[IBC] Bonsai in the New York Times
Marc Zimmerman
the article that appeared in "Fashions of the Times" section in the
August 18 issue of the New York Times, "Big Time for Bonsai." To read
the article for yourself, you can register for free with the NYT at its
website. The newspaper version includes some photos from Jack Douthitt's
book, "Bonsai: The Art of Living Sculpture."
The subtitle reads, "Trendy West Coast control freaks have a cute new
fetish." Among other items in the article are a much-too-long (?
reference to The Karate Kid, a Jack Douthitt quotation, "It is a
microcosm of the mysteries of the universe," the statement that Ray
Nagatoshi operates an "entire" nursery devoted to bonsai.
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Andy Rutledge
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Zimmerman" <marc...@EARTHLINK.NET>
> I'm surprised that there haven't been any comments on, or references to,
> the article that appeared in "Fashions of the Times" section in the
> August 18 issue of the New York Times, "Big Time for Bonsai."
<snip>
----------------
I made my comments on the ABS forum, which read as:
I've got tears in my eyes... bonsai has finally made its mark on Hollywood's
restrooms.
Ugh. ;-)
and
From the article:
"It was inevitable, really, that as artists and scientists wrestle with the
ramifications of genetic engineering and human intervention in nature, as
Asian-influenced midcentury Modernism dominates our decor and as all things
Douglas Sirkian resonate with our new appreciation for the planet, one
image, one object, would, metaphorically speaking, provide the nexus for all
these moments -- the lowly and noble bonsai."
Wow, I've got a bunch of nexi in my backyard. Just wait, bonsai will in no
time be politically correct -- which of course means that they'll eventually
be politically incorrect. Here's your first warning. ;-)
Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
b u n j i n | d e s i g n :: www.bunjindesign.com
David J. Bockman
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/magazine/magazinespecial/18BONS.html
You can log in using username 'Newslinks', password 'Newslinks'.
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
Bunabayashi Bonsai On The World Wide Web: http://www.bunabayashi.com
email: d...@bunabayashi.com
Peter Aradi
Read the cited article in the New York Times and the article
stated a relationship between bonsai and Zen Buddhism. It a
common conjecture often found in books and articles about
bonsai.
I would like to request all of your dear readers if you have any
actual citation from a PRIMARY source please let me know.
I have spent part of the last ten years for searching for such a
connection without success. Any help or lead will be greatfully
appreciated.
Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Chris Cochrane
> ... the cited article in the New York Times... stated a
> common conjecture often found in books and articles about
> bonsai.
> I would like to request all of your dear readers if you have any
> actual citation from a PRIMARY source please let me know.
> I have spent part of the last ten years for searching for such a
> connection without success. Any help or lead will be greatfully
> appreciated.
There are connections:
- an abbot displaying bonsai in an historical paintings,
- a monk reporting working on a bonsai,
- a poem referencing a Zen concept using bonsai as the subject
- a Zen disciple choosing a bonsai as the subject of a painting.
These may be too-slim to actually RELATE bonsai to religious practice, though the poem using bonsai to carry a religious metaphor comes close. These and other examples are found in Marushima's "History of Bonsai" in _Classic Bonsai of Japan_ and might satisfy someone less rigorous than you, Peter. Could you be more specific?
Perhaps the relationship of Zen to bonsai has more to do with monks (the dominate scholars of Kamakura and Muromachi Japan and influential as scholars throughout the Edo period) alternatively relating Chinese cultural influences or nativist learning & pastimes to the clientele who supported their temples.
A large problem in making the connection is our own disconnection to Zen. The modern bonsai community (bolstered by Japanese bonsai practitioner and business publications) accepts Westernized Kyoto school Zen as canon and _wabi, sabi, shibui, yugen_ are often referenced. Is this an authentic Zen expression?
