Photographer: Jack Pal
This is a striking verse of a poem written by Zhou Lu Jing titled “Hermit Crazy about Plum.”
This version was translated by Chan
Master Tsung Tsai and George Crane. Once more i borrowed a piece of Sean Murphy incredible book “One
Bird One Stone.”
This verse could pass as uninteresting, as most of zen short
poems could pass as uninteresting if it is not looked at with the right eyes
and understanding. Maybe, the more appropriate word to use it is not even
understanding, but appreciation. Understanding in some level implies knowledge.
However, because Zen is, in accord with what I was told once, a process of
unlearning, the word knowledge should not be brought up in this case.
I am not gonna try to give an intellectual explanation of
this verse. That could easily become boring pretty soon. I am gonna tell why i
chose this verse as the quote of the week. Once I was taking a seminary on
self-improvement. The speaker was talking about the joy of living and
appreciation of life. He said that when we become adults we tend to need more
and more complicated things to find satisfaction. However, he said, children can
find great pleasure on playing with the simplest things, even a couple of
twigs. This is what this verse seems to be about: having the humbleness and the
courage of finding the most sublime grace in a couple of ignorable twigs.
There is a quote from Marcel Proust that I use as personal
signature in my e-mail. It comes very much into place here. i am going to close
this comments with it:
“The real voyage of
discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Oh, actually… another quote. This is from Antoine de
Saint-Exupery.
“What is essential is
invisible to the eye.”
When you look at those twigs what do you see?
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