To be a man of knowledge one
needs to be light and fluid.
~Yaqui Mystic
via Along The Way
Alan Larus Photography
Amituofo
Tricycle's Profile of Shifu Shi
Yan Ming, 34th Generation Shaolin Monk
by Andrew Gladstone
In 1992, in the final days of a performance tour of the United
States, 34th
generation Shaolin monk Shi Yan Ming defected and hid out in a
San Francisco
basement before making his way to New York City. Now, 21 years
later, he is the
abbot and founder of the USA Shaolin Temple in Manhattan, where
he is the shifu
(teacher) of many disciples devoted to learning the ways of
Ch'an Buddhism and
Shaolin martial arts.
Amituofo means many things—it can be a
greeting, it can express gratitude or
condolences, or it can be a blessing. It is the transliteration
of the Sanskrit
"Amitabha," and is used to express anything honestly from the
heart.
Watch our profile of Shifu Shi Yan Ming
and the USA Shaolin Temple, and make
sure to watch it big and play it loud. You can also download a
transcripthere.
The best time is late afternoon
when the sun strobes through
the columns of trees as you are hiking up,
and when you find an agreeable rock
to sit on, you will be able to see
the light pouring down into the woods
and breaking into the shapes and tones
of things and you will hear nothing
but a sprig of birdsong or the leafy
falling of a cone or nut through the trees,
and if this is your day you might even
spot a hare or feel the wing-beats of geese
driving overhead toward some destination.
But it is hard to speak of these things
how the voices of light enter the body
and begin to recite their stories
how the earth holds us painfully against
its breast made of humus and brambles
how we who will soon be gone regard
the entities that continue to return
greener than ever, spring water flowing
through a meadow and the shadows of clouds
passing over the hills and the ground
where we stand in the tremble of thought
taking the vast outside into ourselves.
