Talk #6 from Term 2 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.
Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
23 August 2020
Click on the recording below to listen to this talk now. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()
Talk #5 from Term 2 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.
Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
8 August 2020
Click on the recording below to listen to this talk now. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()
By ~ Sally Mackinnon
I’ve felt a stuck muteness and poet’s block since 6 September 2019 when the first of the shocking Spring-Summer 2019-20 bushfires devoured the sweet neighbourhoods and subtropical rainforest that I call home – at Beechmont/Binna Burra in South East Queensland. Since then there has been too much news and too many logistics going on in my world.
On an evening walk with my dog recently, as we rounded the top of a steep hill and stood on the edge of the forest in the dark, I had a little yarn with the cosmos…”I miss writing poetry so much; I would love to write again. Please can you help me?” There is such power in intention and asking for help isn’t there? The next morning as the sun streamed into my bedroom, I sat up in bed and gliding through the ether came a poem…
My mother’s pyjamas hang lifeless on the washing line.
From the kitchen window, speckled with webs,
I watch them – inanimate – without her flesh,
as the sun reaches from the east across quiet sky
to light up new leaves on red cedar
like Christmas.
Today I will walk without the dog, into subtropical bush.
Like a whisper of invisible breeze I will drift past
those busy roadworks that deliver
engineered restraints across this mountain
after wildfire scorched us all.
It’s calling me again, that forest.
Any chink in the manmade armour and I’m in;
asking permission to enter only from the Old Ones and the sea of green,
answered by the keen of black cockatoos and shy butterflies.
In this time of plague and serious news from cities,
I pay attention to the way the ground rises to meet my feet;
how earth surface and sole, step-by-step connect.
This is no monologue,
it’s a dance, it’s a song, it’s a deep-time songline and I pray that
simple walking will mind this life…
It’s also this sweet home on the top of the hill that
anchors me here.
Nothing is straight or orderly but the way
the sunset glows through the kitchen to
ignite every facet in my grandmother’s cut glass bowl is an afternoon aria.
After almost a year, we are all home again in this study of light and shade,
pyjamas and forest,
black cockatoos and rising earth.
Nothing is straight or orderly but
at sunrise and sunset we sing.
Today is exactly eleven months since the fire. The study group is reigniting my capacity to lean into more than grief – to be open-heartedly curious and light again; and to feel I am becoming a student of Zen.
I’m so grateful to you all.
()
Sally
Hello Sangha,
Some great new topical listening and viewing in our Bla(c)k Lives Matter Link Library…
You can access the BLM link library directly at www.brightanddark.net/blmlinks or via the [THEMES] menu above.
If you would like to contribute a link for the library you can do so here or email curlytrees@gmail.com
Enjoy!
()
Oonagh
Country and the gift (2014) : Deborah Bird Rose
In this video, ethnographer Deborah Bird Rose looks at four pathways into country, drawing on the work of Aboriginal writers, elders and philosophers including Mary Graham, Ambelin and Blaze Kwaymullina & Jimmy Mangayarri. She considers working together for country as the most important issue of our time and asks how we could re-imagine cities if the aim of city life was to inhabit and care for country.
The Sydney Which Has No Postcode (2003) by Susan Murphy
An audio feature, written and produced by Roshi Susan in 2003 for Radio National. Exploring spirits of place and how they might talk to us; with Uncle Max Harrison Dulumunmun, Aunty Joan Cooper, Aunty Edna Watson, and sisters Pat and Fay, John Gallard and Red Cloud the kelpie.
Indigenous Language & Perception. ABC RN All in the Mind Podcast Produced by Lynne Malcolm. 2019
Relevant to our explorations of yarning, this program includes discussion of how our perception of the world is significantly affected by the language we speak. It frames our worldview by training our brains in line with cultural understanding. Indigenous languages from around Australia pose a vastly different perspective of the world than that of English. We explore how these languages influence perceptions of self, kinship and the natural world. With Dr Tyson Yunkaporta, linguist Prof Nick Evans and Bardi Psychologist Prof Pat Dudgeon.
I can’t Breathe – ABC 4 Corners Documentary by Stan Grant. 2020.
A profoundly moving story from special guest reporter Stan Grant in the wake of the shocking killing of unarmed black man George Floyd captured on camera in the United States. Mr Floyd’s death under the knee of a white police officer unleashed a wave of grief and anger across America. That wave reached Australia’s shores with thousands of Australians coming out to protest in support of our Indigenous community. In this deeply personal story, Stan Grant gives voice to the frustration and hurt that has defined the life experience of so many Indigenous Australians and explores why the death of George Floyd resonates so profoundly.
It seemed at the latest study group,
that the virtual ZOOM whiteboard was our shared
material cultural activity today;
our campfire.
“The primary mode of communication in yarns is narrative – the sharing of anecdotes, stories and experiences from the lived reality of participants. Might include sand talk. Physical demonstrations are included. Sharing drink or food is often part of the ritual (most commonly cups of tea today). Often yarning will occur around a shared material cultural activity like weaving, painting, string making, Ceremony preparation, crossword puzzles and setting up birthday party decorations.”
