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Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places
In this thoughtful, affectionate collection of interviews and letters spanning three decades, beloved poet Gary Snyder talks with South African writer and scholar Julia Martin. Over this period many things changed decisively—globally, locally, and in their personal lives—and these changing conditions provide the back story for a long conversation. It begins in the early 1980s as an intellectual exchange between an earnest graduate student and a generous distinguished writer, and becomes a long-distance friendship and an exploration of spiritual practice.
At the project’s heart is Snyder’s understanding of Buddhism. Again and again, the conversations return to an explication of the teachings. Snyder’s characteristic approach is to articulate a direct experience of Buddhist practice rather than any kind of abstract philosophy. In the version he describes here, this practice finds expression not primarily as an Asian import or a monastic ideal, but in the specificities of a householder’s life as lived creatively in a particular location at a particular moment in history. This means that whatever “topic” a dialogue explores, there is a sense that all of it is about practice—the spiritual-social practice of a contemporary poet.
At the project’s heart is Snyder’s understanding of Buddhism. Again and again, the conversations return to an explication of the teachings. Snyder’s characteristic approach is to articulate a direct experience of Buddhist practice rather than any kind of abstract philosophy. In the version he describes here, this practice finds expression not primarily as an Asian import or a monastic ideal, but in the specificities of a householder’s life as lived creatively in a particular location at a particular moment in history. This means that whatever “topic” a dialogue explores, there is a sense that all of it is about practice—the spiritual-social practice of a contemporary poet.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
39 people are currently reading
358 people want to read
About the author
Gary Snyder
323 books647 followersGary Snyder is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology". Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the American Book Award. His work, in his various roles, reflects an immersion in both Buddhist spirituality and nature. He has translated literature into English from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder was an academic at the University of California, Davis, and for a time served as a member of the California Arts Council.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 29, 2017
“The mind poet stays in the house / the house is empty and it has no walls / the poem is seen from all sides / everywhere / at once.”—Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is a Pulitzer award winning American poet, environmental activist, deep ecologist, Buddhism—and maybe particular Zen--scholar. This is a book that represents a relationship of over thirty years between Snyder and Julia Martin, A south African writer and literary scholar. Julia first writes to him as a graduate student in 1983 with some questions. She remains a kind of neophyte, a sort of disciple, throughout their relationship, focused as she is on her questions more than his questions, but there is a developjng warmth between them that actuals models some of the principles of relationship and community that he brings to Buddhist practice.
I actually am interested in some of Martin’s questions, too. Like me, she’s an activist, and wants to see how Snyder’s Buddhism contributes to his activism. I didn’t become a Buddhist in part because I thought of it as more about inner life than anything else.
I am not really a scholar of Buddhism. I read this because I love Snyder’s poetry, his sensibilities and commitments and because I was reading it with my friend J, a Buddhist and a poet. But I did learn from him:
“What I like most about Buddhism is its fearlessness. So much of what warps people is fear of death and fear of impermanence. So much of what we do is simply strategies to try and hold back death, trying to buy time with material things. So at its best Buddhism provides people with a way of seeing their own frailty: You need less in the way of material objects and fortresses around yourself.”
“Walking in the mountain wildernesses & in the depths of great cities is my meditation & angle of approach to the times right now.”
“We study the self to forget the self. When we forget the self, we encounter all phenomenon.”
Snyder thinks one way we can speak to the “present moment” is to stay in one place and develop a relationship with that place, the environment of that place. He thinks Buddhism (vs Christianity) offers a non-dualistic approach to the world that is more generous and productive and open.
The book is comprised of two sections: interviews—three of them—and a series of letter exchanges. The second and third interviews are the best part of the book, and the letter exchanges the least interesting. I prefer letters between Snyder and people whose work I know, such as Wendell Berry and Jim Harrison, people who are more his equals. I prefer reading Snyder’s poetry, naturally, and every time either of them quote from the poems I am all over those moments. The sense of time through which Snyder sees the world is so expansive, so unafraid and powerful and warm, but compared to some of his other books, I thought this was just good, not great. Read the poems!
