A Reminder
Thanks to Candice Simon, who shared this with me.
Category: China
Reading/713 (Master Chu)
In reading, you must keep your mind glued to the text. Only when every sentence and every character falls into place have you done a good job of thinking through the work. In general, the…
Appreciating Arthur Waley
for my multilingual friends and lovers of literature Notes on Ivan Morris, ed., Madly Singing in the Mountains: An Appreciation and Anthology of Arthur Waley Related Books Ezra Pound, The ABC of Reading; Anne-Marie Schimmel,…
Viva Tang
Ten thousand and two texts A thousand and three tweets 644 Facebook status updates 87 cell phone messages save or delete Enough already! Take a deep breath Leave behind the technology And go out To…
Wang Yang-ming
Catch yourself thinking. –Allen Ginsberg The influential neo-Confucian philosopher Wang Yang-ming was influenced by Ch’an Buddhism throughout his life. And not just intellectually: He spent regularly time at Buddhist monasteries. So, it isn’t surprising to…
Happy Every Day
I take both grace and insult With cheerful equanimity — Du Fu Dear Wendy, Congrats on your decision to move to China and, as Kerouac advised, be in love with your Shanghai life. I marvel…
Sitting Idle at the North Window by Po Chü-i
The window empty: two thickets of bamboo. The house tranquil: a single fragrant stove. Beyond the gate, it’s red dust everywhere, and in the city, that white sun hurries on, but I don’t chase after…
Sorrow of Departure by Li Ch’ing-chao
To the Tune “Cutting a Flowering Plum Branch” Red lotus incense fades on The jeweled curtain. Autumn Comes again. Gently I open My silk dress and float alone On the orchid boat. Who can Take…
A Poem by Li Ch’ing-chao (Lǐ Qīngzhào)
Autumn Love “A Weary Song to a Slow Sad Tune” Search. Search. Seek. Seek. Cold. Cold. Clear. Clear. Sorrow. Sorrow. Pain. Pain. Hot flashes. Sudden chills. Stabbing pains. Slow agonies. I can find no peace.
Reply to Yüan Chen
You write out my poems, filling monastery walls, and I crowd these door-screens here with yours. Old friend, we never know where it is we’ll meet– we two duckweed leaves adrift on such vast seas….