Captain Shunsui Kyōraku (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sake_shinigami) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2020-09-17 04:14 am
sake_shinigami) wrote in fandomhigh2020-09-17 04:14 am
Entry tags:
The Art of Ma; Thursday, Second Period [09/17].
No Danger Shop or portals today, ducklings! The class would be meeting in a regular classroom, no elaborate art museums or breathtaking vistas, just a classroom in a castle with all the desks pushed aside in favor of a circle of comfortable pillows and offerings of tea and hot cocoa. And a poem, written carefully on the blackboard:
Thirty spokes meet in the hub,
though the space between them is the essence of the wheel;
Pots are formed from clay, though the space inside them is the essence of the pot;
Walls with windows and doors form the house,
though the space within them is the essence of the house.
"Good morning, ducklings ♥," Shunsui greeted them with a soft smile from wher ehe was already sitting at a spot in the circle. "Come, make yourselves comfortable, help yourself to some refreshments if you feel so inclined, and then I'd like you to take a moment and consider the poem written on the board today ♥. It is an old poem, sometimes attributed to Lao Tze, a Chinese philosopher, and considered to be an excellent representation of the essential heart of the Art of Ma -- it is not just the thing itself that makes it what it is, but also the things that it is not that gives it purpose and meaning. What is a teapot if not for the space in which you put your tea? Is a forest still a forest if there is no distinction between the air and what makes a tree? And how does this apply, to the greater scheme of things?
"Today, then," he continued, "I'd like us to explore this particular concept, the Art of Ma not as it applies to art, but as it applies to function. Can you think of other examples where the space between is just as important, if not more so, than the thing itself? Do you believe the poem? Do you disagree? There are, of course, no wrong answers, and should no one have any points to discuss regarding the matter, well, then..." Here he chuckled softly, "let us then just contemplate the space between our words and the function of the silence within our discussion, neh ♥?"
though the space between them is the essence of the wheel;
Pots are formed from clay, though the space inside them is the essence of the pot;
Walls with windows and doors form the house,
though the space within them is the essence of the house.
"Good morning, ducklings ♥," Shunsui greeted them with a soft smile from wher ehe was already sitting at a spot in the circle. "Come, make yourselves comfortable, help yourself to some refreshments if you feel so inclined, and then I'd like you to take a moment and consider the poem written on the board today ♥. It is an old poem, sometimes attributed to Lao Tze, a Chinese philosopher, and considered to be an excellent representation of the essential heart of the Art of Ma -- it is not just the thing itself that makes it what it is, but also the things that it is not that gives it purpose and meaning. What is a teapot if not for the space in which you put your tea? Is a forest still a forest if there is no distinction between the air and what makes a tree? And how does this apply, to the greater scheme of things?
"Today, then," he continued, "I'd like us to explore this particular concept, the Art of Ma not as it applies to art, but as it applies to function. Can you think of other examples where the space between is just as important, if not more so, than the thing itself? Do you believe the poem? Do you disagree? There are, of course, no wrong answers, and should no one have any points to discuss regarding the matter, well, then..." Here he chuckled softly, "let us then just contemplate the space between our words and the function of the silence within our discussion, neh ♥?"
Re: Discussion - AoM, 09/17.
Re: Discussion - AoM, 09/17.
If only some of his own fellow captains could be so...patient.