this blog is the continuation of a genuine mystical tradition, unless you get in daily contemplative time and abstain to a significant degree from "entertainment" then you are just wasting your time and mine !
I think the root problem with zen and this goes way back is their horizons are intellectually too limited !
wang wei lived only a generation after the 6th patriarch and he is one of the most zen/daoist oriented poets with strong family associations to zen as his brother was a hermit? monk and wang wei also wrote a memorial inscription for the 6th patriarch and yet he, one of the greatest and most insightful poets is never mentioned in zen, even by dogen !
once you allow a broader horizon then Charles bukowski, willam blake, sylvia plath and john keats have to fit, all of whom lived in "industrial settings", you want things too completely right, that never happens
just keep nibbling at what extends you both intellectually and in a practical sense...................
"I follow the stream up into the hills and watch the clouds as their tendrils coalesce and come apart.................."
celibacy is like an extreme that almost never exists, it's more illustrative of the tensions and problems of living !
charles bukowski did have extended periods of celibacy until he started to become famous and then had toxic women pursuing him, he was lucky and sensible enough to end up with his wife who was quite helpful in providing a stable environment for him !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlWxnfmF7yY
i think contraception has the biggest impact on the destruction of celibacy as a religious tradition, to all practical purposes it has destroyed it so one is looking at it as an ideal of estrangement from the breeding paradigm
industrialization is not all bad, in preindustrial societies you are basically crippled by 50 with your joints shot from all the manual work and that makes you dependent on having a large family to keep the farm going which doesn't give you much freedom at all !
"practice" like zen is an illusion, there are no real entities there, who would you be , doing what and going where ?
Andrew, what about reading manga, watching art-house films, or etc.? I found Tezuka's Hi no Tori like poetry, and I also find Andrei Tarkovsky's films, particularly Stalker, on the level of poetry too.
Seriously, though, check out Stalker. It's one of the deepest experiences I've ever had in regards to art.
I definitely agree with you the creative process is indistinguishable from Zen... that is, it opens a window of infinite potentialities where anything is possible. It's like a feral cat, or even domestic cat, ready to prance on a prey. The only difference with the human is he is ready to prance and create a new world, or better represent this infinite myriad of world(s).
I feel as if your poetry opens up to this, Andrew. I've read a lot of your stuff on your site, but I don't see what makes poetry more special than film, sequential art, cartoons, or etc.
If you want, I can recommend you some great comics, film, and/or video games. I've always been more of a visual person, and this is why I BADLY want to learn how to draw well and make my own comics! I would do that more than write poetry. Perhaps, my characters would say poetic things...
But then again, maybe there is no clear delineation among these medium of art when they come from a deep sincerity and true creativity? A mind that is unfettered from wanting prestige, impressing others, and so forth...
i think it's all to do with quality and depth of abstraction !
andrei tarkovsky | stalker | roadside picnic | arkady and boris strugatsky has an abstraction depth
however the point of zen and great creative talent is there is some secret well beyond our normal understanding, a literal stalker or roadside picnic so to speak, some resting between the horns of the moon and circumambulation of any number of known and unknown universes with infinities light......................
this understanding/truth is unpalatable to our breeding manic species......................
there appears to be free comic drawing software on the web, why not try that and start producing ?
It seems one is kinda forced to buy a plot of land to practice sustainably on while remaining celibate. That's why a good income is essential.
ReplyDeleteI also don't think it's possible to practice in Industrial settings...
I think the root problem with zen and this goes way back is their horizons are intellectually too limited !
ReplyDeletewang wei lived only a generation after the 6th patriarch and he is one of the most zen/daoist oriented poets with strong family associations to zen as his brother was a hermit? monk and wang wei also wrote a memorial inscription for the 6th patriarch and yet he, one of the greatest and most insightful poets is never mentioned in zen, even by dogen !
once you allow a broader horizon then Charles bukowski, willam blake, sylvia plath and john keats have to fit, all of whom lived in "industrial settings", you want things too completely right, that never happens
just keep nibbling at what extends you both intellectually and in a practical sense...................
"I follow the stream up into the hills and watch the clouds as their tendrils coalesce and come apart.................."
a famous couplet by wang wei (my retranslation)
But doesn't industrialization kinda encourage non-celibacy and hedonism?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm pretty sure Charles Bukowski and many of those poets listed weren't celibate?
I am kind of confused on how one "ought" to practice? Kind of leads to a Hume-like dilemma?
Deletecelibacy is like an extreme that almost never exists, it's more illustrative of the tensions and problems of living !
charles bukowski did have extended periods of celibacy until he started to become famous and then had toxic women pursuing him, he was lucky and sensible enough to end up with his wife who was quite helpful in providing a stable environment for him !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlWxnfmF7yY
i think contraception has the biggest impact on the destruction of celibacy as a religious tradition, to all practical purposes it has destroyed it so one is looking at it as an ideal of estrangement from the breeding paradigm
industrialization is not all bad, in preindustrial societies you are basically crippled by 50 with your joints shot from all the manual work and that makes you dependent on having a large family to keep the farm going which doesn't give you much freedom at all !
"practice" like zen is an illusion, there are no real entities there, who would you be , doing what and going where ?
Andrew, what about reading manga, watching art-house films, or etc.? I found Tezuka's Hi no Tori like poetry, and I also find Andrei Tarkovsky's films, particularly Stalker, on the level of poetry too.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, check out Stalker. It's one of the deepest experiences I've ever had in regards to art.
I definitely agree with you the creative process is indistinguishable from Zen... that is, it opens a window of infinite potentialities where anything is possible. It's like a feral cat, or even domestic cat, ready to prance on a prey. The only difference with the human is he is ready to prance and create a new world, or better represent this infinite myriad of world(s).
I feel as if your poetry opens up to this, Andrew. I've read a lot of your stuff on your site, but I don't see what makes poetry more special than film, sequential art, cartoons, or etc.
If you want, I can recommend you some great comics, film, and/or video games. I've always been more of a visual person, and this is why I BADLY want to learn how to draw well and make my own comics! I would do that more than write poetry. Perhaps, my characters would say poetic things...
But then again, maybe there is no clear delineation among these medium of art when they come from a deep sincerity and true creativity? A mind that is unfettered from wanting prestige, impressing others, and so forth...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
ReplyDeletei think it's all to do with quality and depth of abstraction !
andrei tarkovsky | stalker | roadside picnic | arkady and boris strugatsky has an abstraction depth
however the point of zen and great creative talent is there is some secret well beyond our normal understanding, a literal stalker or roadside picnic so to speak, some resting between the horns of the moon and circumambulation of any number of known and unknown universes with infinities light......................
this understanding/truth is unpalatable to our breeding manic species......................
there appears to be free comic drawing software on the web, why not try that and start producing ?
You really are like the 7th Zen/Chan patriarch...
Deleteit's a gift the world has no use for ..............
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI've taken the liberty of writing up your deleted post with my reply as it was really quite interesting to me :o)
Deletemonkey