Gary Snyder is a Pulitzer award winning American poet, environmental activist, deep ecologist, Buddhism—and maybe particular Zen--scholar. This is a book that represents a relationship of over thirty years between Snyder and Julia Martin, A south African writer and literary scholar. Julia first writes to him as a graduate student in 1983 with some questions. She remains a kind of neophyte, a sort of disciple, throughout their relationship, focused as she is on her questions more than his questions, but there is a developjng warmth between them that actuals models some of the principles of relationship and community that he brings to Buddhist practice.
I actually am interested in some of Martin’s questions, too. Like me, she’s an activist, and wants to see how Snyder’s Buddhism contributes to his activism. I didn’t become a Buddhist in part because I thought of it as more about inner life than anything else.
I am not really a scholar of Buddhism. I read this because I love Snyder’s poetry, his sensibilities and commitments and because I was reading it with my friend J, a Buddhist and a poet. But I did learn from him:
“What I like most about Buddhism is its fearlessness. So much of what warps people is fear of death and fear of impermanence. So much of what we do is simply strategies to try and hold back death, trying to buy time with material things. So at its best Buddhism provides people with a way of seeing their own frailty: You need less in the way of material objects and fortresses around yourself.”
“Walking in the mountain wildernesses & in the depths of great cities is my meditation & angle of approach to the times right now.”
“We study the self to forget the self. When we forget the self, we encounter all phenomenon.”
Snyder thinks one way we can speak to the “present moment” is to stay in one place and develop a relationship with that place, the environment of that place. He thinks Buddhism (vs Christianity) offers a non-dualistic approach to the world that is more generous and productive and open.
The book is comprised of two sections: interviews—three of them—and a series of letter exchanges. The second and third interviews are the best part of the book, and the letter exchanges the least interesting. I prefer letters between Snyder and people whose work I know, such as Wendell Berry and Jim Harrison, people who are more his equals. I prefer reading Snyder’s poetry, naturally, and every time either of them quote from the poems I am all over those moments. The sense of time through which Snyder sees the world is so expansive, so unafraid and powerful and warm, but compared to some of his other books, I thought this was just good, not great. Read the poems!
December 11, 2014
A lovely book of conversations and letters between Gary Snyder, one of the writers/poets/elders who matters most to me, and Julia Martin, a younger South African ecological thinker/literary critic/seeker of the Dharma. On one level, there's not a lot here that will surprise those familiar with Snyder, although he and Martin spend a lot of time reflecting on the presence of feminine energies (and the Goddess) in modern culture--the difficulties of avoiding essentialist and reductive phrasings. But "newness" has never mattered much to Snyder; he's much more concerned with remembering and inhabiting the land, our watersheds, of being silent and hearing the voices (of land, animals, plants) drowned out by the din of the modern world. As always, many sharp phrasings from both Snyder and Martin. I love the point where one of them (don't remember and it really doesn't matter) says that the only two things that matter are being with a lot of smart people, and being able to be alone.
What's most distinctive about this book is the sense of a lived friendship. That was also present in the book of letters between Snyder and Allen Ginsberg, but this feels different, in part because of Martin's quiet *real* presence. She lived through the late apartheid period in South Africa, confronted the real complexities and difficulties of the new South Africa--violence impinges on her life and those of her friends several times. The book gives a sense of her growing into motherhood, testing her ideas about gender with the reality of raising twins (one boy, one girl--there's a priceless story about their conflict over play rabbits. Snyder's been releasing several books grounded in his friendships--I'll turn to that Wendell Berry and Jim Harrison books next--but this one clearly occupies a special place.
What's most distinctive about this book is the sense of a lived friendship. That was also present in the book of letters between Snyder and Allen Ginsberg, but this feels different, in part because of Martin's quiet *real* presence. She lived through the late apartheid period in South Africa, confronted the real complexities and difficulties of the new South Africa--violence impinges on her life and those of her friends several times. The book gives a sense of her growing into motherhood, testing her ideas about gender with the reality of raising twins (one boy, one girl--there's a priceless story about their conflict over play rabbits. Snyder's been releasing several books grounded in his friendships--I'll turn to that Wendell Berry and Jim Harrison books next--but this one clearly occupies a special place.
July 10, 2017
I couldn't really get into this book even though it seemed well written.
