Drink Tea, Stop War

A somewhat oblique continuation of yesterday's Memorial Day post. Paul Reps (1895-1990) was one of the first haiku poets in the U.S., and, together with Nyogen Senzaki, was the editor of the wonderful collection of dharma stories, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (1957). This was the first zen book I ever read.

James Ishmael Ford offered this beautiful story about Paul Reps yesterday on the Sweeping Zen site:

"At one point Reps had traveled to Japan, with plans to visit a respected Zen master in Korea. He went to the passport office in Japan to apply for his visa and was politely informed that his request was denied due to the war that had just broken out in Korea.

Reps sat down in the waiting area. He had come thousands of miles with the plan to study with this master in Korea. He was frustrated and disappointed. What did he do? He practiced what he preached. Reaching into his bag, he mindfully pulled out his thermos and poured himself a cup of tea. With a calm and focused mind, he watched the steam rising and dissolving into the air. He smelled its fragrance, tasted its tasty bitter flavor, and enjoyed its warmth and wetness. Finishing his tea, he put his cup back on his thermos, put his thermos in his bag, and pulled out a pen and paper upon which he wrote a Haiku poem.

Mindfully, he walked back to the clerk behind the counter, bowed, and presented him with his poem, and his passport. The clerk read it and looked deeply into the quiet strength in Rep’s eyes. The clerk smiled, bowed with respect, picked up Rep’s visa and stamped it for passage to Korea. The Haiku read:

Drinking a cup of tea, 
I stopped the war."

[NOTE: I have spent a lot of time in visa offices around the world, and am thoroughly humbled by the patience and creativity exhibited by Mr. Reps]

Memorial Day 2011

Went to the Memorial Day parade this morning to watch my daughter play clarinet in the NRHS marching band (great job, Amy). Lots of motorcycles and bagpipes and veterans of foreign wars and sparkly floats and prancing baton twirlers and horses. And I took pictures of everything. But my favorite shot of all is the little guy above biting the windowsill in rapture while watching the show with his mom. 

Diamond Sutra, Cave 17, Dunhuang

The image above is a piece of a 5 m long, wood-block printed scroll found in a cave in northwest China in 1907. It is a copy of the Diamond Sutra. It is also the world's earliest dated printed book. A colophon at the end of the scroll reads "Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 15th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong [11 May 868]. This is almost 600 years before the Gutenberg Bible was printed. A complete version of the scroll can be viewed here. [NOTE: The Diamond Sutra is one of 40,000 books and manuscripts sealed in a cave near the city of Dunhuang around the year 1000 CE.]

Divers

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is one of the best aquariums I've ever seen.  A collection with over 600 species of fish, a stunning building designed by Peter Chermayeff LLC, and a wonderful staff of volunteer divers that feed the fish, scrub the coral, and play with the sea turtles. Great place to spend a couple of hours with old friends (thx, Jim and Jacque). [NOTE: Music by El Ten Eleven.]

Subterranean Homesick Blues

Bob Dylan's 70th birthday is tomorrow. I am going to be on the road, so let me just say "Happy Birthday, Bob" now while I have the chance.

"Keep a clean nose.
Watch for plainclothes.
You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows..."

Sound advice.  [NOTE: Is that Allen Ginsburg with the cane standing in the back chatting through the whole video?] [NOTE2: Yes, it is.  The other man is apparently musician/songwriter Bob Neuwirth.] [NOTE3: What's Ginsberg doing at 1:38?]

The Guys

Field crew from the 2009 work in Kachin State, Myanmar (see Shinlonga and Crossing the Taron). Diverse mix of wonderful people.  That's U Saw Htun, WCS coordinator of the Northern Forest Complex, on the far left in the back, and Rob Tizard, wildlife biologist, community development worker, accomplished photographer and amazing ornithologist, standing on the far right (with the leech socks and binoculars). In between, there's U Sein Aung Mein, my liason/counterpart from the Myanmar Forest Department, our two Kachin assistants, NawAung and Naw Sein (see Kachin Guides), the local police and army escorts, and the fantastic WCS Hukaung Wildlife Sanctuary folks. [NOTE: Can't believe I never posted this photo. What a great bunch of people.]

Canary Sky

A beautiful time lapse from the Teide National Park on Tenerife in the Canary Islands of Spain, off the northwest coast of Africa. Some really unique plants in this video. And breath-taking shots of the Milky Way. And a colorful double fogbow. And moon coronas. And lenticular clouds. Best viewed full screen. Enjoy the weekend.

Sneakers

Miao still life from the village of Wudong in Guizhou, China (2010). 

A Palm, Two Botanists With Cameras

The palm is Nenga banaensis (Magalon) Burret, or "cây cau rung" as it's known in central Vietnam. The first botanist is Dr. Andrew Henderson (see An Unusual Rattan and Pressing Plectocomiopsis), a palm specialist in the Institute of Systematic Botany of The New York Botanical Garden. The second botanist is Mr. Biu Van Thanh (see Kon Tum and Phong Dien), a doctoral student at the Vietnamese Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR) in Hanoi.  [NOTE: I like their hats.]

The Back Row

A few women from the Kachin village of Shinlonga (see Shinlonga and Stick and Wheel) would always attend the community meetings where we explained what we were doing (see The Last Stake and Naw Aung and His Sagawa). And they always sat together in the back row. And never said anything. But were extremely photogenic. [NOTE: Image from the December 2009 trip to the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary].