 160 Birding Hot Spots.  R. W. Morse Co., 2001, Index, 249 pages, spiral bound text. VSCL. Detailed coverage of birding locations and how to get there. 

Beachcombing   SEE  Beachcombing

A Coast of Scenic Wonders: Coastal Geology and Ecology of the Outer Coast of Oregon and Washington and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  By Miles O. Hayes, Jacqueline Michel, and Joseph Holmes.  Pandion Books, 2020, 229  pages. 

The Flora and Fauna of the Pacific Northwest.  By Collin Varner.  University of Washington, 2018, 462 pages.  VSCL.  Outstanding photographs, larger size. 

Grayland Beach Nature Studies.  By Michael P. Garofalo.  2021-  

More Northwest Coastal Field Guides

National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest. By Peter Alden and Dennis Paulson.  Knopf, 1998, 488 pages. This is a handy and sturdy field guide for enthusiasts of natural history studies. I carry in my car along with binoculars, magnifying glass, and supplies in my backpack. VSCL.

Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains. By Daniel Mathews. Timber Press Field Guide, 2017, Index, 583 pages. VSCL.

A Naturalist's Guide to the Hidden World of Pacific Northwest Dunes. By George Poinar Jr. Oregon State University, 2016, 288 pages. VSCL.

The New Beachcomber's Guide to the Pacific Northwest.  By J. Duane Sept.  Harbor Publishing, 2019, 416 pages. VSCL.

The Northwest Coast: A Natural History. By Stewart T. Schultz. Timber Press, 1990, index, 389 pages. VSCL.

The Northwest Coastal Explorer. By Robert Steelquist. Timer Press, 2016, 282 pages. Overview of key features with pictures and text. VSCL.

Plants of the Pacific Northwest. By Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon. Partners, 2004, 528 pages.

Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast: An Illustrated Guide to Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. By Eugene N. Kozloff.  University of Washington, 1983, 378 pages. A technical scientific presentation. VSCL.

Seashore of the Pacific Northwest. By Ian Sheldon. Lone Pine, 1998, 192 pages. VSCL.

The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans. By Cynthia Barnett. W.W. Norton, 2021, 432 pages. VSCL.

Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates. By David Moskowitz. Timber Press, 2010, 364 pages. VSCL.

Books in my personal home library (VSCL) about Washington State.
FVRL = Fort Vancouver Regional Library System, Clark County, Washington.

Dao De Jing, Chapter 68

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter 68

"The best soldier is not warlike the best fighter shows no anger
The one best at defeating the enemy does not engage him.
The one best at managing people puts himself below them.
This is the Te of not contending, this is the power to manage people.
This is being the Counterpart of Heaven equaling the very best of the ancients."
-  Translated by Michael Lafargue, 1992, Chapter 68  

"In the ancient times:
The perfect warriors were not warlike.
The perfect fighters were not angry.
The perfect winners were not aggressive and the perfect diplomats were humble before the world.
This is called the practice of the virtue of non-struggle.
This is called the use of the wisdom of benevolence.
This is called to comply with the ultimate Nature."
-  Translated by Tang Zi-Chang, Chapter 68
 
 "The best soldier is not violent.
The best fighter is not angry.
The best winner is not contentious.
The best employer is humble.
This is known as the power of not striving,
as ability in human relations,
and as being in accord with heaven."
-  Translated by Sanderson Beck, 1996, Chapter 68 


"The best warrior leads without haste fights without anger overcomes without confrontation
He puts himself below and brings out the highest in his men
This is the virtue of not confronting of working with the abilities you have of complying with the laws of Heaven
This is the ancient path that leads to perfection"
-  Translated by Johathan Star, 2001, Chapter 68  


善為士者不武.
善戰者不怒.
善勝敵者不與.
善用人者為之下.
是謂不爭之德.
是謂用人之力.
是謂配天古之極.
-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 68 

  
shan wei shih chê pu wu.
shan chan chê pu nu.
shan shêng ti chê pu yü.
shan yung jên chê wei chih hsia.
shih wei pu chêng chih tê. 
shih wei yung jên chih li.
shih wei p'ei t'ien ku chih chi.
-  Wade-Giles Romanization, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 68 