August 10, 2017
Another brilliant book by Gary Snyder.
This book is a celebration of two great minds, Gary Snyder and Julia Martin, slowly but naturally being drawn to each other, like a lodestone, across continents and time.
The first 1/3 of the book features transcriptions of interviews Martin held with Snyder in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s while the 2/3 (less interesting but still good) contains some of the correspondence (first letters, later emails) between the two academics. They talk about poetry, Buddhism, ecology, the biosphere and man's role within it, animals, American politics, South African politics (especially apartheid as Julia Martin had to live under its heinous rule for many, many years with extreme compassion for the natives who were suffering), meditation, Zen and many more extraneous topics.
Their talks are so fascinating and deep and it's a true joy to witness this beautiful exchange between two similar minded academics and intellectuals, in fact they are like intellectual soul mates exchanging philosophical ideas, poetic analyses of Snyder's own poems plus occasionally a mention of other poets like Pound, Eliot, Stevens of some of Snyder's own contemporaries such as Wendell Berry or Philip Whalen.
The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that The Real Work by Gary Snyder is even more phenomenal. It seems that Snyder is at his very best, his mind is as one-pointed as sharp as a diamond, when he is being interviewed by the right person. His poetry is good when we can penetrate it to its hidden but simple core but it is sometimes obfuscatory or just downright esoteric. In Nobody Home and in The Real Work Snyder sometimes offers his own comments or analyses of his poetry which helps immensely if you have wanted to understand his poetry better, like I have.
All in all, a wonderful book - entertaining, immensely intellectual and educational, funny, heartbreakingly sad at times (when Snyder's mother and wife pass on for example and when Julia's student got shot and could never walk again) but overall, there is this indescribable feeling of the human spirit triumphing over their shared trials through true friendship and compassion. Highly recommended.
This book is a celebration of two great minds, Gary Snyder and Julia Martin, slowly but naturally being drawn to each other, like a lodestone, across continents and time.
The first 1/3 of the book features transcriptions of interviews Martin held with Snyder in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s while the 2/3 (less interesting but still good) contains some of the correspondence (first letters, later emails) between the two academics. They talk about poetry, Buddhism, ecology, the biosphere and man's role within it, animals, American politics, South African politics (especially apartheid as Julia Martin had to live under its heinous rule for many, many years with extreme compassion for the natives who were suffering), meditation, Zen and many more extraneous topics.
Their talks are so fascinating and deep and it's a true joy to witness this beautiful exchange between two similar minded academics and intellectuals, in fact they are like intellectual soul mates exchanging philosophical ideas, poetic analyses of Snyder's own poems plus occasionally a mention of other poets like Pound, Eliot, Stevens of some of Snyder's own contemporaries such as Wendell Berry or Philip Whalen.
The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that The Real Work by Gary Snyder is even more phenomenal. It seems that Snyder is at his very best, his mind is as one-pointed as sharp as a diamond, when he is being interviewed by the right person. His poetry is good when we can penetrate it to its hidden but simple core but it is sometimes obfuscatory or just downright esoteric. In Nobody Home and in The Real Work Snyder sometimes offers his own comments or analyses of his poetry which helps immensely if you have wanted to understand his poetry better, like I have.
All in all, a wonderful book - entertaining, immensely intellectual and educational, funny, heartbreakingly sad at times (when Snyder's mother and wife pass on for example and when Julia's student got shot and could never walk again) but overall, there is this indescribable feeling of the human spirit triumphing over their shared trials through true friendship and compassion. Highly recommended.
March 7, 2015
Coming on the heels of Snyder's exchanges with Jim Harrison and with Wendell Berry, Nobody Home offers warmer portrait of the writer. His affection seems genuine and the discussions are deeper than the cocky shoptalk of the earlier works. Highly recommended.
February 23, 2020
I'm giving this three stars, but really it should be split -- five stars for the first segment of the book, three conversations between Gary Snyder and Julia Martin, which are funny and fascinating and i dog-eared many pages to go back to again... and only two or three stars for the second part, a selection of their letters back and forth starting in the early 1980s, which are probably interesting to someone who knows more about the concepts, poetry, and etc. that they are discussing, but i had a hard time getting into it. but the first part is dense with ideas and insights.
