Part 1: The Life of Baisaō (Intro...)

[Betty]

Reading The Old Tea Seller: Life and Zen Poetry in 18th Century Kyoto, trans. Norman Waddell, is lingering with Baisaō's world, We will let it steep in our thoughts...

[Elsa]

I won't even try to put my thoughts in any sort of poetry.....I've reached the part where Baisao has written his thoughts on why he, a Buddhist monk, would go so far against tradition as to make his own living and make that living as one of the lowest of the low. It's interesting to see how "tea" changed and evolved during his time. I had always thought it was pretty well established by this time and that the tea ceremony had already been ritualized. Looking forward to the poetry section!

[Betty]

Elsa, the book sounds fascinating from your description of it. I will have to chime in later with my thoughts on it :)

[Haaze]

Ditto! :)

[Elsa]

The poems that he wrote on the bamboo tubes that he put out for "donations" are actually quite hilarious. The guy definitely had a sense of humor.

[Betty]

Yes, I'm nearly finished with Part One. The exchange of kanshi, Japanese-style Chinese poems, indicates several uses of poems. They can commemorate an important occasion, for example, or can be part of everyday communication. The exchange of poems, waka, in the The Tale of Genji is reminiscent of this biography of Baisaō.

Baisaō lived during the early-mid eighteenth century. There are inscriptions of poetic mementos on utensils, paintings, and paper. By way of comparison, Genji's story depicts the exchange of brief poems which carry a lot of emotion--a polite practice in the Heian court around the tenth century. The waka are written down on carefully chosen, colorful papers and on edges of fans. Those poetic accoutrements enhance the poem with greater meaning.

Initially a Zen priest, Baisaō isn't of the imperial clan, however, his position in the temples and his wisdom of Zen are revered; his petition to avoid returning every decade to his hometown to verify his residence in Kyoto is accepted. He makes the quip that his renouncing the priesthood to take up tea-selling and calligraphy for a humble existence is a comedown. Even so, at the end of his life, Zen students attached themselves to him for his life's wisdom and for his knowledge/transmission of Zen.

Baisaō's poems jot down his various whereabouts, his condition of life, his view of scenic landscapes, and his tongue-in-cheek attitude. There also are his short letters which amazingly do wend their way to recipients.

[Betty]

Elsa, he seems like a contemporary, good-natured person with a twinkle in his eye, like the main character Professor Borg in Ingmar Bergman's film "Wild Strawberries".

[Haaze]

Asma wrote: "Elsa, he seems like a contemporary, good-natured person with a twinkle in his eye, like the main character Professor Borg in Ingmar Bergman's film "Wild Strawberries"."

Oh no - now you are tempting my inclination for black and white Swedish films!!! Great film!

[Betty]

The film is sweetly nostalgic of the main character's childhood yet Borg is interested and appreciative of the other characters of his household as well as of the newer characters he meets during the trip.

Baisaō also is educated, sociable, brewing tea for passersby, having patience. Both story and film are set in traditional communities.

[Betty]

Baisao's story is immensely of interest to Buddhists and to connoisseurs of tea and of Chinese verse, kanshi. It also is interesting in terms of human interest for Baisao carries on many close interactions and lives a long life of eighty-eight years during the Edo period. I don't know whether Baisao or anyone else can represent the general tenor of this inventive, religiously diverse time, but one finds here a good story set in the intellectually stimulating city of Kyoto amidst the beauty of nature.