#thomas cleary

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

spigno/monferrato/italy

* * * *

“If people can be open-minded and magnanimous, be receptive to all, take pity on the old and the poor, assist those in peril and rescue those in trouble, give of themselves without seeking reward, never bear grudges, look upon others and self impartially, and realize all as one, then people can be companions of heaven. If people can be flexible and yielding, humble, with self-control, entirely free of agitation, cleared of all volatility, not angered by criticism, ignoring insult, docilely accepting all hardships, illnesses, and natural disasters, utterly without anxiety or resentment when faced with danger or adversity, then people can be companions of earth.” Awakening to the Tao by Liu I-ming (1734–1821) Translated by Thomas Cleary

[Thanks to “Alive On All Channels”]

[xenofact]

The Gentle and The Firm

In my readings on Taoism, I recently read through “Immortal Sisters,” one of Thomas Cleary’s early translations, this one of works by female Taoists. It’s a fascinating read of course, and it’s written by a younger, dare I say feistier Cleary with opinions on certain eras of Chinese history that I believe mitigated with time. However I wish to focus on some writings by famed Taoist Immortal Sun Bu-Er and commentary by Chen Yingning (Cleary has a knack for finding and translating not just documents, but often extensive commentary on the same).

The funny thing was the copy I had I’ve had, as of this writing, perhaps two decades or more. I’d forgotten I had it, and as I was working to expand my Taoist readings, I decided it was time. I found much excellent advice, but one piece stood out in particular.

To show how useful this advice was, let me explain the situation where it helped me.

My meditative practice, as I’ve stated before, is based on The Secret of The Golden Flower, where one rests mind on breath while one tunes breath to be slower and even. It’s a simple process, summarizable in, say, a small handbook. However as any practitioner of meditation knows, the actual experience is one that can be discussed endlessly (as many have).

Trying to rest mind on breath and tune that breath isn’t as simple as it may sound, at least for me. One is trying to tune breath, one is trying to rest mind, one is sitting still, one probably has thoughts arising and so on. In my readings of Taoist literature, I’ve found at least a notable part of the obscure symbolism is useful concepts and approaches to help meditation without spelling it out so much your expectations mess you up.

And the writings of Sun Bu-Er provides to have some extremely helpful advice. The specific section is called “Cultivating the Elixir,” and using alchemical symbolism, it states the following:

“Tuning the breath, gather it in the gold crucible.”

“Stabilizing spirit, guard the jade pass.”

Chen Yingning notes in his commentary (which, as per classic Taoism, is far longer than the things he comments on) that this is about the kind of concentration one uses. Breath requires strong concentration, resting the mind requires gentle concentration.

And, suddenly, I understood meditation more.

There I am tuning my breath - slower and more even all the time. That requires firmness, strength. Your whole body is engaged. That strength ensures a refined breath.

There I am resting my mind - and that is best done gently. We all know what it’s like to force our mind to do things - our mind wrestling with our mind is a painful thing. But when I rest my mind on breath, I can make it gentler and gentler.

It’s firm and gentle, mind and breath, yin and yang – pairings are understandably common in Taoist meditation. A little addition to my understanding of meditation thanks to a modern translator and the writers of the past. A little more for my journey down the path.

That’s a funny thing about meditative practices, about spiritual practices in general. You have to do it, you have to get your hands dirty, and you can’t get lost in scripture and notes and endless spinning thoughts. At the same time you have to read and expand your mind, never think you have the answers - or even all the questions.

It requires a kind of curiosity, a willingness to get into the readings - like a meditation. Be open to surprises.

Just like me with a copy of a book I got decades ago.

-Xenofact

[loneberry]

From “The Flower Bank World” in the Avatamsaka Sutra

The Buddhist Painting of Songgwansa Temple, Suncheon, South Korea (Illustration of Avatamsaka Sutra)

“Then Universally Good also said to the assembly, ‘In the land masses of this ocean of worlds are seas of fragrant waters, as numerous as atoms in unspeakably many buddha-fields. All beautiful jewels adorn the floors of those seas; gems of exquisite fragrances adorn their shores. They are meshed with luminous diamonds. Their fragrant waters shine with the colors of all jewels. Flowers of all kinds of gems swirl on their surfaces. Sandalwood powder settles on the bottom of the seas. They emanate the sounds of Buddhas’ speech. They radiate jewellike light. Boundless enlightening beings, holding various canopies, manifest mystic powers causing the adornments of all worlds to appear therein. Stairways of ten kinds of precious substances are set out in rows, with balustrades of ten kinds of jewels surrounding them. White lotuses ornamented with jewels, as many as atoms in four continents, are spread over the waters, in full bloom. There are unspeakable hundreds of thousands of billions of trillions of banners of ten precious elements, banners of belled gauze of raiments of all jewels, as many as sand grains in the Ganges river, jewel flower palaces of boundless forms, as many as sand grains in the Ganges river, a hundred thousand billion trillion lotus castles of ten precious substances, forests of jewel trees as many as atoms in four continents, networks of flaming jewels, as many sandalwood perfumes as grains of sand in the Ganges, and jewels of blazing radiance emitting the sounds of Buddhas’ speech…”

--From book five “The Flower Bank World” in the The Flower Ornament Scripture (Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra), translated from Chinese by Thomas Cleary. The various sutras were originally composed in Sanskrit and compiled and translated into Chinese in the 5th century CE. Thomas Cleary’s English translation is based on the Chinese translation done by the Khotanese monk Shikshananda (652-710 CE), who translated it at the request of the Tang Empress. 