February 2, 2018
An interesting way to learn more about Snyder's intersection of Buddhism, poetry, and economic politics, with glimpses into his personal life on his land in Northern California and his teaching career at UC Davis. All through a multi decade correspondence with a South African writer during and after Apartheid.
April 16, 2020
A book that drew me in slowly and that I enjoyed.... But dont know why? Essentially it is a series of interviews and correspondence exchanges at a high academic level.... But there is a gentle subtext, the formation and development of a relationship based on ideas and mutual respect.
September 12, 2022
Good quick read of some great interviews and letters spanning a few decades.
December 25, 2022
A gentle meeting of minds
What a beautiful book! Two writers reaching out, touching each other, creating a whole world between them. Piercing and evocative.
What a beautiful book! Two writers reaching out, touching each other, creating a whole world between them. Piercing and evocative.
September 27, 2016
Gary Snyder is a Pulitzer award winning American poet, environmental activist, deep ecologist, Zen and Buddhism scholar. The book cogary-julia-smallmprises of conversations, in the form of letters, interviews and emails, between Gary Snyder and Julia Martin, a South African writer and a literary scholar. Julia, more the younger disciple. Ecofeminism, commitment to land, ecology conservation and Zen principles are some of the broad topics that they discuss. The conversation evolves over nearly thirty long years starting around 1984.
Gary grew up in a rural land during the Depression era. He has been living with his family in Kitkitdizze which is a small town in the foothills of Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, with professional period pent as a professor in University of California, Davis. “Commitment to land” is a big ideal Gary has adapted in his life. Living off the land or back to the land does not mean, Gary explains, living out of the economy. It’s a minor adjustment to do the things one does, only in a rural setting.
The conversation gets more interesting as they talk about symbolizing women as Goddesses as a misrepresentation of the ideas of feminism. Nature is symbolically ascribed to feminine imagery of Goddess. The genderization of nature is dichotomous as far as how women’s power can be understood.
Gary : Ynestra King, for example, wants to eliminate all gendered references to nature. She says that doesn’t help women. It just makes them look fecund and Great Mothery, and that it keeps them in the kitchen. Then there is another imagery that is certainly very deeply established in thought and lore: metaphors drawn from some obvious observations of seeds being planted and sprouting, birth processes in nature, which suggest and analogy with women’s bodies and their roles in culture. I don’t know if hunter-gathering people ever got so deeply fertility-and goddess-oriented as did agrarian people.
Julia has a strong opinion on this play of words of political import.
Julia: You referred to two trends in feminist thought about the metaphoric association of “woman” and nature. Would you agree that it is precisely that association that has legitimized the oppression of women?
They talk about Zen and Buddhism practices. Based on Buddhist learnings, Gary says,
Gary : ……It’s obviously human hubris to think we can destroy the planet, can destroy life. It’s just another exaggeration of ourselves. Actually we can’t. We’re far too small.
Julia : really?
Gary: …That would be no excuse for doing things poorly, a kind of bottom line is that all human activity is as anything else. We can humbly acknowledge that and excuse ourselves from exaggerating our importance, even as a threat, and also recognize the scale and the beauty of thing..”
This would bring a satisfying chuckle to a well-meaning, but concerned, ecologist. The conversation proceeds to ozone layer damage, depth ecology and more.
The letters between Julia and Gary show great affection for each other’s ideas about ecology, feminism, Buddhism, world peace. Julia talks about the deep unrest in South Africa’s political circles -anti-apartheid activism was gaining momentum, Nelson Mandela was about to become the first black President of SA, while Gary sympathizes and remarks about the nature of elections back in his country. Julia also confides her disappointment about the rhetoric involved in publishing her thesis work. The writing and research completion excitement is often bogged down by the elaborate procedure involved to get the material published. Gary pushes her to publish her thesis, anyway.
The relation between Gary and Julia is personal and friendly. They talk of life back home. Enquiries are made about each other’s family on a regular basis. They exchange travel and art explorations among many other topics. There’s a marked effect of learnings from conversations with Gary on Julia’s lifestyle in ecological, political and academic dimensions.
