Posts by lucinda
A Swarm of Japanese Flies
…Flies, like crows, are generally not very well-liked. They are diurnal, but associated with the night and darkness; they are spawned in the heady days of summer but are attracted to the stench of decay…
Read MoreClarity, Compassion, Peace
“Haiku mind” is a simple yet profound way of seeing our everyday world and living our lives with the awareness of the moment expressed in haiku — and to therefore hopefully inspire others to live with more clarity, compassion and peace.
Read MoreLu T’ung and the Song of Tea
The “Song of Tea” is one of the most beloved poems known by tea-drinkers the world over.
Read MoreThe Barter
The first day we met, he introduced himself with these words: “I am Heinrich, from Bavaria, located in the south of Germany.”
Read MoreOn Genji Monogatari: A Conversation with Setouchi Jakucho
“I started translating The Tale of Genji after turning seventy, though I had well prepared to start for many years by then…”
Read MoreMaverick Mushrooms
In Japanese, the general word for mushroom, kinoko, means “child of the tree.” Names of species then reflect specific trees plus the suffix –take (or dake), signifying “mushroom.”
Read MoreFireflies
When the summer nights begin to resemble a damp wool blanket thrown over our house and the rainy season pounds relentlessly onward, my husband and I like to drive out to a village in the nearby mountains…
Read MoreBig Fish Eat Little Fish
After World War II, philosopher and critic Tsurumi Shunshuke started the highly-respected magazine Shiso no Kagaku (Science of Thought), serving for half a century as its editor and publisher. From the 1950s to the 1970s, he was an outspoken anti-war activist…
Read MoreKorean Protest Culture
In Korea, the traditional protest repertoire of marches, sit-ins, stones and Molotov cocktails is evolving; some of the new techniques remain confrontational, even violent. Others rely on technology, subtlety, inner strength and community…
Read MoreOn Chairs
A time-darkened chair of oak, it stood among other chairs of other kinds, empty of all but time and craft, in a warehouse for antiques; a sign said the chair had been made in England a couple of hundred years ago.
Read MoreOn Contentment
Nothing like gazing upon your own well-stacked cord of firewood turning golden in the evening sun to get you feeling contented…
Read MoreAn Interview with Yiyun Li
“My characters are always very stubborn. One thing all my characters want is connection with the world. With other people. But that connection, often times, is either disrupted or not provided or somehow messed up by the world…”
Read MoreDogs Barking at the Full Moon
Comrade John is a mild-mannered person. I didn’t feel threatened or scared at all. In fact, I welcomed this encounter. It had been over a decade since I last spoke to them…
Read MoreThe Barber
My goatee and shaved head perplex many Vietnamese because in their country beards are for venerable old men like Uncle Ho and bald heads for monks, and I am neither.
Read MoreThe Path to Honen-in
For a man who wears so many caps, the shaven-headed priest exudes a genial calm. He talks openly and from the heart; here is none of the closed manner for which Kyoto is famous.
Read MoreBeingness Seeking To Be
The Kalachakra Empowerment Ritual was over…with between 100,000 to 150,000 people exiting the Kalachakra at once, and with trains in all directions sold out through the end of the month, here was my liberation from suffering.
Read More
