May you find something to help you on your journey.
love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places
yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds
e.e. cummings
This poem was published in Complete Poems 1904-1962.
Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch, there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.
Wendell Berry
This poem is contained in New Collected Poems.
Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if it is the axis
on which the world earth revolves
– slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future;
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.
Thich Nhat Hahn
Author: Gary Snyder
Rating: 4/5
Read: 4/18, 2/19
Who Should Read: People interested in Zen, poetry, Chinese thought
Hanshan, or “Cold Mountain”, is one of my favorite Chinese poets (alongside Stonehouse). Hahshan was (supposedly) a Chinese Buddhist monk who lived in isolation in the wilderness. The poems attributed to him sparkle with a disdain for civilized life and carry a Zen and Taoist bent.
Cold Mountain Poems is a small collection poems translated by Gary Snyder, who does a wonderful job translating Hanshan’s words and feelings. Included are some of my favorite poems from this collection.
Gary Snyder on why he was qualified to translate Cold Mountain’s poems:
I had been a mountaineer and forestry laborer as well as a bookish scholar for several years already, and simply could draw on a wide experience of events and words and observations in finding ways to represent the Han-shan imagery. I also regularly made a practice of internalizing and visualizing the taste of the whole scene – cold, wet, rocky, lonely, or whatever was called for – to the point that I could write it out with some sense of presence. This doesn’t always work by any means, but it is exciting when it does. It reaches across time and space.
On the interest in such poetry:
At least for non–East Asians, they touch us not because of the invocation of a hermetic ideal or solitary asceticism, but because of the almost joyful rejection of materialism and the absolute pleasure in being in the great world “with a sky for a blanket,” aware of living a life apart from the value-assumptions of mainstream people.
There is a deep strain of non-ideological dubiousness about the large materialistic goals that are the official “dream” of developed-world people and certain others worldwide.
Here are some of my favorite poems from this collection.
In a tangle of cliffs I chose a place –
Bird-paths, but no trails for men.
What’s beyond the yard?
White clouds clinging to vague rocks.
Now I’ve lived here – how many years –
Again and again, spring and winter pass.
Go tell families with silverware and cars
“What’s the use of all that noise and money?”
Men ask the way to Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain: There’s no through trail.
In summer, ice doesn’t melt
The rising sun blurs in swirling fog
How did I make it?
My heart’s not the same as yours.
If your heart was like mine
You’d get it and be right here.
Clambering up the Cold Mountain Path,
The Cold Mountain Trail goes on and on:
The long gorge choked with scree and boulders,
The wide cree, the mist-blurred grass.
The moss is slippery, though there’s been no rain.
The pine sings, but there’s no wind.
Who can leap the world’s ties
and sit with me among the white clouds?
Spring-water in the green creek is clear
Moonlight on Cold Mountain is white
Silent knowledge – the spirit is enlightened of itself
Contemplate the void: this world exceeds stillness
Cold Mountain is a house
Without beams or walls.
The six doors left and right are open
The hall is blue sky.
The rooms all vacant and vague
The east wall beats on the west wall
At the center nothing.
Borrowers don’t bother me
In the cold I build a little fire
When I’m hungry I boil up some greens.
I’ve got no use for the Kulak
With his big barn and pasture –
He just sets up a prison for himself.
Once in he can’t get out.
Think it over –
You know it might happen to you.
If I hide out at Cold Mountain
Living off mountain plants and berries –
All my lifetime, why worry?
One follows his karma through.
Days and months slip by like water,
Time is like sparks knocked off flint.
Go ahead and let the world change –
I’m happy to sit among these cliffs.
Some critic tried to put me down –
“Your poems lack the basic truth of Tao”
And I recall the old-timers
Who were poor and didn’t care.
I have to laugh at him,
He misses the point entirely,
Men like that
Ought to stick to making money.
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How many have set themselves up as gatekeepers over the years? They can be found blocking access wherever you turn: God, education, business, sports.
Beware of everything which puts an obstacle between you and God.
— Leo Tolstoy
The best approach is to avoid the gate altogether, if you can. There aren’t many truly fixed rules in this game of Life. Why go through the gatekeeper if you can just go around the gate?
You must remain alert as you tread this path. Gatekeeping is a form of power, and the gatekeepers are not keen on losing control.
Most importantly, make sure that you do not act as your own gatekeeper, blocking your own path to success. It’s easy to think that we are not ready, not worthy, not able. We easily hide from direct experience and attainment, preferring to read about what we want in a book instead.
