cold rain
spatters on granite:
Spring enters.
Cold Rain [Haiku]
Reply
Author Archives: B Gourley
DAILY PHOTO: Isha Foundation from Hari-Hara Betta
BOOKS: “The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang” by Hui-li [trans. by Samuel Beal]
The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang by Hui-liMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Available free online through the Indian Gov’t
Those familiar with Chinese Literature (or smash-hit video games) will be acquainted with the tale of Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King. The central event of the novel Journey to the West is a Chinese Buddhist monk traveling to India to gather a complete set of the Buddhist canon. In the novel (and video game, Black Myth: WuKong,) the monk’s name is Tang Sanzang (in translations – and movie / television – he’s sometimes called Tripitaka, which is actually the name of the Pali Canon — the original Buddhist books, themselves.) In real life there was also such a monk, and his name was Xuanzang (玄奘, Romanized as Hiuen-Tsiang in an earlier system,) and this book describes his travels to, through, and back from India.
It turns out the monk was not escorted by a god-tier mythical creature and his two superpowered compatriots (i.e. Pigsy and Sandy.) For this reason, the actual Xuanzang occasionally got threatened, robbed, and was once almost killed by riverine pirates. This book is a travelogue of Xuanzang’s journeys through China, Central Asia, [present-day] Afghanistan and Pakistan, and throughout India.
Needless to say, this book isn’t as taut and thrilling as the fictional account with its gods and monsters, but – for those with historical and geographic interests – it’s not without appeal. It does have extensive description of Xuanzang’s visits with various monks and royalty that is dry reading as well as discussions of where Xuanzang’s collection stood at any given point, but there are a few intense events and harrowing moments.
If you’re interested in Buddhist history, you may want to give this book a look.
View all my reviews
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“Illusion” by Amy Lowell [w/ Audio]
Walking beside the tree-peonies,
I saw a beetle
Whose wings were of black lacquer spotted with milk.
I would have caught it,
But it ran from me swiftly
And hid under the stone lotus
Which supports the Statue of Buddha.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Tattoo
I have no use for any tattoo, anywhere, thank you very much.
I’ll leave it to the teens and twenty-somethings to believe there is some image or phrase that will always and forever capture their essence. I’ve been through too many versions of myself and came out accepting the Buddhist / Taoist notion that everything, everywhere [even the self — if there even is such a thing] is in constant flux.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Light Rides Dark [Haiku]
rivers merge;
two cocoa hues seem unmixed,
but light rides the dark.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Narikala Fortress from Tabor Monastery
Image
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Full Moon [Haiku]
PROMPT: One Word
ALIVE!
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Sonnet 3 by William Shakespeare [w/ Audio]
Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewst,
Now is the time that face should form another,
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose uneared womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime;
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.
But if thou live rememb'rd not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 