Burton Watson, Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, Columbia University Press, 1996 Once Chuang Chou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn’t know…
Leland Poague, ed.Conversations with Susan Sontag University Press of Mississippi, 1995 Sometimes I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending—but then I say all is everything—is the idea of seriousness, of true…
Devoted Buddhist Semi-recluse Noticer of the minute particulars Painter of vast emptiness Appreciator of interbeing moment by moment Befriender of sages, visitors and travelers moving in and out of the Ch’an world His wife dead…
For a true gentleman [junzi], learning is a matter of working on oneself. When slander and praise, glory and disgrace come, not only is his mind unmoved by such things, but he uses them as…
Sitting outside at Stella and Bella’s Cafe The Presidential debate two hours away Reading Su Tung-P’o’s bamboo poem Will Clinton deliver the knock-out blow? On my ballot, I’ll write in: Chuang Tzu –from novel-in-progress, Our Heroic…
for Caroline Going on a journey, whatever the destination, makes you feel suddenly awake and alive to everything. There are so many new things to see in rustic places and country villages as you wander…
Some friends and I are reading Du Fu in David Young’s translation. Here’s what Ye Xie (1627-1703) had to say about him– “Take any one of Du Fu’s poems, or even one line, and everywhere…
Chris Wallach and I are starting a reading group in 2015 with the aim of reading one of the translations each month of such poets as Wang Wei, Han-Shan, Li Ch’ing-chao, Tu Fu, Su Tung-p’o, Bo Juyi,…
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…
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,…