"The best captain does not plunge headlong
Nor is the best soldier a fellow hot to fight.
The greatest victor wins without a battle:
He who overcomes men understands them.
There is a quality of quietness
Which quickens people by no stress:
'fellowship with heaven,' as of old,
Is fellowship with man and keeps its hold."
-  Translated by Witter Bynner, 1944, Chapter 68


"A good warrior is not bellicose,
A good fighter does not anger,
A good conqueror does not contest his enemy,
One who is good at using others puts himself below them.
This is called "integrity without competition,"
This is called "using others,"
This is called "parity with heaven," - the pinnacle of the ancients."
-  Translated by Victor H. Mair, 1990, Chapter 68

"Un caudillo sabio nunca es belicoso.
Un guerrero sabio nunca se enfurece.
Quien sabe vencer no ataca primero.
Quien sabe guiar a las personas no las humilla,
sino que, por el contrario, se coloca a sí mismo
en una posición más baja.
Así son las leyes de Te que renuncian a la ira,
al propio enaltecimiento y a la violencia.
Así actúan Aquellos Que representan a Te guiando
a las personas al Tao Primordial y Eterno.
-  Translated by Anton Teplyy, 2008, Tao Te Ching, Capítulo 68


"Those eminent for scholarly virtues are not fighting men.
Those eminent in war do not lose their temper.
Those eminent for victory do not struggle.
Those eminent for making use of others descend to their level.
This may be called the virtue which does not contend;
the power of utilizing men;
the utmost limit that can be reached in equaling Heaven and the men of old."
-  Translated by Frederic Henry Balfour, 1884, Chapter 68  

"Fight without violence.
Fight without rage.
Forget the supposed hurts done to you and do not seek vengeance.
Take pride in your humility.
Real decency is quiet, it brings people together and empties the self.
It is the same thing that holds the universe together."
-  Translated by Crispin Starwell, Chapter 68  

A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes over 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 Tao Te Ching 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 Chapter.   


Chapter 68, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

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  

Attention, Language and Time

 

Attention, Language and Time
Selected Poetry: 2016 - 2026
By Michael P. Garofalo

This WebBook is a collection of poems, quips, quintain stanzas, resource links, Onions, lists, docu-poems, short studies, reality slices, Kernels, concrete and Text-Art poems, sonnets, and hypertext explorations and diversions.
All by Mike Garofalo.

It features lifestyles and locales in the Pacific Northwest.

It traces the evolution of the poetic voices of one old man during a decade.

It essays the front and flanks of Time.

Poetry WebBook, 60 pages, October 2026. No Ads!

Subject Indexes to Dogen Zenji's 300 Koans Collection

 Eihei Dogen's 300 Koans Collection: Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo

Dogen's Shinji Mana Shobogenzo 300 Koans Collection DSMS

Buddhism: Dogen's Shinji Mana Shobogenzo Koan Collection 
DSMS 300 Koan Cases
Text Authority:
The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dōgen's Three Hundred Koans.
Translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi and John Daido Loori. Shambhala, 2005, index, glossary, lineage charts, biographies, 472 pages.

Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo
Green Way Research, Vancouver, Washington
2nd Draft, May 30, 2023

Subject Index to All Cases in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection. 
DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 51 pages.

Alphabetical Order List of English Titles of Cases in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection. DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 11 pages.

Cases in Numerical Order of English Titles in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection. 
DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 11 pages.

Alphabetical Order List of the Teachers in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection.
DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 11 pages.