Feel yourself talking to God. Don’t read the book – read your soul.
— Ralph Waldeo Emerson
It’s a Good Thing™
that dogs don’t have egos
I would have
created a monster by now
Complement a man too much
and his ego will teach him that
others are beneath him
Instead my dog adores me
who is obviously
the greatest master
he could ever have
A reflection from my last day as “not-a-father”: It’s interesting that we have a word for “unmarried man” (bachelor), but no word for “a man without kids”.
Our languages are complex. We have been creating words for a long time. I am amazed that so many symbols and ideas have not yet been captured within our languages.
Add the following to a large pot or dutch oven:
Reserved corned beef cooking liquid
2 pounds carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and roughly diced
1 whole head white, green, or red cabbage, cut into 6-8 wedges (target 2-3 pounds total)
Water, until vegetables are submerged
Slice corned beef thinly against the grain and place slices into a skillet which is large enough to sit on top of the cooking pot. Add 1 cup of liquid from the cooking pot to the skillet. Cover the skillet and place it on top of the pot.
Bring the pot to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are completely tender and beef is heated through, about 45 minutes.
Serve immediately with hot mustard.
For a fancier corned beef and cabbage, you can use the following strategy:
Make a carrot puree
Fry or roast potatoes
Prepare fancier cabbage:
1 small head + garlic + vinegar + mustard + dill seed + caraway seed + black peppercorns
Fill a pot with water, bring to a boil.
Halve or wedge the cabbage, sous vide all ingredients at 183F for 90 minutes
Fry parsley for garnish
To plate:
Carrot puree on bottom
large mound of cabbage and potato on top
Dollops of carrot puree around plate or bowl
Add chunks of beef
Garnish with parsley
Let everything be simple again
Our drive for knowledge and understanding
only makes the world more complex
what does it matter if you know all the facts?
what does it matter if the taxonomy is correct?
what does it matter if you use the perfect word?
words are only approximations,
they can never capture the essence
Intellectually understanding principles and truths
does not help you live them
all that matters is it
the whole of it
the living and breathing and doing
here in the present
crackling with the energy of life
Drop your concepts
your empty search for learning
give in fully to your own experience
8 days before serving, prepare:
1 whole flat or point cut beef brisket, trimmed according to your preference (5-8 pounds)
Combine in a small bowl and whisk until homogenous:
~5% salt by brisket weight (100g for 5 pounds)
0.5% pink salt by brisket weight (10g for 5 pounds)
Optional: 30g brown sugar
Rub the salt blend evenly over every surface of the brisket. Sprinkle the spice blend evenly over both sides of the brisket, pressing spices gently into the meat until they stick. Seal the beef in a vacuum sealed bag or a zipper-lock bag with all of the air pressed out of it. Place in coldest part of refrigerator and let rest for 7-10 days, flipping once a day.
1-2 days before serving, remove the beef from the bag and carefully rinse off all spices under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Optionally, massage the brisket with another batch of the Corned Beef Spice Blend.
Sous Vide: Re-seal in a vacuum bag and cook at 180°F until tender, about 10 hours. (See Temperature & Time for alternatives)
Dutch Oven: Preheat oven to 200°F. Place brisket in large Dutch oven, cover with water by several inches, and bring to a simmer over high heat. Remove from heat, cover with lid slightly ajar, place in oven, and cook until completely tender, about 10 hours. (See Temperature & Time for alternatives)
Once beef is cooked, transfer to an airtight container along with cooking liquid (if cooked sous vide, just store it in its vacuum bag). Let rest at least overnight, and up to 3 days.
You will have the best results with slicing the corned beef if it’s been cooled first.
Reserve the cooking liquid for corned beef and cabbage.
You can corn beef without the nitrites, but it won’t taste the same, last as long, or look the same.
The dry-cured beef has deeper flavor penetration and superior texture compared to the brined beef.
180°F cooked for around 10 hours is ideal, producing meat that was simultaneously tender and succulent.
180°F: 10 hours
175°F: 15 hours
160°F: 36 hours
154°F: 24 hours
140°F: 48 hours
If you want your beef flakier, cook it at a higher temperature for a shorter time. Prefer it more dense and moist? Try a lower temperature for a longer time.
With regards to moisture loss, at 160°F, about 30% of the brisket’s has gone out the window. Bring it up to 190°F, and we’re looking at 48% moisture loss. All the way up to 205°F, the temperature at which most people cook their beef (simmered on stove), and we’re at a whopping 53% moisture loss!