Rather than argue it, let me suggest the abstract to an Assn. of Asian Studies presentation on Zenga-- Zen painting. The author is not plowing new ground; this is a common understanding among many scholars:
--- BEGIN SUMMARY ---
Heresy on Zenga: Zen Painting and the Modern Zen Paradigm
Kendall H. Brown, University of Southern California
As a religion, state of mind, aesthetic construct, artistic style or adjective, Zen provides the most utilized paradigm in the contemporary understanding of Japanese culture. At the rarefied level of professional discourse, it is in regard to the Edo period genre of "Zenga" (Zen painting) that Zen functions most forcefully as a conceptual pattern by which art and artists are understood. Yet our idea of Zen is largely a modern construct formed by such scholars as Suzuki, Nishida and Hisamatsu, philosophers fundamentally concerned with defining Japanese culture in relation to the west and whose interpretation of Zen is largely as an essentialist, ahistorical and non-critical doctrine centered on the "inner experience" of the practitioner. Their ideas dovetail with a high modernist art theory which holds supreme that art proffering a spontaneous expression of existential insight and championing "pure spontaneity" as rebellion against institutions.
By interpreting Zen painting as a type of proto-modern art, art historians have posited it as a movement in which conflicts and socio-political determinants are subordinated to the search for transcendental truth. Specifically, artistic style is radically privileged over subject, patronage and reception. Moreover, Zen painting is presented with few of the discontinuities or complexities of other genres. Finally, priests who work in a Zen context but do not paint in an abstract style are written out of the canon, even as expressive artists with scant connection to Zen are written into it...
--- END SUMMARY ---
The limitations of the modern Zen paradigm are substantive. As Brown notes, when artistic style is radically priveleged over subject, patronage and reception, that which is Zen-inspired can and has been written-off out as "not expressive of Zen" while that which has scant connection to Zen is embraced as Zen expression. For bonsai of a certain quality, patronage would be an especially fruitful path to explore. Who owned what significant bonsai and when placed against a gauge of religious fervor & materialist conmsumption would suggest whether bonsai followed the path of wealth and conspicuous prestige or was transferred among Zen spiritual teachers and scholars who often received gifts from those would could afford support (as well as supporting patime activities themselves.
Zen is not monolithic. The influence of its practioners on culture has taken radically different perspectives throughout history-- often supporting eccentricities as well as driving orthodox discourse on arts. The bloom on today's popularized "international" Zen might be wilting under the scrutiny of scholars-- who question its rewriting of historical Japan.
What Buddhist, Chinese (Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, literati, kangaku "Chinese learning" movement et al.), nativist (Buddhist, Shinto, chanoyu, kokugaku "nativist learning" movement et al.) and Western aesthetic influences (including völkisch tradition, dominance of the novel supplanting other literature et al.) have influenced bonsai as practiced previously and today? Zen as recognized today offers aesthetic elegance and political acceptability projecting international appeal-- as does modern bonsai.
Bonsai is not ahistorical. Its influences aren't simplistic-- among the variables are Marushima's balancing of a visual and an intellectual approach. The intellectual metaphors have changed in the past and will likely continue to change. The visual approach is not static, either. Those practicing/purchasing bonsai are extremely diverse. & their connection to Zen for bonsai appreciation is no less valid than an ancient monk's, but different.
I hope Peter will rephrase his question. I'd like to know more regarding his search.
Best wishes,
Chris
Marty Haber
However - The concepts of yin and yang and negative space are laced with Zen
philosophy. I'm not so much concerned with the historical connection as
with the tenor of conceptualization that we can obtain. If you would like
to give a short course, I'd be the first to enroll.
Marty
Lynn Boyd
> However - The concepts of yin and yang and negative space are laced with
Zen
> philosophy. I'm not so much concerned with the historical connection as
> with the tenor of conceptualization that we can obtain. If you would like
> to give a short course, I'd be the first to enroll.
> Marty
Marty,
I have a lot of agreement with your viewpoint; looking for the
positive hinging of the two isn't so important to me as the influence, and
like you I hold on to the conceptual influence. I don't think we can nail
down such a creative form historically with much accuracy. One item may
become its icon in a given time, but the influences that brought it about
were so scattered and individual. Like the petals of a blossom -
Lynn
Lynn Boyd
Oregon, USA
Marty Haber
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lynn Boyd" <lynn...@earthlink.net>
To: "Marty Haber" <hab...@optonline.net>
Cc: <bon...@home.ease.lsoft.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 1:31 PM
Subject: Re: [IBC] Bonsai in the New York Times
>
alicia
i'd be second to enroll...
can i approach it from a taoist pt. of view though...
hehehe
Smiles,
A...
Be who you are and say what you feel,
because those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind.
~ Dr.Seuss
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marty Haber" <hab...@OPTONLINE.NET>
To: <BON...@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 6:19 AM
Subject: Re: [IBC] Bonsai in the New York Times
> Well said, Chris.
