nestled amid bamboo, a stone Buddha sits: stone-mind / bamboo-mind
Bamboo & the Buddha [Haiku]
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Category Archives: mind
Tree Nature [Haiku]
under the tree sits a potential Buddha; human mimics tree
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Discovery Distance [Free Verse]
Mountains are best viewed at a distance, despite humanity's "closer is better" bias. Up close, one is invariably in a cloud, looking at an undifferentiated mass of gray-white: ice -- granite -- snow -- fog. One may climb a mountain to see other mountains in the distance, but standing eye-to-rock with a mountain offers little spectacle & grandeur. Massive things can be too close to see. I wonder whether I'm also better viewed from a distance. Not everything is. Consider the opposite mistake: People say things such as, "My Great White Whale is out there." But Great White Whales are always found looking inward -- not out in the distance.
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Bell Sound [Haiku]
a bell rang. something awoke in him, while something died
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Asylum Mind [Lyric]
my mind snapped with attention rapt staring out into the world i'd hoped for the best devoid of sweet rest, despite being fetally-curled where was the shore? or the thirteenth floor? they were absent in life & in dream i searched all about, calling names out, but all I heard was a burbling stream but with no water - just someone's dear daughter wading out on bone-bleached rocks she seemed to know all like how we all fall, and who keeps the keys to the locks but I was tied down screaming at clowns, too far gone to see her wind-blown hair what pulled me out? not a shake or a shout, but some stuttered nonsense of prayer
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Field of Flames [Haiku]
row on row of flames lick and shimmer, as minds attempt stillness
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Moksha [Common Meter]
The Sadhu sits upon the ghat, so free from suffering. Like butterflies in still moments with wings not fluttering. There's no living and no dying, just a rare kind of dead, in which bodies move, but minds don't, and worlds are gently tread.
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BOOK REVIEW: Genius: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew Robinson
Genius: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew RobinsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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This book examines the myths and realities of that state of capability we call genius. It’s not about “geniuses” as individuals who test well on IQ exams, or who are eligible for Mensa membership, but rather about those luminaries who’ve made breakthroughs that changed the course of their discipline. It considers artistic and literary type geniuses (Shakespeare and Picasso) as well as scientific geniuses (e.g. Einstein and Darwin,) as well as discussing the differences (perceived and real) between these groups and the intriguing rarity of crosscutting figures (e.g. Da Vinci.)
The bulk of the book evaluates characteristics that are (rightly or wrongly) commonly associated with genius, including: heredity, education, intelligence, creativity, madness, personality traits, and discipline. Don’t expect clear and straightforward connections. That’s not the author’s fault. There just aren’t any traits unambiguously linked to genius in an uncomplicated way. One might expect education would be an unequivocal boon to genius, but it can be a hindrance to genius in its training of conformity. There may be a disproportionate number of geniuses with mental health issues, but there are even more without them. Hard work maybe a necessary condition, but it’s clearly not a sufficient one.
The book addresses a few other related subjects, beyond the traits associated with geniuses. For example, the degree to which genius can be defined and what it means if we can (or can’t) do so. Few individuals would be unanimously judged geniuses, and to the degree some are, mightn’t that say more about the public’s role in bestowing genius rather than the individual’s earning the designation. There is also discussion about eureka moments versus slow-builds.
This book is thought-provoking and raises intriguing and counter-intuitive debates. If you’re interested in the perception, the reality, and the interplay between the two with regard to genius, check it out.
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Driftwood Deception [Tanka]
nestled between rocks the smooth-worn driftwood roots assume the form of a pile of writhing snakes, 'til the mind untangles truth
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BOOK REVIEW: Ashtavakra Gita Trans. by Bart Marshall
Ashtavakra Gita: by Bart MarshallMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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There are many translations of this Hindu classic of Advaita Vedanda, a non-dualist school that teaches the oneness of all things and the illusory nature of the universe that we think we know. “The Song of Ashtavakra” explores self-realization and the path to liberation (i.e. Moksha.) [Ashtavakra was a sage with birth defects from which the name “8 angles” derives. Yoga practitioners will know the name from an arm balance pose that involves balancing the kinked body on bent arms in a manner that was apparently reminiscent of the look of this sage’s body.]
The translation that I read, one by Bart Marshall, is clearly written in readily understandable language. It’s presented as a series of short-form poems arranged into twenty chapters that also form a dialogue between Ashtavakra and Janaka. This version doesn’t contain commentary and analysis as some translations do. Because it’s both highly readable and inexpensively acquired, I’d recommend one give it a chance. If you later decide you’d benefit from commentary, you’ll not be at a loss by having read this version first.
As is common enough in such tracts, the book can be repetitive as it reiterates ideas like the need to avoid desire and aversion and the nature of oneness. That said, there were some quite powerful statements that genuinely expanded on the ideas of the work. (e.g. 18.100: “One of tranquil mind // seeks neither crowds nor wilderness. // He is the same wherever he goes.” Or 3.12 “Why should a person of steady mind, who sees the nothingness of objects, prefer one thing over another?”)
If you’re a student of philosophy or of yoga as a philosophy, I think this is well worth a thoughtful read.
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 