Sand Talk pg 132
Susan told the story of John Gallard “downloading” traditional knowledge in her June 28 teisho “Coming From the Side”This story is elaborated in “The Sydney that has no Postcode” a search into the deepest layers of the feel of place,an audio feature, written and produced by Susan in 2003 for Radio National.
The program explores spirits of place and how they might talk to us : sensing the secret agreement that runs through land (still perceptible beneath development) : old roads of Sydney following ancient walking tracks : freeing the old spirits in the land to speak : the song in the land : conversations with with country without words : feeling the land and spirit places with your body : sacred sites as body : reconciliation with the spirit of the land : belonging in this country with no postcodes : inviting the spirits to make themselves felt : stories of spirit places/sacred sites with Uncle Max Harrison Dulumunmun, Aunty Joan Cooper, Aunty Edna Watson, and sisters Pat and Fay, John Gallard and Red Cloud the kelpie.
Talk #4 from Term 2 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.
Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
26 July 2020
Click on the recording below to listen to this talk now. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()
Talk #3 from Term 2 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.
Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
12 July 2020
whitebait ah
Bassho
their black eyes open
in the net of the law
Click here to download a transcription of this talk. (PDF) ()
Hello Sangha,
The Bla(c)k Lives Matter Link Library grew from the idea to gather together in one place all the references to books, articles, films, poetry, etc that have been arising from our discussions around Aboriginal and Black Lives Matter, anti-racism, colonisation, etc.
Every few weeks I’ll feature a few new items here, in case you are wondering what to read next 🙂
You can access the BLM link library directly at www.brightanddark.net/blmlinks or via the [THEMES] menu above.
If you would like to contribute a link for the library you can send the suggestions here or you can email them to me directly at curlytrees@gmail.com
Happy Reading 😉
()
Oonagh
Living on Stolen Land (2020) by Ambelin Kwaymullina
A well timed look at our colonial-settler ‘present’, “Living on Stolen Land’ pulls apart the myths at the heart of our nationhood, and challenges Australia to come to terms with its own past and its place within and on ‘Indigenous Countries’. This title speaks to many First Nations’ truths; stolen lands, sovereignties, time, decolonisation, First Nations perspectives, systemic bias and other constructs that inform our present discussions and ever-expanding understanding. This title is a timely, thought-provoking and accessible read.
A rare opportunity to connect with the living tradition of women’s songlines, as recounted by Yolngu women from far north Australia, the Gay’wu Group of Women. These ancient narratives of landscape have often been described as a means of navigating across vast distances without a map, but they are much, much more than this. Songspirals are sung by Aboriginal people to awaken Country, to make and remake the life-giving connections between people and place. Songspirals are radically different ways of understanding the relationship people can have with the landscape
‘That’s the way it is with us mob. We were brought up to talk kind of sideways. That’s the respectful, true Aboriginal way.’ Reg Dodd grew up at Finniss Springs, on striking desert country bordering South Australia’s Lake Eyre. In this book, Dodd reflects on his upbringing in a cross-cultural environment that defied social conventions of the time and writes candidly about the tensions surrounding power, authority and Indigenous knowledge that have defined the recent decades of this resource-rich area.
Fire Front: First Nations poetry and power today (2020) a Poetry collection curated by Alison Whittaker
This important anthology showcases Australia’s most-respected First Nations poets alongside some rising stars. Featured poets include Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Ruby Langford Ginibi, Ellen van Neerven, Tony Birch, Claire G. Coleman, Evelyn Araluen, Jack Davis, Kevin Gilbert, Lionel Fogarty, Sam Wagan Watson, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Archie Roach and Alexis Wright, Bruce Pascoe, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Chelsea Bond, Evelyn Araluen and Steven Oliver – a testament to the renaissance of First Nations poetry happening in Australia right now.
little bit long time (2017) by Ali Cobby Eckermann
Ali Cobby Eckermann is a nunga poet and writer from the Northern Territory, now living in the ‘intervention-free’ South Australian village of Koolunga. Her poetry charts a long journey to reconnect with her Yankunytjatjara family.
Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia (2017) by Billy Griffiths
This multi award-winning book is a journey through time, seeking to understand the extraordinary deep history of the Australian continent, investigating a twin revolution: the reassertion of Aboriginal identity in the second half of the twentieth century, and the uncovering of the traces of ancient Australia. It explores what it means to live in a place of great antiquity, with its complex questions of ownership and belonging.
Story about Feeling (1989) Bill Neidjie & Keith Taylor
Bill Neidjie, b.1911, grew up on his Father’s traditional country in the Northern Territory where he was immersed in Aboriginal culture, law, language, song, and ceremony. This book is a profound and deeply philosophical reflection on all aspects of this life, and the next, told in the oral tradition, gently moving between subjects that are rooted in both spiritual and environmental realms. Includes reproductions of bark paintings and artworks.
Yorro Yorro: Original Creation and the Renewal of Nature (2015) David Mowaljarlai
Aboriginal Elder David Mowaljarlai and photographer Jutta Malnic rekindle a story that constitutes the oldest collective memory of humankind. Yorro Yorro tells of Wandjina creation spirits and their ‘crossing over’ into ancestral beings and then eventually into human form.
