[Terry's Tale] To Mirror the Heavens

And I have felt . . . a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and the mind of man;

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things.

-       Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey”

It has long been recognized that all living things are inhabited by a creative force.  This force is powerful and aggressive yet it can be considered to represent heaven and light for it is a portal into our true inner nature.  For me, the sound of music produced by a simple bamboo flute, has been a mild muse.

For some time now, though I have had little time and I have no teacher, I have been working to learn how to play the ‘danso’.  This instrument, an ancient form of reedless bamboo flute has a hauntingly airy voice and is not only found in Asia, but is an instrument long known by the native American Indians.

The Danso 

The notch 

 The sound comes out this end

 The bottom side

 Completely hollow in the middle

The view of the notch from the playing end

Due to its design, it is quite difficult to master, and can, at times, be difficult for a master to play.  The reasons for the level difficulty are:

1)  It is made of a material, bamboo, and a design that makes it extremely subject to the vagaries of ambient conditions – that is, humidity or dryness, cold and heat, etc.

2)  Since the sound is produced by the splitting of a flow of air across a notch and the notch is located at one end of the flute, the positioning of angle of the notch to the mouth and the power of the breath used are entirely controlled by the would be player.  Reed instruments such as the clarinet or even other flute types that utilize a reed apparatus at the rear of the instrument, and non-reed instruments such as the ocarina, by design control the air flow split making sound production much easier.

3)  You have but four holes on top and one on the bottom for note production, thus your range of notes is somewhat limited.

I currently am to the point where making sound is no longer a serious problem – until you learn mouth positioning and breath technique making any sound harmonic to the ear is very difficult, so now, as time permits, I can focus more on the making of music. 

[Terry's Tale] Yielding and Receptive to be in Harmony with Living

My storehouse has burnt down,

Nothing obstructs the view of the bright moon.

                   -      Masahide as translated by Miyamori

It is often possible to see in others the philosophy I try to follow.  However, a bit of digression first.  South Korea has the best internet system in the world and I have been adapting to it, though at a rather moderate pace having been more or less of a ‘luddite’ for many years.  The internet is a great place where one can go and see the programs of yesteryear if you are in a nostalgic mood.  I, for example, have caught several episodes of “My Favorite Martian”, “Get Smart”, Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery” and Twilight Zone”, bits and pieces of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”, “Max Headroom”, Boris Karloff’s “Thriller”, and some others.  You can even find videos from the NASA space programs of the 1960’s that expanded the world of man all the way to the moon.  I can remember that one means of how people might describe something as being impossible was to compare that ‘something’ to how often man has been on the moon (in short, the answer at that time was always never).

Yet, probably most short films that are ever made also wind up on ‘YouTube’.  So, getting back to my original point, as I have seen many films, I sometimes see something very appropriate to my philosophical thought.  One short German film entitled “Immer Nummer Eins” brought that home to me.  For those who do not speak German you can find versions containing English subtitles.

The film is short, roughly fifteen minutes in length, and I realize very idealistic, because it is a play about morals and ethics.  The story centers around a boy who is, both intellectually and athletically, at the head of his class.   One day, a new child arrives at his school and, as you might expect, his skills surpass the first child’s.  The first child quickly takes offense at this new situation and begins playing mean tricks on the new child.  While these tricks do not endanger anyone they do pose problems of harassment for the second child.

The new child does not seek revenge as would so many, nor does he simply turn the other cheek and ignore these misdeeds pointedly aimed against him.  Instead, he reaches out to the first boy by turning these nasty situations into ones that decidedly favor the first boy.  In so doing, he is not only yielding and receptive, but he is showing that he respects the first boy despite the tricks.  This is basic Buddhist philosophy in action, and ultimately, this works to the advantage of them both. The first child soon becomes regretful of his deeds, though, we can understand by the behavior of the second child throughout the video that he will probably not take future advantage of those regrets.

Bamboo in Snow by K'uo Pi

I chose this picture because bamboo is extremely flexible in the face of adverse conditions thus it survives.

[Terry's Tale] Surrounded in Pork!

There is an old nursery rhyme from England that goes “This little piggy went to the market.  This little piggy stayed home.  This little piggy had roast beef.  This little piggy had none.  And this little piggy cried ‘wee, wee, wee’ all the way home.”

I do not know the actual derivation of the rhyme but it is reminiscent of many that were created for the sole purpose of making some person appear to be a fool.  If so, that information may be lost to history as Wikipedia notes that the first line was quoted in a medley in “The Nurse’s Song” which was written around 1728 and makes no mention of any earlier appearances.

The reason for my mention here is due to a trip I took on Saturday with Han, Wan-hui and his family to Itcheon to attend the grand opening of a ‘theme mart’, the Dodram Theme Park.  This is a grocery store, restaurant, and children’s play park all rolled into one.  The theme throughout is pigs and pork. 

I had never seen the likes of this before – outside on a large rock you have a couple of figures representing what I thought to be a wild boar and his hunter.  Mr. Han explained to me though, the actual meaning behind the statues.  The man represents a loyal son who is climbing the rock to gather a special flower needed to cure his badly ailing mother.  The wild boar stands atop the rocky outcropping to warn the son of a great danger that awaits him at the top.  This warning allows him to successfully avoid the danger and return to his mother with the flowers.

Inside, on the main floor, you have the grocery store and the restaurant.  Throughout this area there are located a large number of video machines from which emanate videos that advertise things to be found throughout the building.

One of the next three floors is used to teach children in a ‘hands on’ approach how to actually make sausage.  The other two floors are basically dedicated children’s play areas though the pig theme is still to be found throughout.  It was different!

 Arrival at the parking lot  -  the tents provide weather cover for other venders

 Street sign intersection (note the pig drawing on the middle one and the fork and knife on the bottom one)

A closer view 

  Street sign intersection (note the shopping cart on the top sign, the hot dogs drawing on the middle one, and the chef on the bottom one)

The rock and its statues 

Note the hours of operation - 9am to 10pm

Me looking at the food assortment with Han, Hye-rhim looking on. 

Every major grocery store provides sampling stations 

A grocery meat display 

Me strolling through the aisles 

Aisle and floor layouts really not any different than the US 

 Even the food packaging and presentation is recognizable

  

An announcement works to attract the targeted audience 

 The combination restaurant and coffee stop

Advertising the children's sausage making floor 

 Just as the sign says, the above is the floor directory

Mona Pig?

Marilyn Pig and the children's playground 

Entrance at the children's playground floor 

 The childrens playground floor

Children's bathrooms

One of the two children's floors had snack and video game areas

There was even a children's reading room

A trampoline room

Massage chairs for adults

The Scream or would it be The Oink?

King Pig, The Feral

The sausage floor

The sausage floor continues

Back to the play areas

The play area in the restaurant

Another view of the restaurant

A meal of grilled shrimp

The eating tables outside

The wine selection

Dinner entrees on display

Grilled pork for the meal

Below - side dishes which can be added to the pork and lettuce leaf arrangement to enhance the flavor.  Some of the dishes can also be eaten as a stand alone.

The lettuce is used as a wrap for the meat pieces plus any and all condiments

The restaurant menu (one US dollar is worth approximately 1,000 won)

Below - how to prepare grilled pork

Above - pork done, Korean style

For me, a vegetarian fare

Dodram Theme Park spelled out both in Korean and in English