REGISTER

This past weekend we here in Kentucky were visited by winter storm Blair. What can be politely called a wintry mix fell on Sunday and Monday here on Panola Ridge. You can say we were inundated with water in all its forms but steam. It began with a soft snow accumulating up to about 6 inches, followed by an inch or two of sleet and freezing rain, and then finishing off with another two inches of snow on Monday.

The weather changed how things are done around here. The animals were fed in the barn, chainsaws were readied for falling trees, and batteries were charged in the event of a prolonged power outage. What is the Scout’s motto? Be Prepared. This water all around, falling out of the sky, is all rather basic, elemental.

The elements. Before the periodic table or quantum physics, there were the elements. In the West, four—water, earth, fire, air. And in the East, China adds one more—wood. Or if you are from Japan, the void. Everything is made of these elements: the rain, the snow—yes, and also the grass, the cattails that grow in my ponds—the fire in the fire pit, wood and fire.

Your body, too, is elemental. Your physical form is earth; your breath, air; your body temperature, fire. Sometimes we burn with passion. And water throughout—blood, urine, tears and yes, sweat in the summertime. Your body is earth filled with water, 60%.

It’s elementary, Watson. All that we see, touch, taste, the air we breathe is elemental. For the Chan/Zen ancestors viewed all that comes into form as a gate into the formless and unknown. When we look at the record that comes to us from their sayings and doings—koans—each of the elements makes a showing.

Water:

• This is the stone (earth) drenched with rain (water)…
• Beautiful snowflakes…
• Kicks over the water pitcher…

Fire:

• Extinguish the fire across the river.
• The fire at the end of the age…
• The god beneath the hearth…

Earth:

• I’ve built temples and monasteries. What merit?
• Build me a seamless monument.
• The stone woman gives birth in the night.

Air:

• Be an ancient tree in a high wind.
• It is not the wind that moves, it is not the flag…

Wood:

• The wooden man dances…

On Thursday evening, we will begin an occasional series looking at the elemental images of the koans as gateways into the vastness. In honor of winter storm Blair, we will begin with water and the koan:

This is the stone
Drenched with rain
That points the Way.

—Taneda Santoka

—David Parks