The book is a compelling read for people who happen to have a friend in a philosopher and a philosopher in a friend. I have been fortunate enough to have one such great friend/philosopher and certainly identified with the nature and depth of conversations between Gary and Julia.
Gary grew up in a rural land during the Depression era. He has been living with his family in Kitkitdizze which is a small town in the foothills of Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, with professional period pent as a professor in University of California, Davis. “Commitment to land” is a big ideal Gary has adapted in his life. Living off the land or back to the land does not mean, Gary explains, living out of the economy. It’s a minor adjustment to do the things one does, only in a rural setting.
The conversation gets more interesting as they talk about symbolizing women as Goddesses as a misrepresentation of the ideas of feminism. Nature is symbolically ascribed to feminine imagery of Goddess. The genderization of nature is dichotomous as far as how women’s power can be understood.
Gary : Ynestra King, for example, wants to eliminate all gendered references to nature. She says that doesn’t help women. It just makes them look fecund and Great Mothery, and that it keeps them in the kitchen. Then there is another imagery that is certainly very deeply established in thought and lore: metaphors drawn from some obvious observations of seeds being planted and sprouting, birth processes in nature, which suggest and analogy with women’s bodies and their roles in culture. I don’t know if hunter-gathering people ever got so deeply fertility-and goddess-oriented as did agrarian people.
Julia has a strong opinion on this play of words of political import.
Julia: You referred to two trends in feminist thought about the metaphoric association of “woman” and nature. Would you agree that it is precisely that association that has legitimized the oppression of women?
They talk about Zen and Buddhism practices. Based on Buddhist learnings, Gary says,
Gary : ……It’s obviously human hubris to think we can destroy the planet, can destroy life. It’s just another exaggeration of ourselves. Actually we can’t. We’re far too small.
Julia : really?
Gary: …That would be no excuse for doing things poorly, a kind of bottom line is that all human activity is as anything else. We can humbly acknowledge that and excuse ourselves from exaggerating our importance, even as a threat, and also recognize the scale and the beauty of thing..”
This would bring a satisfying chuckle to a well-meaning, but concerned, ecologist. The conversation proceeds to ozone layer damage, depth ecology and more.
The letters between Julia and Gary show great affection for each other’s ideas about ecology, feminism, Buddhism, world peace. Julia talks about the deep unrest in South Africa’s political circles -anti-apartheid activism was gaining momentum, Nelson Mandela was about to become the first black President of SA, while Gary sympathizes and remarks about the nature of elections back in his country. Julia also confides her disappointment about the rhetoric involved in publishing her thesis work. The writing and research completion excitement is often bogged down by the elaborate procedure involved to get the material published. Gary pushes her to publish her thesis, anyway.
The relation between Gary and Julia is personal and friendly. They talk of life back home. Enquiries are made about each other’s family on a regular basis. They exchange travel and art explorations among many other topics. There’s a marked effect of learnings from conversations with Gary on Julia’s lifestyle in ecological, political and academic dimensions.
The book is a compelling read for people who happen to have a friend in a philosopher and a philosopher in a friend. I have been fortunate enough to have one such great friend/philosopher and certainly identified with the nature and depth of conversations between Gary and Julia.
January 18, 2025
Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places is a collection of letters and interviews between poet Gary Snyder and Julia Martin. It began with a single letter from an admiring reader and evolving into a lasting friendship spanning decades. These exchanges capture Snyder’s reflections on Zen Buddhism, environmental ethics, and the personal and cultural changes they both experience. Through thoughtful correspondence, the book offers readers a glimpse into their deepening perspectives on philosophy, nature, and society.
Reflecting on Nobody Home feels like stepping into a time when letter writing was a cherished, deliberate ritual. It offers insight into a slower, more intentional pace of life, where writing a letter was woven into one’s routine, requiring the right time and mindset to respond thoughtfully. Each letter, carries a piece of the sender’s life, traveling across the globe, waiting patiently among other letters to be read. This simple act of reaching out fostered genuine, lasting connections, a testimony to how the power of words can bridge distance and time.
These letters offer a rich exploration of human connection, cultural exchange, and mindfulness. Nobody Home is a fantastically layered reflection on the beauty of intentional communication and the freedom that can be found in the simplest of tasks and living deliberately.
