From whiskey river:
At Blackwater Pond
At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have
settled
after a night of rain.
I dip my cupped hands. I drink
a long time. It tastes
like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold
into my body, waking the bones. I hear them
deep inside me, whispering
oh what is that beautiful thing
that just happened?
(Mary Oliver)
And:
In the tea ceremony, the expression “once in a lifetime, this one encounter” is often used. The usual way this is interpreted is “a one-and-only encounter.” In Zen, though, we interpret this expression in the following way: In the course of our lifetime, there is one person we must meet. No matter through which grasslands we may walk or which mountains we may climb, we must meet this person. This person is in this world. Who is this person? It is the true self. You must meet the true self. As long as you don’t, it will not be possible to be truly satisfied in the depths of your heart. You will never lose the sense that something is lacking. Nor will you be able to clarify the way things are.
This is the objective of life as well as of the teaching of Buddhism — to meet yourself.
(Sekkei Harada)
And the obvious musical bit (lyrics follow), although the video is a bit… unusual:
Once in a Lifetime
(words and music by Talking Heads;
performance is emphatically not)And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house,
with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself: Well… how did I get here?Letting the days go by/Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/Water flowing underground
Into the blue again/After the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/Water flowing underground.And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!Letting the days go by/Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/Water flowing underground
Into the blue again/After the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/Water flowing underground.Same as it ever was… same as it ever was …same as it ever was…
Same as it ever was… same as it ever was… same as it ever was…
Same as it ever was… same as it ever was…
(Followed by Statler and Waldorf: “Same as it ever was! Same as it ever was! Yeah—” “An hour ago!” [laughter])
Original, longer version, from the concert film Stop Making Sense, can be viewed here.
Sarah says
Thanks for the Zen quote- very centering way to start the day.
John says
@Sarah – Glad you liked it. whiskey river’s daily meditations often make explicit reference to Zen teachings, but I don’t often select them for repetition here. This one was just too good in its own right and apropos in context with the others, though!
Kate Lord Brown says
Goodness! – a) Talking Heads/Kermit? As a huge Talking Heads fan (have you ever tried keeping up with the video of ‘Keep Making Sense?!’) I am curious that Kermit is a good choice. Miss Piggy doing ‘Take me to the river’ – that I would like to see. b) Tea ceremonies? Yes – endlessly fascinating. Still struggling with zen/butterfly (ok other people call it monkey mind but I identify with butterfly more than monkey) .. chipping the surface here – green tea everyday, and each year my husband’s old lawyer sends him the *the* best green tea from Japan that smells like cut grass. c) thank you – appreciate your comments, and so enjoy your posts too.
John says
@Kate Lord Brown – Miss Piggy/”Take Me to the River”: please tell me you have the resources to make that project a reality. :)
Curious: what do you mean by keeping up with the video? (It’s one of my favorite movies, period, not just concert films… but I really need to upgrade the videotape to DVD.) I’ve never seen or heard that this was the case, but have always considered it the Heads’ reply to the occasional criticism that they were too cerebral, not a “danceable” band, and so on.
John says
@Kate Lord Brown – P.S. Thanks for the kind words, and congratulations again on the Curtis Brown thing. Butterfly- or monkey-minded, you should be just fine.
Jules says
Um, I’m speechless. That was, um, a paradigm shift. Big-time. Seeing Kermit singing that, dancing in front of the model in the slinky dress. Wild.
LOVE LOVE Mary Oliver.
John says
@Jules – I know you remember the Stafford poem, right? The first exposure I had to Mary Oliver was via the email sig The Missus was using for a while, which is that line of hers — very similar to the spirit of “You Reading This” — which goes, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do/with your one wild and precious life?” She seems to be a prophetess of this sense of being!
I didn’t watch “The Muppets Show” nearly often enough; it was brilliant (e.g. this clip).
Kate Lord Brown says
@John – John – one of my favourites also. I meant keeping up physically – they jog/dance the whole show. For one who loathes exercise DVDs but loves dancing, the best workout ever! Whoever said Talking Heads aren’t danceable needs *their* head examined!
Kate Lord Brown says
PS ‘Stop Making Sense’ my late night typo – Keeping up with/keep … sorry!
John says
@Kate Lord Brown – Regrettably, I’m not much of a one for dancing. But if their music’s playing in the background while I’m doing something else, even I can’t help noticing the involuntary tremors in my feet and legs. I’ve heard those of earlier generations say the same about their response to swing music.
PS ‘Stop Making Sense’ my late night typo – Keeping up with/keep … sorry!
Oh, I understand about the typos… you’d already warned us on your own site that you’d be up late the other night, drinking red wine while awaiting the pilot’s return. Actually I’m impressed you could type at all. :)