Subject Index to 1,001 Zen Buddhist Koans

DSMS

DSSS

Subject Index to 1,001 Zen Buddhist Koans

Sparks: Brief Spiritual Lessons and Stories

Matches to Start a Kindling of Insight.
May the Light from Our Inner Fireplace Help All Beings.
Taoist, Chan Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Philosophers.
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Koans, Meditations.
Indexing, Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources.
Koans Database Project.
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo

Kenneth Rexroth on Chinese Classics

"In the Confucian writings Tao usually means either a road or a way of life. It means that in the opening verse of the Tao Te Ching, “The way that can be followed (or the road that can be traced or charted) is not the true way. The word that can be spoken is not the true word.” Very quickly the text drives home the numinous significance of both Tao and Te. Tao is described by paradox and contradiction — the Absolute in a worldview where absolutes are impossible, the ultimate reality which is neither being nor not being, the hidden meaning behind all meaning, the pure act which acts without action and yet the reason and order of the simplest physical occurrence.

It is quite possible — in fact Joseph Needham in his great Science and Civilization in China does so — to interpret the Tao Te Ching as a treatise of elementary primitive scientific empiricism; certainly it is that. Over and over it says, “learn the way of nature”; “do not try to overcome the forces of nature but use them.” On the other hand, Fr. Leo Weiger, S.J., called the Tao Te Ching a restatement of the philosophy of the Upanishads in Chinese terms. Buddhists, especially Zen Buddhists in Japan and America, have understood and translated the book as a pure statement of Zen doctrine. Even more remarkable, contemporary Chinese, and not all of them Marxists, have interpreted it as an attack on private property and feudal oppression, and as propaganda for communist anarchism. Others have interpreted it as a cryptic work of erotic mysticism and yoga exercises. It is all of these things and more, and not just because of the ambiguity of the ideograms in a highly compressed classical Chinese text; it really is many things to many men — like the Tao itself.

Perhaps the best way to get at the foundations of the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching is by means of a historical, anthropological approach which in itself may be mythical. There is little doubt that the organized Taoist religion, which came long after the Tao Te Ching but which still was based on it, swept up into an occultist system much of the folk religion of the Chinese culture area, much as Japanese Shinto (which means the Tao of the Gods) did in Japan. If the later complicated Taoist religion developed from the local cults, ceremonies and superstitions of the precivilized folk religion, how could it also develop from the Tao Te Ching or from the early Taoist philosophers whose works are collected under the names of Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu and who are about as unsuperstitious and antiritualistic as any thinkers in history? The connection is to be found I feel in the shamans and shamanesses of a pan-Asiatic culture which stretches from the Baltic far into America, and to the forest philosophers and hermits who appear at the beginnings of history and literature in both India and China and whose prehistoric existence is testified by the yogi in the lotus position on a Mohenjo-Daro seal. The Tao Te Ching describes the experiential or existential core of the transcendental experience shared by the visionaries of primitive cultures. The informants of Paul Radin’s classic Primitive Man as Philosopher say much the same things. It is this which gives it its air of immemorial wisdom, although many passages are demonstrably later than Confucius, and may be later than the “later” Taoists, Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu.

There are two kinds of esotericism in Oriental religion: the proliferation of spells, chants, rituals, mystical diagrams, cosmologies and cosmogonies, trials of the soul, number mysticism, astrology, and alchemy, all of which go to form the corpus of a kind of pan-Gnosticism. Its remarkable similarities are shared by early Christian heretics, Jewish Kabbalists, Tantric worshipers of Shiva, Japanese Shingon Buddhists, and Tibetan lamas. The other occultism (held strangely enough by the most highly developed minds amongst some people) is the exact opposite, a stark religious empiricism shorn of all dogma or cult, an attitude toward life based upon realization of the unqualified religious experience as such. What does the contemplator contemplate? What does the life of illumination illuminate? To these questions there can be no answer — the experience is beyond qualification. So say the Zen documents, a form of late Buddhism originating in China, but so say the Hinayana texts, which are assumed to be as near as we can get to the utterances of the historic Buddha Sakyamuni, but so say also the Upanishads — “not this, not this, not that, not that,” but so also say some of the highly literate and sophisticated technical philosophers (in our sense of the word) of Sung Dynasty Neo-Confucianism. So says the Tao Te Ching.

