Amrta, that is nectar!

"Amrta, that is nectar" --Ez, Canto CXII

Canto CXII has approx. 30 lines, 2 Chinese Ideograms and 2 Naxi Pictographs.
It comes toward the last pages of Ezra Pound's "Tale of the Tribe".
A book i have been reading and reading about for 4 years now.
Unless, indirectly through the writing of Robert Anton Wilson,
i have been preparing to read and write about
"The Tale of the Tribe" for approx. 8 years now?

It strikes me today preparing this post
how i was so close, but so far from the contents of canto CXII
living in San Francisco in a small apartment that had a copy of
Pound's Cantos (my first ever glance at the book) Jan. 2001 A.D.
I have seemingly come full circle in 2008, back to that glancing moment
by way of Naxi and Canto CXII (112) by Ezra Pound.
My mind boggles at what might have been in the other books upon
that bookshelf? or what i may have learn't if i would have listened
to my partner at that time.

Within canto CXIi and the force-field of literature
and criticism surrounding it all like gas,
i arrive back at the beginning of my contact with the text.
And with a beautiful young lady.

---

'From her breath were the goddesses La mun mi" --EZ, CXII.

"Religious scriptures suggest that the Llü-bu were female shamans who practised divination, exorcism, and other rites in a trance. By the early nineteenth century, the Dongba priests had created a huge religious vocabulary accompanied by a variety of rituals, and had largely displaced the Llü-bu.-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhi#Festivals

in the clear air over Li Chiang"--Ez, CXII, line 17

Lijiang in remote southwest China has been a hot tourist destination ever since its inclusion in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites. Many have attributed this distiction to the legacy of the American botanist Joseph Rock (1884-1962), including his monographs and books about the Naxi ethnic group inhabiting the Lijiang area. Some have also linked this honor to Forgotten kingdom, a 1955 book by the Belarus-born traveller Peter Goullart. Few are aware of Pound’s contribution to this glory. Among the beautiful lyrics of Pound’s final cantos are those about the landscape of Lijiand and the strange culture of the Naxi.-- Zhaoming Qian. P. H. Fang and the Naxi Rites in the Cantos.

Music appears to contribute a refreshingly large part of the Naxi language and culture and scripture. Maybe Ez liked the Singing matter, shouting matter, and strange ceremony of these Shamans because they embody his rather strict conditions for a "Tale of the tribe"? An aboriginal tribe of magico-shaman-painter-poets? Muan Bpo & co.


"Nakhi music is 500 years old, and with its mixture of literary lyrics, poetic topics, and musical styles from the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, as well as some Tibetan influences, it has developed its own unique style and traits. There are three main styles: Baisha, Dongjing, and Huangjing, all using traditional Chinese instruments. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhi#Music

"EP to P. H. Fang
[Brunnenburg]
[Italy]
15 July [1958]

Dear Fang
I have found your Muen Bpo & KA MA gyu in my luggage. Are you in a hurry or do you merely want to know they are safe.
Sorry for confusion. Greetings to G. Giov[annini]. & La Dr[iere]. auguri [best wishes] for the most recent edition of the Fang

Cordially
[signed] E Pound."

---

“By the temple pool, Lung Wang’s the clear discourse as jade stream --EZ, CXII Lines 21-23.

“The temples, though looking very staid and ordinary from the outside, are decorated on the interior with carvings on poles, arches and idols of gods. The decorations include depictions of episodes from epics, dancers, warriors, animals and birds, and flowers. The mural paintings depict Dongba gods, and are derived from Tibetan styles. A good example is the Delwada Temple. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhi#Art_and_architecture

"In ancient times a hunter discovered a strange stone on Jade Dragon Mountain, and carried the stone home. On his way home, he had to put the stone down for a rest, because it was extremely heavy. When he decided to continue his trip, he could no longer lift the stone, and many thought that it was the embodiment of a god.-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhi#Festivals

"The firm voice amid pine wood" --Ez, CXII, line 18.

"Early in 1953 Professor Giovannini took P. H Fang to Pound at St. Elizabeths Hospital. The American poet, Giovannini told Fang, had translated Li Bo’s poems and Conficius’ Analects. P. H Fang was impressed. In the next five or more years he and Josephine (officially spelt that way in US) visited Pound countless times. --Zhaoming Qian. P. H. Fang and the Naxi Rites in the Cantos.