> However - The concepts of yin and yang and negative space are laced with
Zen
> philosophy. I'm not so much concerned with the historical connection as
> with the tenor of conceptualization that we can obtain. If you would like
> to give a short course, I'd be the first to enroll.
> Marty
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Cochrane" <sas...@EROLS.COM>
> To: <BON...@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 10:23 AM
> Subject: Re: [IBC] Bonsai in the New York Times
>
>
> Hi Peter. You write,
> > ... the cited article in the New York Times... stated a
> > relationship between bonsai and Zen Buddhism. It a
> > common conjecture often found in books and articles about
> > bonsai.
> > I would like to request all of your dear readers if you have any
> > actual citation from a PRIMARY source please let me know.
> > I have spent part of the last ten years for searching for such a
> > connection without success. Any help or lead will be greatfully
> > appreciated.
>
> There are connections:
> - an abbot displaying bonsai in an historical paintings,
>
snipped....
Jim Lewis
here. Who will know that to find a discussion on Zen and bonsai
that have to search for New York Times?
I charge all of you with good memories to point people correctly
when they ask in 6 months or a year.
Jim Lewis - jkl...@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - The four
universal laws of ecology: 1. Everything is connected to
everything else. 2. Everything must go somewhere. 3. Nature
knows best. 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch. - Barry
Commoner
Jim Lewis
case may be).
> Marty
Careful, you two! ;-)
Jim Lewis - jkl...@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - The four
universal laws of ecology: 1. Everything is connected to
everything else. 2. Everything must go somewhere. 3. Nature
knows best. 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch. - Barry
Commoner
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Jim Lewis
i'd be second to enroll...
can i approach it from a taoist pt. of view though...
hehehe
Smiles,
======
I think you'd be closer to the mark with yin and yang. ;-)
What I suspect is that folks who lean toward contemplation --
whether Daoist, Confucian, or Zen, or even, I suppose,
non-believers -- will tend to favor pursuits such as bonsai,
gardens, poetry, painting, scholar and viewing stones, flower
arranging, etc. I have no doubt that bonsai has "roots" in each
of the Eastern philosophies.
Jim Lewis - jkl...@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - The four
universal laws of ecology: 1. Everything is connected to
everything else. 2. Everything must go somewhere. 3. Nature
knows best. 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch. - Barry
Commoner
********************************************************************************
Craig Cowing
> Hi,
>
> i'd be second to enroll...
> can i approach it from a taoist pt. of view though...
> hehehe
> Smiles,
>
> ======
>
> I think you'd be closer to the mark with yin and yang. ;-)
>
> What I suspect is that folks who lean toward contemplation --
> whether Daoist, Confucian, or Zen, or even, I suppose,
> non-believers -- will tend to favor pursuits such as bonsai,
> gardens, poetry, painting, scholar and viewing stones, flower
> arranging, etc. I have no doubt that bonsai has "roots" in each
> of the Eastern philosophies.
>
> Jim Lewis - jkl...@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - The four
> universal laws of ecology: 1. Everything is connected to
> everything else. 2. Everything must go somewhere. 3. Nature
> knows best. 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch. - Barry
> Commoner
>
And, contemplation has a significant place in every religion. Thus a broader
appeal.
Craig Cowing
Blooming Grove NY
Zone 5b+
Jim Lewis
> > What I suspect is that folks who lean toward contemplation --
> > whether Daoist, Confucian, or Zen, or even, I suppose,
> > non-believers -- will tend to favor pursuits such as bonsai,
> > gardens, poetry, painting, scholar and viewing stones, flower
> > arranging, etc. I have no doubt that bonsai has "roots" in
each
> > of the Eastern philosophies.
> >
>
> May be, Jim, but how do we get horse fanciers like
Jackie and me onto
> that list? Well - maybe we have bi-polar spirits :)
> Lynn
> Lynn Boyd, Oregon USA
Well, Jackie at least spends a lot of time contemplating her
horses (as do I, albeit for a possibly different reason ;-).
Jim Lewis - jkl...@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - Nursing a
sore toe where our yearling stomped on a sandal-clad foot last
week.
