Literal Plum Blossoms

 







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Into the Mystic (Allen)

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  Toward the end of his life, in the little cottage behind his Lafayette, California house, Bob Birnbaum breathed heavily in his black leather easy chair, his tired eyes closed, as I counted the ways that he had appeared to me during our Wednesday at 4 p.m. blast-offs: Therapist, teacher, surrogate dad, mentor, spiritual master, fellow traveler, bodhisattva, friend, wise leader, beloved, will-bender, pilot. Those are the ones I remember. It was a long list. He shook his head violently at “teacher.” In fact, he scorned all but two – “friend” and “fellow traveler.” When I finished he repeated out loud and nodded vigorously, “That one. Fellow traveler.” Bob (whom I never knew as Swami Prem Amitabh) was raised in the Bronx tenements and projects of the 30s and 40s, so as a Jewish red diaper baby he was applauding the subversive Communist-inspired etymology tucked into the term “fellow traveler.”   We were in on the same spiritual secret cabal, Bob and I! Seven years together, an...
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At the Gate, through the Gate (Allen)

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  The monastery gate affected rust, but this was an optical illusion. By exposing coat after coat of red-dirt primer, the resulting bumps and crevices simulated aging. This had the advantage of appearing decrepit to casual passersby, the grounds uninviting in their assumed impoverishment. Mike the UPS driver tapped one foot until finally a young monk cheerfully swung open the right panel of the gate. Mike carried a shoebox sized package wrapped in brown paper.   Young Monk: I’ll take that. [He holds both hands out, palms up and slightly cupped as if it to receive it in sacrament.] Mike: Can’t. Instructions are it has to be hand-delivered to some guy named Dogen. Young Monk: I’m new here. I don’t know any Dogen. Let me find someone who does. Wait here. * * * Tenzo: You have a package for Dogen? Mike: Yes. Tenzo: I’ll take it. It’s probably his favorite dried apricots. He says the fresh ones are too sweet. They need air to ripen. Mike: Like I told the other g...
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Interesting article about cave paintings

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WHAT THE CAVES ARE TRYING TO TELL US                                                                                           (image from the article)   I came across a 2017 article by Sam Kriss about cave paintings (linked above) and I thought it was relevant to the Painted Rice Cakes reading. Cave paintings embody the idea that artistic representations are somehow more than just an image. It is a fun read and pretty short, but I'll include some of the passages that made me think of our class readings: "There's a powerful magic in representation, the gift of creating the world in simulation, the ability to turn charcoal and ochre into something that is also a real horse: might it have had an effect on the horse its...
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