Читать книгу Zen Master Rilke: There Are No Teachings. From The Buddha-Rilke Series - - Страница 2

This little book is the third in my series on Buddha and Rilke. The book contains three thought-provoking etudes, which may seem rather bizarre to the reader. The point is that the poet appears in them as…

a Zen Master.

In the first etude, the poet talks to an unknown patriarch of the Chan school about how there is no doctrine to follow in order to gain an understanding of one’s original nature. In the second etude, the poet rejects The Buddha’s Discourses; he reflects on his own and only his own journey towards his authentic Self. In the third, the poet has a conversation with Gautama Buddha and his disciple about… the nightingale’s paradise and silence.

Each etude features Rilke’s authentic voice. All his words are quotations from his letters; they are given in my translation. The sayings of Gautama Buddha are taken from The Gospel of Buddha by Paul Carus (1852—1919) (The Gutenberg Library). The Patriarch’s remarks are my interpretation of some statements made by the great Chan teachers Hui Neng and Linji Yixuan.

To make the text easier to read, speech marks have been removed from all dialogues.

The book contains a large number of images, including some public domain works by Odilon Redon (1840—1916). As for my own drawings, among them the reader will find some fantasy-like Zen portraits of Rilke. One such portrait appears on the cover of the book.

Finally, I would like to point out that the Buddhist theme in Rilke’s work is inexhaustible, and that every facet of this great theme will undoubtedly be a source of surprise and inspiration to the sincere seeker of truth.