Planted My Poles Down

Unexpectedly, I spent some time this morning with a late fourth early fifth century explorer, Fa Xian. (337 – 422 CE.) I was reading a collection entitled: “Poetry and Prose of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties”, published in 1986 by Panda Books in Beijing.  Towards the end was a long section with entries from “A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms” by the intrepid Chinese monk of the late fourth, early fifth centuries.  Traveling an extraordinary pathway through Central Asia, through modern day Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka he returns by sailing, is shipwrecked in Java he eventually makes it back to China, overshooting his target and landing near modern day Qingdao.  Foreign ideology, Buddhism enflames Fa Xian’s curiosity bring knowledge form outside China back home. 

 

He visits India during the Gupta Dynasty, a period of strong unified rule, notably different from the chaotic period of the Six Dynasties and Jin rule that Fa Xian knew in China.  Chandragupta II is portrayed as an effective, benevolent ruler, we learn about the untouchables who are well established component of society.  Everywhere there are Buddhist miracles, in Sri Lanka there is a dragon and every new entry starts with a statement of how many yojanas (a day’s march) they travelled and in which direction.  After a time, the entries become a bit repetitive and I wondered if this collection was missing much or how good the translation was.  Online there is, what appears to be a complete translation by Herbert Giles. The sparse Amazon entry states prominently “Unknown Binding – January 1, 1832” which is intriguing, especially when one considers that H. A. Giles was born in 1845.  

Reading Fa Xian, I was reminded of the narrative of St. Cuthbert who lived two hundred and some years in the future on the other side of the Eurasian landmass, spreading the Christian faith in early medieval Europe.  Cuthbert was proselytizing to the heathens in pagan Europe and Fa Xian was on his way to the heart and the home of Buddhism, but in style they are both didactic and full of fantastic, divine intervention.  Fa Xian’s travels, over the Himalayas, across the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea, covered much more ground than the pilgrimage of someone in Europe to Jerusalem.  And one assumes that both passages were known to people of this time.  He headed back east, by sea, seemingly without fear that he was heading in the right direction, and not towards the end of the earth.

I got some skiing in today, out on the trail.  Someone, or something had beaten down a reasonably wide path which worked well for sliding along.  By way of comparison, I tried cutting through the virgin snow as well, but with the caked over top layer of freeze, it wasn’t easy going.  My wife joined me on foot but threw in the towel after the first hundred yards or so.  I kept going all the way down to Sojourner Truth Park, where the trail meets Plains Road and as I went I hummed an old Afro Beat bass line and planted my poles down on every half beat, counting away in cycles of one hundred.  I met a skier couple coming the other direction as I returned.  I fumbled and got my mask on.  The gentleman apologized for not having one.  “It’s nice out here.” I suggested.  “It’s perfect” was his reply. 

 

 

 

Wednesday, 02/03/21