Refugee Tales

... For all that the Tales focused attention on traumatic and unjust events, the walk itself was charged with relief. For those of us who had been detained, this sense of relief came from being freely out and about, a way of being in space that for some hadn't been available for several years. For others the relief came of ocupying a space in a way that was not governed by the prevailing discourse.

The walking itself was the key. As the environment altered day by day, so the project's shared reality itself became dynamic. With each new situation - each new formation of people or landscape - new possibilities of conversation emerged. Other forms of conduct were not just theoretically possible but were, however temporarily, actually the case ...

From David Herd on Refugee Tales in Resurgence 295, March/April 2016.

The beginning and development of life

The three months of spring are called the period of the beginning and development of life.
The breaths of Heaven and Earth are prepared to give birth; thus everything is developing and flourishing.
After a night of sleep people should get up early in the morning; they should walk briskly around the yard; they should loosen their hair and slow down their body movements; by these means they can fulfill their wish to live healthfully.
During this period one's body should be encouraged to live and not be killed; one should give to it freely and not take away from it; one should reward it and not punish it.
All this is in harmony with the breath of Spring and all this is the method for the protection of one's life.

From The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, translated by Ilza Veith (Berkeley, 1966).

Untitled

Approaching the Chinese:
Nature sustains itself
without my words.

On Cold Mountain Road

On Cold Mountain Road
no one arrives
those who walk it
are called ten names
cicadas sing
crows don't screech
yellow leaves fall
white clouds sweep
rocks are huge
woods are deep
I live here alone
I'm called the Guide
look around
what are my signs

From The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, translated by Red Pine (Port Townsend, 2000).

Closing and storing

The three months of Winter are called the period of closing and storing.
Water freezes and the Earth cracks open.
One should not disturb one's Yang.
People should retire early at night and rise late in the morning and they should wait for the rising of the sun.
They should suppress and conceal their wishes, as though they had no internal purpose, as though they had been fulfilled.
People should try to escape the cold and they should seek warmth, they should not perspire upon the skin, they should let themselves be deprived of breath of the cold.
All this is in harmony with the atmosphere of Winter and all this is the method for the protection of one's storing.

From The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, translated by Ilza Veith (Berkeley, 1966).

Another oral composition for Pei Ti

How can we escape from these earthy toils
Shake off the dust and leave the noise of the world
And gently swinging a thorn stick
Get home to the Peach Blossom Stream?

From Poems of Wang Wei, translated by G.W. Robinson (London, 1973).

North West Passage

1

Escaping

through the cracks

putting your

body and

mind in a

position

“beyond”

then the way

of life to

sustain that

will emerge

around you.

2

My teacher

used to say

“Don’t think I

know

everything …

I’m just a

bit further

along the way …

and we’re not

going anywhere!”

down

in/out

to

ordinary

mind.

3

He stepped through the curtain

and was     gone

no longer held by

guilt, shame,

envy and fame

stepping into the land of

direct perception.

4

Keep it

going ...

again ...

again ...