David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


18 March 2017

HA HA HAKUIN Enso Border Patrol Tour


How many decades have we had a magazine print of this Hakuin enso on the office wall here? 

 Never funnier than now! Sad!



The text under the office print says: 
When you forget yourself you become the universe.
Hakuin (1685 -1768)

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Online, under the same enso image, another (similar) text and commentary :

No space in the ten directions,
not one inch of great earth

The phrase is from a koan in which a monk asks Master Pa-ling, 
"Are the views of Zen masters the same or different from what is taught in sutras?"
Pa-ling answered, 
"When a rooster is cold, it flies up into a tree; when a duck is cold, it dives under the water".
 
In the twelfth century a Chinese monk, Wei-chao, added a verse to this koan :

A branch of plum blossoms is enshrouded by rain,
The golden one smiles without speaking.
A bright noon shines on the Water Dragon Palace,
While the moon and stars dance and laugh, dance and laugh:
No space in the ten directions, not one inch of great earth

Hakuin's ink was rather wet and his brushwork quite loose, causing the characters to become solid masses of ink next to his egg-shaped enso

by Audrey Yoshiko Seo

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Tour of TAR 
HA HA Theatre of the Actors of Regard


「白隠展」監修者・山下裕二先生 


HA HA Theatre of the Actors of Regard 
detail 
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something... 
         
LOGOS/HA HA