{"id":85133,"date":"2017-01-09T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=85133"},"modified":"2017-01-05T13:31:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T13:31:49","slug":"a-poetic-illumination-at-the-start-of-a-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/01\/a-poetic-illumination-at-the-start-of-a-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"A Poetic Illumination at the Start of a New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>1 Jan 2017 – <\/em>At the dawn of the new year, while the bitter embers of the departing year glow in the dark, it is the mysterious outreach of poetry, more than the sobering reflections of the Enlightenment mind, that best touches the raw nerves of the many disturbing realities that menace the human future. In this spirit I came across a few lines of the Zen poetry of the late eighteen century Zen poet, Ry\u014dkan. For those with an interest in further exploration of Ry\u014dkan\u2019s meditative sensibility I suggest One Robe, One Bowl<\/em>: The Zen Poetry of Ry\u014dkan<\/em>, with superb translations by John Stevens, published by\u00a0Weatherhill (Boston) \u00a0in a third edition, 2006.<\/p>\n

A verse from \u2018The Long Winter Night: Three Poems\u2019:<\/em><\/p>\n

Another year lingers to an end;<\/em>
\nHeaven sends a bitter frost<\/em>
\nFallen leaves cover the mountains<\/em>
\nAnd there are no travelers to cast shadows on the path.<\/em>
\nEndless night: dried leaves burn slowly in the hearth.<\/em>
\nOccasionally, the sound of freezing rain.<\/em>
\nDizzy, I try to recall the past\u2014<\/em>
\nNothing here but dreams. <\/em><\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a>, an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs.\u00a0In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council<\/a> (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur<\/a> on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories<\/a> occupied since 1967.” Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is <\/em>Achieving Human Rights (2009).<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 richardfalk.wordpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across a few lines of the Zen poetry of the late eighteen century Zen poet, Ry\u014dkan. A verse from The Long Winter Night: Three Poems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}