Reflecting on Nobody Home feels like stepping into a time when letter writing was a cherished, deliberate ritual. It offers insight into a slower, more intentional pace of life, where writing a letter was woven into one’s routine, requiring the right time and mindset to respond thoughtfully. Each letter, carries a piece of the sender’s life, traveling across the globe, waiting patiently among other letters to be read. This simple act of reaching out fostered genuine, lasting connections, a testimony to how the power of words can bridge distance and time.
These letters offer a rich exploration of human connection, cultural exchange, and mindfulness. Nobody Home is a fantastically layered reflection on the beauty of intentional communication and the freedom that can be found in the simplest of tasks and living deliberately.
December 28, 2024
There sat Gary. Alone. On the stage. UCSB's Campbell Hall. The line of admirers had been long, it was getting late, and I was the last in line. For his signature, I handed over a copy of this book. He turned it over in his hands, feeling it. He paused, looking up at me. He smiled. Then said, "You're the only one who chose this one. Why?"
"Well, it was the only one on the table with you in dialog with another person, and in this case, a woman. I read a scattering of pages and discovered that dialog brings out another Gary."
We got to talking. I told him that as kid I'd worked for Smokey on wildfires, trail crews, and a surveying crew. That disclosure led to more talk and we began an email correspondence. It turned out we both had been deeply impressed with Paul Frederich's book Proto-Indo-European Trees: The Arboreal System of a Pre-Historic People. In addition, Gary shared with me that, in the American grain, Paul was a fine haiku poet.
The main theme of our correspondence, though, was that of fire ecology. Though many prehistoric peoples were fire wise, Smokey the Bear was not. I had written a master's thesis on indigenous California burning practices and also those of the Vedic peoples. My thesis had been published in India, so I sent a copy to Gary. Fire ecology is a testament to the interplay of impermanence and abundance. The Sanskrit word loka, for instance, is a cognate of the English word lea and the Latin lucus. Originally the word meant "a clearing in the forest" carved out by wildfire. It is a place, a phase in a cycle of abundance, where sweet, post-fire species of herbs and grasses and flowers appear and nourish species who have evolved to prosper within waves of post-burn arboreal succession. Oaks, for instance, have been around for 56 million years. They have made friends who have helped them march to and from warmer climes when it gets too cold, and then north and upslope again when as the environment begins getting too warm. Humans, for a considerable spell, have been one of those creatures. A lucus was a sacred grove, a place wherein the light of heaven could penetrate down onto the ground and the Gods and Goddesses could thus descend, a locus where altars were erected for enkindling burnt offerings. Forests are offerings. The Indo-European Gods are armed with lightning bolts. In India, the vajra, the flash of illumination, the sudden spiritual coalescence of name and form opening to pure Being and the composition of a new hymn, is something of a haiku moment.
"Well, it was the only one on the table with you in dialog with another person, and in this case, a woman. I read a scattering of pages and discovered that dialog brings out another Gary."
We got to talking. I told him that as kid I'd worked for Smokey on wildfires, trail crews, and a surveying crew. That disclosure led to more talk and we began an email correspondence. It turned out we both had been deeply impressed with Paul Frederich's book Proto-Indo-European Trees: The Arboreal System of a Pre-Historic People. In addition, Gary shared with me that, in the American grain, Paul was a fine haiku poet.
The main theme of our correspondence, though, was that of fire ecology. Though many prehistoric peoples were fire wise, Smokey the Bear was not. I had written a master's thesis on indigenous California burning practices and also those of the Vedic peoples. My thesis had been published in India, so I sent a copy to Gary. Fire ecology is a testament to the interplay of impermanence and abundance. The Sanskrit word loka, for instance, is a cognate of the English word lea and the Latin lucus. Originally the word meant "a clearing in the forest" carved out by wildfire. It is a place, a phase in a cycle of abundance, where sweet, post-fire species of herbs and grasses and flowers appear and nourish species who have evolved to prosper within waves of post-burn arboreal succession. Oaks, for instance, have been around for 56 million years. They have made friends who have helped them march to and from warmer climes when it gets too cold, and then north and upslope again when as the environment begins getting too warm. Humans, for a considerable spell, have been one of those creatures. A lucus was a sacred grove, a place wherein the light of heaven could penetrate down onto the ground and the Gods and Goddesses could thus descend, a locus where altars were erected for enkindling burnt offerings. Forests are offerings. The Indo-European Gods are armed with lightning bolts. In India, the vajra, the flash of illumination, the sudden spiritual coalescence of name and form opening to pure Being and the composition of a new hymn, is something of a haiku moment.
