WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.250 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to read a few earlier poems, 00:00:02.250 --> 00:00:06.390 align:middle line:84% then I'm going to move into some very recent things. 00:00:06.390 --> 00:00:11.010 align:middle line:84% This is a reproduction of a painting which 00:00:11.010 --> 00:00:16.650 align:middle line:84% is stored in the fireproof storehouse of the Temple 00:00:16.650 --> 00:00:20.010 align:middle line:90% of Juko-in in Daitoku-ji. 00:00:20.010 --> 00:00:24.180 align:middle line:90% It's a small painting, actually. 00:00:24.180 --> 00:00:26.370 align:middle line:84% I'm going to read a poem about it later. 00:00:26.370 --> 00:00:27.390 align:middle line:90% It's only this big. 00:00:27.390 --> 00:00:30.420 align:middle line:90% 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:35.610 align:middle line:84% It was brought back from China in the 14th century, 00:00:35.610 --> 00:00:40.140 align:middle line:84% on one of those Japanese-Chinese trading trips. 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:44.970 align:middle line:84% The painter was a Chinese Zen monk named Mu Ch'i who 00:00:44.970 --> 00:00:48.330 align:middle line:84% the Chinese have described in their own writings as a second 00:00:48.330 --> 00:00:55.040 align:middle line:84% rate painter who painted wonderful dragons-- 00:00:55.040 --> 00:01:00.560 align:middle line:84% and was also notable for tigers, which were really big, 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.330 align:middle line:90% really big things. 00:01:02.330 --> 00:01:06.230 align:middle line:84% But these this little painting, the persimmons, 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:11.840 align:middle line:84% and several other paintings of chestnuts and eggplants, 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.440 align:middle line:84% are not considered, in the Chinese tradition, 00:01:15.440 --> 00:01:17.270 align:middle line:90% worth mentioning. 00:01:17.270 --> 00:01:20.000 align:middle line:84% Whereas the Japanese said, oh, these 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.990 align:middle line:84% are the best Zen paintings we've ever seen, and bought them, 00:01:23.990 --> 00:01:25.550 align:middle line:90% and took them back. 00:01:25.550 --> 00:01:27.080 align:middle line:84% And the persimmons painting, now, 00:01:27.080 --> 00:01:30.950 align:middle line:84% is actually considered, in some circles at least, 00:01:30.950 --> 00:01:36.070 align:middle line:84% one of the world's great classic paintings. 00:01:36.070 --> 00:01:42.730 align:middle line:84% I acknowledge most occidentals-- euro-Americans and so forth-- 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:46.270 align:middle line:84% are not necessarily going to agree with that. 00:01:46.270 --> 00:01:51.130 align:middle line:84% But wherever did you see six persimmons drawn so well? 00:01:51.130 --> 00:01:54.940 align:middle line:90% 00:01:54.940 --> 00:01:56.920 align:middle line:90% We'll go back to that. 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:01.060 align:middle line:84% I've got another story about that painting, too. 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:04.330 align:middle line:90% It ended up at Daitoku-ji. 00:02:04.330 --> 00:02:06.280 align:middle line:84% And the trade items, interestingly, 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:12.760 align:middle line:84% were Japanese swords for Chinese zen paintings. 00:02:12.760 --> 00:02:16.300 align:middle line:84% The Chinese were trying to deal with the Mongols, 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:20.110 align:middle line:84% and they were buying up Japanese swords as trade items. 00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:23.050 align:middle line:84% Because they were-- even the Chinese acknowledged this-- 00:02:23.050 --> 00:02:24.790 align:middle line:90% the best swords they could get. 00:02:24.790 --> 00:02:27.450 align:middle line:90% 00:02:27.450 --> 00:02:30.900 align:middle line:90% OK, back to our own times. 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:34.710 align:middle line:84% 1958, I'm working in the engine room of a tanker-- 00:02:34.710 --> 00:02:38.820 align:middle line:84% an oil tanker-- taking a break from being in a zen temple. 00:02:38.820 --> 00:02:44.170 align:middle line:84% Using my old seamans papers that I got when I was 18. 00:02:44.170 --> 00:02:49.320 align:middle line:84% And we are heading back empty for the Persian 00:02:49.320 --> 00:02:52.170 align:middle line:84% Gulf, for our second trip to the Persian Gulf, 00:02:52.170 --> 00:02:55.560 align:middle line:84% going just south of the Bonin islands, 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:58.410 align:middle line:84% otherwise known as the Ogasawaras 00:02:58.410 --> 00:03:01.470 align:middle line:84% And one night, I wrote this poem. 00:03:01.470 --> 00:03:03.810 align:middle line:90% "Oil." 00:03:03.810 --> 00:03:08.610 align:middle line:84% Soft rain squalls on the swells south of the Bonins, 00:03:08.610 --> 00:03:10.230 align:middle line:90% late at night. 00:03:10.230 --> 00:03:13.980 align:middle line:84% Light from the empty mess-hall throws back 00:03:13.980 --> 00:03:18.270 align:middle line:84% bulky shadows of winch and fairlead 00:03:18.270 --> 00:03:22.410 align:middle line:84% over the slanting fantail where I stand. 00:03:22.410 --> 00:03:27.600 align:middle line:84% But for men on watch in the engine room, 00:03:27.600 --> 00:03:31.710 align:middle line:84% the man at the wheel, the lookout in the bow, 00:03:31.710 --> 00:03:33.930 align:middle line:90% the crew sleeps. 00:03:33.930 --> 00:03:38.370 align:middle line:84% In cots on deck or narrow iron bunks 00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:43.080 align:middle line:90% down drumming passageways below. 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:49.600 align:middle line:84% The ship burns with a furnace heart, steam veins, and copper 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:56.310 align:middle line:84% nerves quivers and slightly twists and always goes-- 00:03:56.310 --> 00:04:01.260 align:middle line:84% easy roll of the hull and deep vibration of the turbines 00:04:01.260 --> 00:04:03.560 align:middle line:90% underfoot. 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:09.680 align:middle line:84% baring what all these crazed, hooked nations need-- 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:16.270 align:middle line:84% steel plates and long injections of pure oil. 00:04:16.270 --> 00:04:18.000 align:middle line:90%