I stumbled upon this sutra in the back of a book that included a ‘glossary of buddhist terms’ while at a Zen meditation retreat. Flower cosmology? That sounds like my shit. Since I didn’t have my phone I wrote the name down on a piece of paper and slipped it into my backpack. It really is as incredible as I imagined it to be.

“Alan Fox has described the sutra's worldview as ‘fractal’, ‘holographic’, and ‘psychedelic’”—yes.

“In the Huayan school, the teaching of interpenetration is depicted through various metaphors, such as Indra's net, a teaching which may have been influenced by the Gandhavyuha chapter's climax scene in Vairocana's Tower. Indra's net is an infinite cosmic net that contains a multifaceted jewel at each vertex, with each jewel being reflected in all of the other jewels, ad infinitum. Thus, each jewel contains the entire net of jewels reflected within.”

[uwmspeccoll]

Decorative Sunday

Published in Boston by Shambhala Publications in 2000, The Buddha Scroll is a twenty-first century facsimile of an eighteenth-century reproduction of a twelfth-century work. This accordion-fold book folds out to replicate the 36-foot Qing dynasty scroll, painted by Ding Guanpeng ( 丁觀鵬) in 1767. Ding Guanpeng was commissioned by Emperor Gaozong of Qing to reproduce the Pictorial of Buddhist Icons, completed in 1180 by Zhang Shengwen of the Kingdom of Dali (present day Yunnan Province) after the original work was found water damaged and mismounted.

The Kingdom of Dali and it’s predecessor Nanzhao were situated between Tibet and China and encompassed many ethnic and linguistic groups. Translator Thomas Cleary, who contributed an introduction to the scroll as well as a key to the figures found in the scroll, writes that the depictions in the scroll “reflect the syncretic cultural background of its original model, representing a whole range of Buddhism … it is an unusually eclectic work of art, illustrating the continuity of the many currents that form the great ocean of Buddhism.”

The Buddha Scroll was a gift of Dick Schoen. 

Find more Decorative Sunday posts here. 

-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[lovesinistra]

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1939 – In one of the more intriguing episodes of World War II, German U-Boat 35 under the command of Kapitan Werner Lott disembarked 28 men at Dingle, Co Kerry from the Greek cargo ship Diamantis.

#OTD in 1939 – In one of the more intriguing episodes of World War II, German U-Boat 35 under the command of Kapitan Werner Lott disembarked 28 men at Dingle, Co Kerry from the Greek cargo ship Diamantis.

About 15.40 hours on 3 Oct, 1939, the Diamantis was torpedoed by U-35 and sank 40 miles west of the Scilly Islands. Because the lifeboats were not suited for use in the bad weather, Lott decided to take all crew members aboard and landed them the next day at Dingle, Co Kerry. On a stormy evening in October 1939 the realities of World War II reached the shores of the Dingle Peninsula. A crowd of…

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[godzilla-reads]

Summer Days in the Mountains by Yu Xuanji; from Autumn Willows: Poetry by Women of China’s Golden Age translated by Bannie Chow and Thomas Cleary

[ladyfuries07]

Sun Tzu: The Man Who Saved My Life. A Man I’ll Never Meet. The Man I Want to Say Thank You to.

“If you could meet one historical figure who would you meet? Why?” I’ve been asked this question so many times by friends over the years when we play that ask a question game thing about each other. Usually played while drunk, but I digress. The answer I will always give is: Sun Tzu.

Here is why.

When it was my turn to answer I said without hesitation Sun Tzu.

A few of them giggled (out of surprise also some were drunk so..yeah.) and others just looked confused or both. It was a mix. 

One friend asked, “that war philosophy guy? ... Why?”

So I explained why. 

***I’m going to summarize the conversation because I can’t remember the exact words (I too had a few drinks) and some parts are removed. A lot more personal information was shared during the conversation that I would not just broadcast on the internet lightly. Thank you for your understanding.***

In Middle/Junior high school my family and I moved to an area so clique-y that I was always the outsider. No one would help me, be my advocate, or stand up for me in the area because everybody knew everybody. I tried the principal, vice principal, even a police officer. Any help I tried to get was shutdown. No one believed me or wanted to believe me. It was also starting to cause serious problems for other family members so I just stopped speaking out. I didn’t want them to get badly hurt.

