A Church Service

Church Program, 1/17/10

I went to Church a couple of weeks ago for the first time in a long time, and I decided to save my program (.pdf). It was a very emotional experience for a number of reasons I won't go into on this blog -- we might say detachedly that social change and cultural crises are very much present in the socio-familial structures of my home state.

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A reminder about the Bible

The Wedding at Cana, from Siena

I went to the First Presbyterian Church in Mineral Wells, TX this morning and heard an old, old presbyter ramble on about life's "journey." I was far from satisfied with his sermon, but after so long not attending church I sure did enjoy hearing a sermon.

I know I don't have time to focus much on the Bible in my current line of thinking, but I want to note here just a few passages that I may come back to, and I would like to start a file that can contain various thoughts I have about Biblical texts as they come up -- because they do come up. Intermittently these days, but always they are there.

Isaiah's call to celebrate; the wedding at Cana:

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Vietnamese Buddhism II

Krista Tippett's show today was a re-run of her program on Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk who has founded Buddhist communities ("communities of practice") in France and Wisconsin. Apparently Martin Luther King, Jr. was a big fan.

Of course, after thinking about Shilian Dashan, I can't help but think of him as the Shilian Dashan of today.


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Hiram Bingham

The Hawaiian evangelist; a case could be made that he conquered the kingdom.
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (?/33)

Making Offerings to Mother 供母


First attempt at the text: 南嶺挂＿北堂供母。肇＿聚彀登獨此孝行不棄禪心猶化是知。出世菩提正謂入世忠孝子以後＿＿焉

番禺法弟屈大均題 Fang Qin points out that Qu Dajun (1630-1696) is a famous cultural leader and known Ming loyalist.

Xiangyu mentioned he knew the word 輦彀
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (21/33)

Feeding A Horse 秣马图 [mo4]
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (25/33)

Sick in Bed 臥病圖
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (34?/33)

Whistling Loudly 长啸图
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (17/33)

Fishing 釣魚圖
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (12/33)

Roaming 遨游图



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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (32/33)

Making Furniture 制器图
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (15/33)

Playing the Flute 吹萧图
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (14/33)

Painting 作畫圖

Is that a little boy in the corner? How bizarre.
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (11/33)

Composing Poetry 吟哦图

"Composing poetry" is Prof. Wu's translation, but wouldn't this better be translated "Reciting [Poetry]"?

Cf. 國語詞典: 吟哦 (yin2e2): 吟詠。宋史˙卷四三八˙儒林傳八˙何基傳：「讀詩之法，須掃蕩胸次淨盡，然後吟哦上下，諷詠從容。」[This last reference is worth working out properly.] 儒林外史˙第十一回：「見公孫赴宴回房，袖裡籠了一本詩來燈下吟哦。」
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (22/33)

Rainmaking 卖雨图

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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (9/33)

Stargazing 觀象
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (8/33)

Casting Hexagrams 演洛图
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (7/33)

Meeting a Miraculous Stranger 遇异图

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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (6/33)

Silently Communing 默契图

The sixth print, Silently Communing, shows the musing young master sitting on the ground with his head bent slightly forward and one leg outstretched. In his relaxed posture there is no sign of the burning urgency or desperate struggle that characterized the sitting-in-meditation of earlier Chan masters.


Not surprisingly, the text here is one of the more difficult examples! I'm surprised my clssmates could help as much as they did:

清露沙門＿＿風＿＿＿ 舜水張廣業題 Seal: 廣業 Seal: ?正
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Shilian Dashan's Self Portraits (13/33)

Visiting Kindred Spirits 雅集图

"As the portraits have more to do with his roles and poses than with specific episodes in his life, there is no strict chronological order to the sequence. However beginning with the thirteenth, Visiting Kindred Spirits, he is never without a goatee or wrinkles around the eyes. A slightly receding hairline is another concession to the passage of time."
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