Welcome, O life!
A weekend of sitting and study practice around James Joyce’s Ulysses
with Amy Hollowell Sensei
June 13-14
Paris
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(version française ci-dessous)
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Jung called it so profoundly an « Oriental » book that it constituted a bible for the West; the British and American courts called it obscene and banned it, as did Joyce’s native Ireland for decades…
Ulysses, with its spiritual premise of acceptance of the whole of life (Bernie Glassman Roshi’s definition of shikantaza), its everyman hero, the true-man-of-no-rank Leopold Bloom, set entirely « here » and « now, » (Dublin, June 16, 1904), ultimately succeeds in « holding the opposites together, » thus brilliantly manifesting through the ordinary lives of its three main characters (Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom and Molly Bloom) the Three Treasures of Buddhism – Buddha (oneness, Stephen), Dharma (diversity, Bloom) and Sangha (harmony, Molly) – and ending with Molly Bloom’s irrepressible « Yes, » the most resounding affirmation of the true nature of all things in the history of literature.
Information and registration (required by June 7): zenscribe@free.fr
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VF:
Bienvenue, O vie!
Un weekend d’assise et d’étude autour du Ulysse de James Joyce
Jung l’a qualfié d’un livre tellement « oriental » qu’il était un bible pour l’Occident; les tribunaux britanniques et américains l’ont jugés obscène et l’ont interdit, et le pays d’origine de Joyce, l’Irlande, a fait pareil…
Ulysse, dont le thème spirituel est l’acceptance de la vie entière (la définition même du shikantaza donné par Bernie Glassman Roshi), dont l’héro est un homme ordinaire, le vrai-homme-sans-grade Leopold Bloom, et dont l’histoire se déroule entièrement « ici » et « maintenant, » (Dublin, le 16 juin 1904), réussit à « tenir ensemble les opposés, » ainsi manifestant avec brillance à travers les vies ordinaires de ses trois personnages principaux (Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom et Molly Bloom) les Trois Trésors de bouddhisme – le Bouddha (l’unité, Stephen), le Dharma (la diversité, Bloom) et le Sangha (l’harmonie, Molly) – et terminant avec l’irrépressible « Oui » de Molly Bloom, la plus résonante affirmation de la vraie nature de toute chose dans toute l’histoire de la littérature.
Part of what I wanted to say – nothing too shocking – does not stick to these pages for some reason.
Strange!
I was moved and shocked with the news of his death. I don’t know why. Somehow maybe it feels like outdated hippies like Carradine are part of me. And if one of them dies I am lonelier.
Loneliness is an issue for me; for us I think
There is something we can not express in words. And we look for it in others also.
If we recognize it every now and then, it is shared; it is communicated outside words.
I imagine I recognized it in David Carradine.
David Carradine died… in an accident they say it was.
Well, I don’t need to spell it out. But you don’t accidentally end up naked in the closet of your hotel room with a curtain rope around your balls and neck.
The poor bastard was obviously masturbating and strangling himself for the fun of it.
The accident is that he really died when he just tried to die almost.
Does this thing recognize improper language? Does it refuse long items?
Or are the questionmarks the problem?
Something does not work.
Test one two
test one two
one two