Читать книгу Rilke, Zen Master: On Awakening to Beauty. Part 1. About a Broken Nose - - Страница 4

First of all, I would like to emphasise that the title of my author’s Buddha-Rilke series in no way implies that Rilke was a follower of Gautama Buddha, or that his lyrical revelations should in the least be taken as such. It is well known that the poet categorically rejected all teachings. But his vision as a creator and artist was so multifaceted that it is not difficult to discern features of the most diverse philosophical conceptions in it.

Nor should the reader expect me to expound Buddhist doctrine: I have approached the philosophical literary sources of the Chan school primarily as artistic texts.

I would also like to draw the reader’s attention to the fact that, as he gets to know the book, he will find in it six remarkable poems by Rilke from his New Poems: ́The Swań, ́St Sebastiań, ́Buddhá in two versions, ́The Scarab́ and ́Buddha in Glorý; as well as the Ninth Sonnet from the Sonnets to Orpheus. All the poems above are given as my free prose translations, without regard to the rhyme and rhythm of the quoted original.

As for the dialogues presented in the book, they are all figments of my imagination, with a slight ́Buddhist́ tendency. It should also be said that all the characters’ speeches and all the phrases in the epigraphs represent a wide range of my own readings, from ́free flight́ to exact translation, except in the case of a few literal quotations, which are accompanied by obligatory references not only to the authors but also to the sources.

As soon as the reader begins to turn the pages of the Dialogues, he or she will immediately notice that R. M. Rilke himself is represented in the poet’s image. The textual material for the poet’s statements has been taken from Rilke’s famous essay Auguste Rodin, as well as from several of his letters, fragments of which I have attempted to translate accurately, while allowing for selective editing to ensure the semantic unity of the Dialogues. Such ́extraneouśinsertions are indicated by square brackets.

The image of the Patriarch is a collective one and mainly implies historical figures such as Hui Neng and Linji, the legendary masters of the Chan school. It should be noted that the Patriarch’s sayings are mostly my fantasies and arrangements, composed on motives of sermons and instructions not only of the mentioned great teachers, but also of such famous Chan (or Zen) masters as Sengcan (496? -606), Shih Wang Ming (6th century), Ummon (864 -949), and Hakuin (1686—1769).

The book contains a large number of illustrations, both my own and based on public domain images. The latter include works by such prominent Zen artists as Liang Kai (c. 1140—1220) and Hakuin Ekaku (1686—1769), as well as the lesser known but very ́expressivé master Shi Ke (mid-tenth century).