Lines from Kyoto

“He’ll [Kent] shape his old course in a country new”—King Lear, 1.1.190.

Photo: “Suminoe no Niwa,” Fukusumi, Kyoto Prefecture.

Mt. Koya, located in Wakayama Prefecture, is headquarters of the Shingon Buddhist sect. Founded in 819 by the monk Kukai (aka Kobo Daishi), Koyasan was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

Okunoin is a large cemetery (the largest in Japan) atop Mt. Koya. The mausoleum of Kukai is situated here, as well as the Tokugawa Family Tomb.

Photo: Okunoin, Koyasan

#zen

#buddhism

#shingon

#kukai

#koyasan

Keep your community beautiful. Wear your mask!

Photo: shakuhachi-playing jizo at Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple, Kyoto.

#mask

#shakuhachi

#jizo

#kyoto

#zen

#buddhism

#corona

#covid-19

“Sages don’t reveal the Way because they keep it secret, but because it can’t be revealed. Thus their words are like footsteps that leave no tracks”—Ch’eng Chu.

Sutra: originally a “string or thread.”

Photo: the pagoda at Toji Temple, Kyoto.

Lots of Shakespeare echoes—Macbeth and Lear.

Hic et ubique: “Here and everywhere” (Hamlet 1.5).

“The solution is obvious.”

A meditation on meditation.

According to Hindu mythology, apsaras are female flying cloud and water spirits.

“When now I think you can behold such sights”—Macbeth (3.4.113), referring to the ghost of Banquo.

“…false compare”—cf. William Shakespeare, sonnet 130.

Photo: Izumo-Daijingu Shrine, Kameoka.

“There‘a a special providence in the fall of a sparrow”—Hamlet (5.2.220). Shakespeare is referring to Matthew, chapter 10:29.

dharani: a Buddhist chant based on sound rather than scripture.

“So great a day as this is cheaply bought”—Macbeth (5.8.37).