5774 - A New Year's Resolution

It’s 4 pm Thursday

On the first afternoon

Of the Jewish New Year

5774 to be exact

And the resolution I wish to make

Is to connect myself

To the ding an sich

Or noumena or whatever

You wish to call it

In a more direct way

No matter what

Immanuel Kant has

To say about it

From here on out

For the rest of my days

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For Gus the One-Eyed Cat

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Gus a one-eyed cat

Climbs to the top

Of the garden fence

And perches there

As if on the lookout

Where like stout Cortez

Atop Darien’s peak

He surveys all he sees

With eagle eye

Although in Gus’ case

I imagine his glee must be

Even greater as

He’s quite literally limited

To monocular vision

Two of his eyes being

Devoted entirely to his interiority

It’s only with one of his three

That he’s able to savor

These more distant vistas

To the Moon From a Staunch Admirer

Here I stand
The moon's

Staunch admirer   

As a passing cloud 

Transmutes your glory

Only moments passed full

It seems as if there’s

Secret knowledge 

Passing between us

Or is it just a note of sadness

As we head into the last

Lap before autumn

You’re truly less orotund

But ever more diaphanous 

With a nimbus extravagantly

Proportioned on a misty night

Such as this

Suddenly the gravamen

Of the complaint

Is not quite as expected

A slice has gone missing

For all to plainly see

It’s a figure and ground thing

And where it's trending

Is the opposite of plenty

You might even say

And yet
There’s promise too

Of harvest moons to come 

Harvest approaching soon

As one howl begets another

It’s the nature

Of moon 

Overleaping the bounds

Of things merely sub-lunar

Dover Beach included

Transporting us onward

And upward

In affirmation

With the coyotes

Because the loss of faith

Is no big deal really

Compared to the gist

That persists down

Through the eons

From one follower to the next

Breath succeeded by caesura

Each of us howling

Our verses in turn

Poem written in midsummer in the late afternoon

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Among the many reasons

I’m glad Marissa secured

Her appointment

As gardener-in-chief

This year the primary one

Being that her highly developed

Organizational skills

Have proved decisive

In the abatement of chaos

Within the backyard forty

We’re in the midst

Of achieving great new things

Breaking various bad habits

Thinking about raised beds

And experiencing record growth

Under the new regime

Of both edible and

Decorative plants

So the summer passes

With periods of searing heat

Intermixed with short but

Intense bouts of anxiety

And self-doubt  

Hot as it was today

Even the grass heaves

A sigh of relief now

That it’s come around  
To the late afternoon
And the aperture of coolness

Dilates with evening's approach

A Postscript on the Reclining Buddha

Several readers took time to reply to my last post and explain that yes, reclining Buddhas are more frequently found in Southeast Asia.  Another correspondent (Jacques Huynen by name) also shared this further insight - specifically that the statue I encountered in the lobby depicts Buddha reclining at the moment of entering parinirvâna, lying on his right side, head supported by his right hand and one foot folded over the other.

I find this incredibly moving.  The sensuous and physical beauty that I found so compelling in this statue may simply be better understood as the beauty of death.  As the Buddha said to his followers in the moment of yielding -- Strive with diligence!

As a further addendum, here is the result of my striving this morning - this is the poem I translated by Han Shan, the poet of Cold Mountain.

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What is created 

By hand best displays

Through warp and weft

The magnificent grace

Of the human spirit

By birth we inherit

The body’s limits

By death we become

A nameless ghost

From ancient times

It’s been this way

No matter how

We may strive 

To the contrary

White clouds come

And fill the interior

Thus teaching us the song

Of Immortal longing

In Midtown, Still Awaiting Enlightenment

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Either Buddha has graced us with His presence in Midtown, or not.  I’m not sure which is the case though perhaps that’s not surprising.  After all, Buddhism has always traveled best by adapting to local conditions. It figures that here in North America, Buddhism would flourish as an offshoot of the Self-Help or Entertainment Industries, or else be propagated in a cloud of misunderstanding and confusion, as is typical of our public discourse, enough so that an encounter with Buddha might easily pass unnoticed or else be mistaken for something else.

In any case, the other day I was on my way to a meeting in a lawyer’s office at 666 Third Avenue – a grade A building one block north 42^nd Street –when immediately upon passing through the revolving doors I encountered this stone statue, a photograph of which appears below –

A beautiful recumbent body that had been hewn from volcanic rock.  It looked to be at complete peace – inner and outer.   And I thought to myself – “How remarkable is this? A sight seldom seen in Midtown on my way to a lawyer’s meeting no less.”

Next to the statue, there was a small sign proclaiming this was Buddha reclining.  And I said to myself – “No it’s not!  It’s not Buddha at all.  Much more likely this is a statue of Guan Yin!”  As truly, I had never seen Buddha depicted in this manner. In Chinese statuary it’s much more common to see Buddha portrayed sitting cross-legged or standing hands folded in prayer; or monumental, as at Bamiyan, or with hands perched atop a big fat belly laughing jovially as a pendant on a charm bracelet.  And even when Buddha is depicted reclining, never have I seen the figure stretched out this way, smiling and appearing so at ease, smiling in a way serene and almost seductive.

Whereas the statue in the lobby reminded me very much of Guan Yin as I’ve seen her depicted, including a statue that sits next to my desk, which was restored and repainted by my wife.  There’s a striking resemblance in the pose and demeanor, as well as in the half-formed bare breast, that’s more typical of statues I've seen of the Bodhisattva of Mercy.

I will readily concede that I am no expert in Buddhist statuary and it’s perfectly possible that the stone figure in the office building lobby was taken from Cambodia or Malaysia or a temple in some other Southeast Asian locale, where Buddha has adapted to more sub-tropical customs and climate.  But it's equally conceivable the person responsible for placing the stone statue on Third Avenue may be even less expert than I, perhaps misidentifying the statue on the grounds that all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas look alike anyway.

So as I said at the outset, perhaps the Buddha has graced us with His presence, or not, depending on one’s point of view.  And in any case, whether it’s Buddha or Guan Yin makes no difference in the beauty of the figure, nor does it diminish the significance of the presence of Buddha spirit right here in the center of Midtown.