January 28, 2015
This is a collection of letters written over several decades between Gary Snyder and Julia Martin. She first wrote him as a student in South Africa. Snyder was in his 40s. As the correspondence continued they met a number of times, in the US, in South Africa, and in Europe. While both were and are married to others, there is an undertone of at least intellectual attraction that I found intriguing. Martin dedicated one of her books: “For Gary Snyder and all our relations.” The letters focus on Buddhism, myth, writing, and ecology. Some parts I loved, others I skimmed, but I picked up some ideas I am still pondering.
Quotes:
“In the larger scale, things will take care of themselves. It’s obviously human hubris to think we can destroy the planet, can destroy life. It’s just another exaggeration of ourselves. Actually we can’t. We’re far too small.”
“What I like most about Buddhism is its fearlessness. So much of what warps people is fear of death and fear of impermanence. So much of what we do is simply strategies to try and hold back death, trying to buy time with material things. So at its best Buddhism provides people with a way of seeing their own frailty: you need less in the way of material objects and fortresses around yourself.”
“The watershed is a great way to orient yourself.”
“You know, for mindfulness, repetition is not necessarily an enemy. Because every time you do something it’s different….Being too interested in always having things new and interesting is to miss the point.”
“Walking in the mountain wildernesses & in the depths of great cities is my meditation & angle of approach to the times right now.”
Dogen - “We study the self to forget the self. When we forget the self, we encounter all phenomenon.”
Quotes:
“In the larger scale, things will take care of themselves. It’s obviously human hubris to think we can destroy the planet, can destroy life. It’s just another exaggeration of ourselves. Actually we can’t. We’re far too small.”
“What I like most about Buddhism is its fearlessness. So much of what warps people is fear of death and fear of impermanence. So much of what we do is simply strategies to try and hold back death, trying to buy time with material things. So at its best Buddhism provides people with a way of seeing their own frailty: you need less in the way of material objects and fortresses around yourself.”
“The watershed is a great way to orient yourself.”
“You know, for mindfulness, repetition is not necessarily an enemy. Because every time you do something it’s different….Being too interested in always having things new and interesting is to miss the point.”
“Walking in the mountain wildernesses & in the depths of great cities is my meditation & angle of approach to the times right now.”
Dogen - “We study the self to forget the self. When we forget the self, we encounter all phenomenon.”
Read
February 8, 2015This is a lovely book of friendship across hemispheres and continents which went on for some thirty years. It illuminates in natural language some of what Gary Snyder has been trying to put together, as well as letting us into their lives. Julia tries to follow up on Snyder's vow as a fifteen year old in 1945, after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: "By the power and beauty and permanence of Mt. St. Helens, I will fight this cruel and destructive power and those who would seek to use it, for all my life."
They exchange some rich descriptions of Amerika: Julia Martin in 1987: "So many alternative (and often very impressive) visions and practices which are made possible by the very state which they oppose - AMERIKA, awash with money, triumphing on the backs of the Third World. No other country can afford to support so many glamorous alternatives."
Snyder: "The wealth in America is at the top, and there are vast numbers of very poor people, not all of them black or brown by any means. ... Most of the US has a kind of hard-bitten, disorderly anti-intellectual anti-establishment funk. ... Most of America is low class, low taste, funky, rough, tacky, and - funny. The humor is the saving grace. And the alternatives one hears about are made possible, in part, by that looseness and funk. The government doesn't pursue us, we can drop out of sight and be forgotten and try things out on a low budget. And some of the higher visibility alternatives are hard work, essential, struggling projects."