In terms of Western epistemology, a subject Classical Chinese thought does not even grant existence, the beginning and end of knowledge are the same thing — the intuitive apprehension of reality as a totality, before and behind the data of sense or the constructions of experience and reason. The Tao Te Ching insists over and over that this is both a personal, psychological and a social, moral, even political first principle. At the core of life is a tiny, steady flame of contemplation. If this goes out the person perishes, although the body and its brain may stumble on, and civilization goes rapidly to ruin. The source of life, the source of the order of nature, the source of knowledge, and the source of social order are all identical — the immediate comprehension of the reality beyond being and not being; existence and essence; being and becoming. Contact with this reality is the only kind of power there is. Against that effortless power all self-willed acts and violent attempts to rule self, man, or natural process are delusion and end only in disaster.

The lesson is simple, and once learned, easy to paraphrase. The Tao is like water. Striving is like smoke. The forces of Nature are infinitely more powerful than the strength of men. Toil to the top of the highest peak and you will be swept away in the first storm. Seek the lowest possible point and eventually the whole mountain will descend to you. There are two ways of knowing, under standing and over bearing. The first is called wisdom. The second is called winning arguments. Being, as power, comes from the still void behind being and not being. The enduring and effective power of the individual, whether hermit or king or householder, comes from the still void at the heart of the contemplative. The wise statesman conquers by the quiet use of his opponents’ violence, like the judo and jujitsu experts.

The Tao Te Ching is a most remarkable document, but the most remarkable thing about it is that it has not long since converted all men to its self-evident philosophy. It was called mysterious at the beginning of this essay. It is really simple and obvious; what is mysterious is the complex ignorance and complicated morality of mankind that reject its wisdom.

-  Kenneth Rexroth, Classics Revisited, 1968

Gardening in Vancouver, Washington

Gardening Information

Understanding your gardening environment is essential to success.  What are the climate conditions in your area during a year's cycle?  What is the soil like?
What kinds of plants are grown successfully in your area?  What nurseries are nearby.  

Vancouver, Washington, USA, Zip Code: 98662

Hardiness Zone:  Zone 8a: 10F to 15F

Average First Frost:  October 21 - 31

Average Last Frost:  April 1 - 10

Koppen-Geiger Climate Zone:  Csb - Warm-Summer Mediterranean Climate

Ecoregion:  3a - Portland Vancouver Basin

Palmer Drought Index:  Extremely Moist

Average Annual Rainfall:  43.55 inches

Heat Zone Days:  Rare Over 86F 

Elevation:  171 feet above the Pacific Ocean

Soil:  

Nurseries:  Yard and Garden, Shorty's, Tsugawa in Woodland, Lowe's and Home Depot.  

General Geography: 

The Pacific Ocean and Astoria, Oregon, is 100 miles to the West from Vancouver.
The south side of the City of Vancouver is the Columbia River, and across the river is Portland, Oregon.  The Cascade range and Columbia Gorge is to the East.  Looking north: 165 miles to Seattle, 494 miles to Vancouver, Canada; 105 miles to Olympia, and 45 miles to Mt. St. Helens.  

January Average: 33F low, 46F high, 6" Rain

February Average: 35F low, 50F high, 4.99" Rain

March Average: 37F low, 56F high, 4.38" Rain

April Average:  40F low, 60F high, 3.28" Rain

May Average:  45F low, 67F high, 2.67" Rain

June Average:  50F low, 72F high, 1.88" Rain

July Average:  53F low, 79F high, .8" Rain

August Average:  57F low, 82F high, .5" Rain

September Average:  49F low, 75F high, 1.91" Rain

October Average:  42F low, 64F high, 3.41" Rain

November Average:  38F low, 52F high, 6.49" Rain

December Average:  34F low, 46F high, 6.68" Rain

Yearly Averages:  42F low, 62F high, 43.55" Rain


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