Lines from Kyoto

“There is a Chinese proverb that if the wrong man uses the right means, the right means work in the wrong way”—Alan Watts.

(Photo: Kyoto Imperial Palace)

“The organizing principle of any society…is for war. The authority of the state over its people resides in its war powers.” (JFK. Dir. Oliver Stone, 1991)

Thanatos, the Greek spirit (daimon) of death.

“Thanatocracy”: a society constructed on the capitalization of death.

#40

“The Tao moves the other way / the Tao works through weakness / the things of this world come from something / something comes from nothing.”

(Taoteching, trans: Red Pine, 2009)

An indictment of propaganda and profit at the expense of truth.

Photo: the rock garden (karesansui) at Kenninji Temple, Kyoto.

en hommage a Lew Welch (1926-71?).

Poet Lew Welch (along with Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder) attended Reed College in Oregon. In 1971, he walked into the foothills of the California Sierra Nevada, never to be seen again. His collected poems is entitled “Ring of Bone,” where “ring is what a bell does.”

“Suchness” (Tathata), in contrast to “emptiness” (sunyata).

Photo: Lew Welch

2020 was the year of COVID-19. In 2021, vaccinations notwithstanding, the virus continues cripple the planet. Contrary to popular sentiment, we are not “all in this together”; the inevitable avarice and financial manipulations persist. Indeed, the accompanying evils and the prioritizing of profit over people appear to have worsened.

“Sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child”—so says King Lear at the start of his madness (1.4.198).

Photo: Anthony Hopkins and Florence Pugh as King Lear and Cordelia (2018).

The Buddha known as Amitabha or Amida, is the principle figure in Pure Land Buddhism and is considered a source of “boundless light.” Of course, the Pure Land (like the kingdom of heaven) is located within us and each individual is an example of infinite light.

Hamlet claims that “conscience makes cowards of us all” (3.1.83).

William Blake wrote that “energy is eternal delight” (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell).

Photo: Toji Temple, Kyoto.

“Hark!”

Cretins, trolls, goblins, ogres—corporate components necessary to sustain rapacious growth, accessories after the fact.

The Greek word for sin is “hamartano” which means to miss the mark or to miss the point.

Photo taken at a construction site in, of all places, Hiroshima.