They exchange some rich descriptions of Amerika: Julia Martin in 1987: "So many alternative (and often very impressive) visions and practices which are made possible by the very state which they oppose - AMERIKA, awash with money, triumphing on the backs of the Third World. No other country can afford to support so many glamorous alternatives."
Snyder: "The wealth in America is at the top, and there are vast numbers of very poor people, not all of them black or brown by any means. ... Most of the US has a kind of hard-bitten, disorderly anti-intellectual anti-establishment funk. ... Most of America is low class, low taste, funky, rough, tacky, and - funny. The humor is the saving grace. And the alternatives one hears about are made possible, in part, by that looseness and funk. The government doesn't pursue us, we can drop out of sight and be forgotten and try things out on a low budget. And some of the higher visibility alternatives are hard work, essential, struggling projects."
October 21, 2014
This is a healthy and thoughtful collection of interviews and correspondence between two writers of the earth: Pulitzer Prize winning poet and essayist Gary Snyder and South African author and scholar Julia Martin. Covering the decades from 1980 onward, the two activist thinkers and friends share their visions. Their subjects and themes range from Buddhism, writing, art, ecological and gender politics, issues of community, bio-regionalism, place sense. But it also contains the authors’ musings on family, suffering, age, and death....The 3 interviews are the strongest part of this collection. In the "Letters" section are moments of real insight but also lots of mundane telling of daily life. At times it feels like reading someone else’s personal mail. Nevertheless, Julia Martin has done a fine job of bringing Gary Snyder to the fore in her committed study of one of our major contemporary authors.
December 8, 2014
Three interviews spread out over three decades, each one featuring a deep dive in to the mind of Snyder on topics ranging from biogregionalism to his Zen practice to his poetics. These are high-level, engaging conversations, and Martin is to be commended for coaxing them out of the great poet and on to the pages of this fascinating little book. Their correspondence in the 2nd half of the book is also interesting, but in a different way, witnessing the caring friendship that develops between the two and their families, reading accounts of travels and academic conferences, Snyder providing sage advice to the younger writer and ecocritic. This is the best thing I've read from/about Snyder in many years!
July 11, 2015
Julia Martin, a grad student in South Africa, wrote Gary Snyder a letter in 1983 asking him to help clarify some issues that were concerning her. The letter grew into a friendship that has lasted more than thirty years. This book is a collection of three interviews she has done with him and a large selection of letters. The first decade of their friendship was the period in which Snyder brought together his mixture of Zen, place and Doctor Coyote in works like "The Practice of the Wild", which is the part of his work I've found most interesting. Since a thirty year correspondence between friends yields insights unlikely to be found elsewhere, for people interested in Snyder's work and ideas it's a helpful and revealing book.
August 10, 2016
"To go back to the wild is to become sour, astringent, crabbed. Unfertilized, unpruned, tough, resilient, and every spring shockingly beautiful in bloom." — Gary Snyder
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I read this little book in a flash! Very enjoyable and intimate. At times too intellectual for my little brain, but interesting enough to not lose my intrigue. As a Buddhist, I enjoyed their discussions regarding Dharma practice. As a lover of art, I also enjoyed Gary's poetry. Definitely someone who's been there from the start regarding the environment and social engagement/activism as a Buddhist practitioner.
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I read this little book in a flash! Very enjoyable and intimate. At times too intellectual for my little brain, but interesting enough to not lose my intrigue. As a Buddhist, I enjoyed their discussions regarding Dharma practice. As a lover of art, I also enjoyed Gary's poetry. Definitely someone who's been there from the start regarding the environment and social engagement/activism as a Buddhist practitioner.
November 15, 2015
A recent collection of interviews and letters between Snyder and
a young South African scholar of his work makes for good reading.
The first interview takes place in 1988 at the author's home in
California called Kitkitdizze: Coyote-Mind. Eco-spirituality,
poetic politics, and Buddhist practice are all examined. A creative,
moving account of the poet's long career ensues.
a young South African scholar of his work makes for good reading.
The first interview takes place in 1988 at the author's home in
California called Kitkitdizze: Coyote-Mind. Eco-spirituality,
poetic politics, and Buddhist practice are all examined. A creative,
moving account of the poet's long career ensues.
August 19, 2016
real interesting stuff to enjoy.
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