Lynn Boyd
> What I suspect is that folks who lean toward contemplation --
> whether Daoist, Confucian, or Zen, or even, I suppose,
> non-believers -- will tend to favor pursuits such as bonsai,
> gardens, poetry, painting, scholar and viewing stones, flower
> arranging, etc. I have no doubt that bonsai has "roots" in each
> of the Eastern philosophies.
>
May be, Jim, but how do we get horse fanciers like Jackie and me onto
that list? Well - maybe we have bi-polar spirits :)
Lynn
Lynn Boyd, Oregon USA
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Peter Aradi
Thank you very much for your detailed reply. As always, I
appreciate your comments and ideas.
Having just got back from a whirlwind trip to my bonsai
teacher, Shig Miya of Los Angeles, I am trying to answer
my correspondence and do my chores, and catch up on my
lost sleep. Also trying to recover from sheer exhaustion. I had
to make the trip in the hurry as American Airlines direct flights
between Tulsa and Los Angeles will be cancelled next week, greatly
reducing my opportunities for California visits and increasing
my cost as I presently fly using my retirement benefits.
Having said that, your detailed note deserves an equally detailed
response. I would also like to update you on the status on my
research, good, and the status of converting that research into
a presentable format, poor. To do so requires time; hopefully I
will be able to send it to you before the long weekend is over.
Since it will be fairly long and of no interest to most of the IBC
members, I will send it directly to you Chris. I will copy in a few
who have shown an interest in the subject, Lynn Boyd, Marty
Haber and Jim Lewis. If any of you readers of IBC would like to be
copied in, please send me a private email requesting a copy and I
will send it to you.
Cheers.
Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Greg Nicholas
ANTIQUES; Seeing Beauty In Rocks in the August 16, 2002.
Greg, Coastal Carolina, Zone 8.5
Chris Cochrane
> Did anyone see the article about Chinese Scholar Rocks
> as they called them? ANTIQUES; Seeing Beauty In
> Rocks in the August 16, 2002.
The New York Times article was available by free access on-line when it
first came out and a few members of the VSL discussed it privately along
with information released for the The Niliuzhai Collection of Classical
Chinese Rocks at Christies in NYC.
The article references this sale. The Niliuzhai collection consists of
approximately ~ sixty scholar's rocks and five large garden rocks. The
rocks will be included in a sale for Fine Chinese Archaic Bronzes, Ceramics
and Works of Art (sale #1113), which takes place on September 20 (public
viewing September 10-19).
The lead paragraph for the article noted,
>> The Chinese look at unusual, highly textured hunks of stone
>> the way Westerners gaze at billowing white clouds in a
>> summer sky as sources of inspiration and fantasy. For those
>> with imagination, rocks can embody animals, people,
>> mythological dragons, craggy mountains, just about anything.
The NY Times writer could relate to Cliff's spud that looked like Nixon on
the program _Cheers_, but she clearly had little preparation for this
article. The most interesting few sentences were perhaps from the
Christie's auction specialist managing the sale Laura Whitman. From the
article,
>> The carved hardwood stand was meant to raise the stone from
>> the mundane realm to the sacred. "The best bases echo the
>> best furniture," Ms. Whitman said. "A great stand affects the
>> quality of the rock, but a lousy one doesn't because you can
>> always have another stand made. Of course, having the
>> original increases the value of a piece."
Bendetta Roux (212.636.2680 br...@christies.com) has released another
article regarding the sale entitled "The Muse in The Rock" which is far more
enlightening and includes pre-sales estimates for some of these Chinese
stones with garden stones estimated at $50,000 to $60,000.
OB' bonsai, please join the viewing stone list if interested in Chinese
scholar's rocks, Greg! I promise to send the first poster of a bonsai
auction on the VSL back to the IBC...
:-)))
Very best wishes,
Chris... sas...@erols.com, Richmond VA USA
Jim Lewis
called them?
> ANTIQUES; Seeing Beauty In Rocks in the August 16, 2002.
>
> Greg, Coastal Carolina, Zone 8.5
Well, the folks on the viewing stone list can wax poetic (and at
length) over the "vast" differences between Chinese Scholar Rocks
and Suiseki. ;-)
Jim Lewis - jkl...@nettally.com - Tallahassee, FL - The four
universal laws of ecology: 1. Everything is connected to
everything else. 2. Everything must go somewhere. 3. Nature
knows best. 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch. - Barry
Commoner
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