The monk Taigu Ryokan (1758-1831), beloved by all, beggar and wanderer, naive clown, clouds eater and lover of the brush wrote the following lines in Chinese :On my journey home, I had come as far as the Itoi River, when I fell ill and had to stay the night in a certain home. As I listened to the rain, I suddenly felt a shiver run down my spine and composed this poem:
A robe and bowl are everything I have in the world
With this frail body, I burn incense
And sit
All night, a gentle rain fills the darkness outside
My long years of hard travel are now over
posted by Taigu at 3:46 AM
2 Comments:
Probably I should just silently bear witness, instead of leaving my dirty footprints. But here I am, tramping through like a noisy sightseer.
HELLO PIERRE! HI, FLOATING WEED!!
Hi Floating weed;
I am glad to hear you are starting a 9 stripes kesa in hemp. Hemp is really one of the best fabrics and very traditionnal ( many old kesa are made of hemp, the one pictured on this site with a Chinese style is a 400 years old hemp kesa, nine stripes...not mine).
If your dye is not good enough, you can dye it again but please leave it quite a while gently boiling away always stiring the fabric ( fabric can burn easily if you leave it too long). And then. let it soak. Don't rush things ( as we are all tempted to do). Remember though that if you want a pitch black fabric, forget it, it just doesn't work.
Would you need the measurements for a nine stripes kesa, I can put them on this blog, give me your nobechu and I will display the information.
Thanks to spread the word. Tell people to help themselves, no copyright on this blog.
Buddha bless
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