BOOKS: “A Journey to Inner Peace and Joy” by Zhang Jianfeng [Trans. by Tony Blishen]

A Journey to Inner Peace and Joy: Tracing Contemporary Chinese Hermits by Zhang Jianfeng (2015-04-07)A Journey to Inner Peace and Joy: Tracing Contemporary Chinese Hermits by Zhang Jianfeng by Unknown Author
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site

In 1993, Bill Porter (a.k.a. Red Pine) came out with a book called “Road to Heaven” that documented his experiences meeting with hermits in rural China. For many, both in and certainly out of China, the continued existence of this lifestyle might have come as a surprise. This book follows up over twenty years later, showing that Buddhists and Daoist hermits are still alive and well in the mountains of interior China.

The book not only offers beautiful descriptions of the lands where these men and women live, but also insight into their mindsets and how they live such minimalist lives. It’s a light and compelling look at individuals like those one might read of in “Outlaws of the Marsh,” only living in the present day (though living lives not unlike their historical counterparts did more than a thousand years ago.)

The book offers many color photos of the hermits and the landscapes in which they live.

I’d highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the way of reclusive existence.

View all my reviews

PROMPT: Typical

Daily writing prompt
Was today typical?

At some level of granularity, you could slice it that way.

PROMPT: Future Travel

Daily writing prompt
What are your future travel plans?

I plan to travel to the future one minute at a time.

At least until they invent a time machine that can transport something bigger than a subatomic particle, and only milliseconds into the future at that.

Immortal’s Limerick

There once was a wise Daoist Immortal,
Asked the secret to long life, he'd chortle:
"If you can stand masses
Who behave like asses
You're enlightened --
but better off mortal."

PROMPT: Lose Track of Time

Daily writing prompt
Which activities make you lose track of time?

Everything but waiting the five minutes to press the plunger on the French press. As Tom Petty said, “The waiting is the hardest part.”

PROMPT: Bothers

Daily writing prompt
What bothers you and why?

I once got a masala cookie beside my coffee at a cafe that took itself way too seriously. What’s a masala cookie, you might ask? It’s treachery, I say. It sits on a plate pretending to be a delightful sugar cookie, but without sugar or sweetness of any kind — just salt and a spice mixture. It was supposed to bring out the notes of cherry, chocolate, and… Blah, Blah, Blah. You know what would bring out the notes of chocolate in the coffee, some fucking chocolate in the cookie — that’s what. You can’t just impersonate a cookie and expect anyone to tolerate that level of betrayal. I certainly don’t want to live in such a world. That’s it, the only offense of recent years that I haven’t gotten over. A few years after it happened, I walked by that place and saw that the cafe had gone out of business, replaced by a Hello Kitty phone-case store. Good! I hope the owner and staff have moved on, putting their liberal arts graduate degrees to good use, teaching at community colleges as they should, rather than terrorizing the public with pseudo-cookies to make their overpriced coffee seem more of a bargain. I’ll end my rant here to go sit with my trauma.

PROMPT: Security or Adventure

Daily writing prompt
Are you seeking security or adventure?

Not sure what to do with this one. It reads to me much as would, “Would you prefer air or water?”

PROMPT: Better with Age

Daily writing prompt
What do you think gets better with age?

Equanimity and emotional resilience — i.e. the ability to give fewer f___ks.

“Death” by William Butler Yeats [w/ Audio]

Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man awaits his end
Dreading and hoping all;
Many times he died,
Many times rose again.
A great man in his pride
Confronting murderous men
Casts derision upon
Supersession of breath;
He knows death to the bone -
Man has created death.

PROMPT: Bed

Daily writing prompt
What time do you go to bed and wake up currently?

When I can’t read two sentences without drifting off, I sleep. When the sun comes up, I awaken.