So I would be tormented nearly everyday. Take your pick: It was either verbal, emotional, and or physical assault. I would be beaten up so much and so violently I couldn't wear shorts or no-sleeve shirts anymore. I was a walking bruise/abrasion most of the time. Where I live it can get into the 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) range. No matter what I would always wear long pants. Winter was jeans and summer was khakis. [The khakis I owned were thinner than jeans. So not as hot I guess.] They hid the wounds and many times helped protect me from getting more.

After all what we can’t change we must find a way to endure. However, I was not enduring well at all.

During an incredibly low point in my life. A time when i was living in terror everyday and considering committing suicide. However, at the same time I didn’t want to give up. I just had no idea how to fight back or make things bearable. It was a very mixed up time for me.

I was watching a tv show with my family and during the show one of the characters mentioned the book, “The Art of War” and something about tactics. To this day I can’t remember the damn of the damn program. (I think there was an explosion in it.) However, it was enough to spark my curiosity.

So I turned on our old desktop computer and looked into it to see if it was real. IT WAS! I knew then and there that I had to get my hands on this book.

So we went to the city to go shopping and we stopped at the Boarders bookstore at the mall. Bolting across the parking lot I went inside. Shaking with determination and fear, I had to get that book. What if they didn’t have the book? What ifs flooded my head as well as my social anxiety.

I was able to push through them just enough to ask one of the bookshop attendants where, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu was. The woman looked a little surprised at my request, but she directed me to the shelf it was on. I was ecstatic. They had it! Not just one version either. So I had to take my time looking through them. After looking them over for quite awhile I decided to get the version translated by Thomas Cleary.

I devoured that book. Everything he was telling me felt like holy writ. Also I was felling hopeful again. So I learned everything I could and used it.

For example: I stopped using my locker and carried everything with me in my backpack. I kept myself completely mobile. Now with no fixed place for them to know where I was it was harder for them to find me to hurt me.

In changing how I carried my things I also was able to change up my route through the school a lot easier. Making it harder to find me as well.

I MADE IT AN ENTIRE WEEK WITHOUT GETTING HURT! I was elated!!!

I was feeling empowered and most importantly not alone anymore. It was like I had this ancient Chinese general holding my hand telling me how to fight back. I felt like I had a chance to survive.

I also did some research into self defense techniques I could use. Just in case they did catch up with me. I mean I was incredibly small next to my abusers. I’m a 5′4″ tall girl. The smallest of them was a 6′ tall guy. They all played sports of some kind too. 

However, it was only a matter of time before my abusers found me in the hallways at some point. That time came in about the fourth or fifth month.

During that time I was also doing some research into self-defense techniques I could use. I even started taking a self-defense class. I learned how to get out of holds and how to get away.

I was not going to go down without a fight. After all, I am a person damn it! I did nothing to these motherfuckers.

This attack felt different somehow. I don’t know how I knew I just knew that this was going to get bad. It felt like a dangerous electricity.

There were three boys in this pack of beasts. The moment I saw them I threw my backpack away from me and placed the wall to my back. I was not going to be surprised from behind from them. However, one of the boys gagged my mouth with toilet paper and the other two carried me out of the school through one of the exterior doors close by. 

They carried me outside for a bit. I tried to scream, but couldn’t. So I played dead. Making myself heavy and non-compliant. So they dropped my on the ground. God that hurt, but I was able to scramble away.

I tried to get the toilet paper out of my mouth as I ran for the door, but one of the guys tackled me down on the ground. Knocking the breath out of me. Now that hurt worse then being dropped. He tried grabbing at my throat to choke me. Thankfully, I had learned to put Vaseline on my neck so people couldn’t get a proper grip. (I would re-apply it throughout the day.) 

It was just enough for me to be able to go for his eyes. He pulled away right away. Just enough for me to get up. I ran for the doors again, but another one of the guys grabbed my shoulder. I in turn grabbed his fingers and bent them as far backwards as I could. He screamed in pain letting me go.

I finally made it to the doors and back into the school. I grabbed my bag and headed for the girls restroom. There I pulled out the toilet paper wad out of my mouth and cried as well as laughed in a stall. It was just a mix of emotions. I was terrified about what had happened, but also happy I survived it. 

Winning the fight meant surviving it and getting away. End of. Not having some fancy Hollywood fight scene. All I wanted was to live and be left the fuck alone.

There were many other fights after that one. The difference between the beatings and the fights was that during the fights I fought back. I wasn’t going to be an easy beat down anymore.

If it wasn't for me finding; “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu in freshman year of high school, frankly I would be dead if it wasn't for him. 

So if there was someway to meet him or communicate with him somehow I would tell him Thank You! I would tell him that his writing saved my life and there would never be enough I could do to repay him for that. He also gave me hope during a time when I had none. Now I’m not sure if we would be friends or whatever. (I can be a bit much sometimes so there is that.) I do hope I could give him a hug or something.

I still read, “The Art of War” at least once a year. It is the closest thing I have to any sort of thing to do religiously.