"and this moving is
from the inward
o di diversa natura (Giordano Bruno)
And in these triangular spaces --Ezra Pound, canto CXIV

"In December 1958, after reading the Naxi cantos of Thrones, he [Fang] got so thrilled that he wrote: “I wish more cantos from you will resurrect [Lijiang], after Revolution [of 1911], Republic, the people’s Republic, Commune etc.” (letter 164). A year later he sent Pound another card, stating “my beloved country and my beloved village will be immortalized through your pen and your words” (letter 166). By then Pound had stopped communicating with the outside world. Nonetheless, his dialogue with the native Lijiang was destined to endure. The memorable Naxi passages in the final cantos should be viewed as his responses to P. H Fang’s appreciative greeting. --Zhaoming Qian, P. H. Fang and the Naxi Rites in the Cantos. (Ezra Pound’s Chinese Friends. Oxford 2008).

"The forces which produce the branch-angles of an oak lay potent in the acorn. Similar lines of resistance, half curbing the out-pressing vitalities, govern the branching of rivers and of nations. Thus a nerve, a wire, a roadway, and a clearing-house are only varying channels which communication forces for itself. This is more than analogy, it is identity of structure. --Ernest Fenollosa, The Chinese Written Character as a medium for Poetry.

"And the road upper apple-boughs

mostly grass-covered

And the olives to windward

Kalenda Maja

Li Sao, Li Sao, for sorrow

but there is something intelligent in the cherry-stone -- EZ, Canto CXIII

---

Pao-hsien Fang and the Naxi Rites in Ezra Pound's Cantos
Author: Qian, Zhaoming

Source: DQR Studies in Literature, Modernism Revisited. Transgressing Boundaries and Strategies of Renewal in American Poetry. Edited by Viorica Patea and Paul Scott Derrick , pp. 73-90(18)
Publisher: Rodopi.

Naxi and Moso Ethnography, Kin, Rites, Pictographs
Authors:
ELLISABETH HSU
MICHAEL OPPITZ

By Michael Oppitz and Ellisabeth Hsu. Maps, b/w photographs, pictographs (by Mu Chen), bibliography, index, names of ceremonies, ritual chants and dances. The Naxi of northwest Yunnan are known for their ritual specialists or priests named dto-mba who have practiced their rites using texts written in pictographs. The Moso, considered to be a branch of the Naxi, live to the northeast of the Naxi. -- http://www.mandarinbooks.cn/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&products_id=262

This is the first in a series of articles that will present singularly fascinating industrial hemp items from private or public collections. Almost any category of curiosity can qualify as long as it is made of hemp and/or used only for hemp related activities and as long as it is accompanied by sharp photos and a short article. The Naxi God's Road funerary scroll pictured and described in this article is an excellent example of a fashinating hempen collectible. It is genuinely made of hemp, it is obscure enough to be rare, it is well enough documented so that an interesting history presents itself, similar pieces from public collections have been published, it was recently purchased and most importantly-fellow hemp collectors still have enough of a chance of finding another one to continue searching.

Journal Title:
Journal of Industrial Hemp:
production, processing, and products ... official journal of the International Hemp Association
Volume: 8 Issue: 2
ISSN: 1537-7881 Pub Date: 3/1/2003
http://www.haworthpress.com/

The Nakhi are thought to have come originally from Tibet, and until recently maintained overland trading links with Lhasa and India. They were brought to the attention of the world by two men: the American botanist Joseph Rock, and the Russian Taoist doctor Peter Goullart, both of whom lived in Lijiang and travelled throughout the area during the early 20th century. Peter Goullart's book Forgotten Kingdom describes the life and beliefs of the Nakhi and neighbouring peoples, while Joseph Rock's legacy includes diaries, maps, and photographs of the region.

The Nakhi form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. The official Chinese government classification classes the Mosuo as part of the Nakhi people. However, despite similar origins and very striking resemblances from a linguistic point of view, the two groups are now culturally distinct, the Nakhi more influenced by Han Chinese culture, the Mosuo more influenced by Tibetan culture. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhi

"Amrta, that is nectar

white wind, white dew

Here from the begining, we have been here

from the begining --Ez, CXII