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Denali / Mt. McKinley |
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At
night, deep in the mountains,
I sit in meditation.
The affairs of men never reach here:
Everything is quiet and empty,
All the incense has been swallowed up by the endless
night.
My robe has become a garment of dew.
Unable to sleep, I walk out into the woods--
Suddenly, above the highest peak, the full moon appears.
Daigu
Ryokan
translated by John Stevens
Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf (Shambala Press)
[ Download
ebook ]
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Mount
Denali is the highest peak in North America. It
is a huge snowy mass, flanked by five giant glaciers
and countless icefalls. It dominates the horizon from
as far south as Cook Inlet, 200 miles away, and as far
north as Fairbanks, 150 miles away. Its steep unbroken
south slope rises 17,000 feet in twelve miles. Five
major ridges extend from the summit, and many spurs
and buttresses extend from these.
The
mountain is increasingly known by its native name, Denali,
which means The Great One in the Athabaskan language.
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Climbed
June 28, 2002 by Vern Tejas with Alphine Ascents
On Top of North America
Team 8: Denali Summit
Friday,
June 28, 2002
Hello
MountainZone
cybernauts, this is Vern Tejas with Alpine Ascents
DALAI LAMAS team and we're on top of North America (background
whooping and general reverie). It's a beautiful day
up here, light breeze, and we can see for miles in all
directions. We're looking down the ridge, oh man, beautiful...glacier
squirming its way down to the sea, we can see all around,
many people heading up this way, we're fortunate we
were one of the first teams to be here today and we
got the primo, choice spot, we are looking down on all
creation.
And,
in observation of Mountain Year that the U.N. sanctioned,
the Poet Society of America has asked me to read a poem
on top of the highest point in North America. And it
is by Diab Rolakan, who was a Japanese monk in the 18th
century.
All
right, well, please take my apologies to any country
and western fans out there. So anyway, here we are,
getting ready to descend down into the lowlands. We've
really enjoyed having you guys tune in and follow us.
We should, with any luck, be able to fly out in a couple
of days, hopefully, the weather will permit and the
planes will be flying. Keep your fingers crossed and
stay tuned, we'll give you one more update before we
get off the mountain. Cheers. (To team) Hey, and PS's?
Happy birthday to Dolly's brother! Hello to Beth and
Willa from Joe! Hello to Art, TT, David, and AG (laughter)
And Nike legal! We know you're out there listening and
watching. Cheers, this is Dalai Lamas saying goodbye
from the top of North America! (much shouting and celebration).
— Vern Tejas, Alpine Ascents International Guide
and MountainZone.com Correspondent
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Daigu
Ryokan (1758-1831) is one of Japan's best-loved
poets, Ryokan was born in the "snow country" of Echigo
Province on the west coast of Japan. His family was
fairly prosperous, the atmosphere in his home was literary
and religious, and at the age of about nineteen, possibly
as the result of some inner spiritual crisis, he decided
to become a Buddhist monk and entered the local Zen
temple, Kosho-ji. After twelve years of Zen training,
Ryokan left Kosho-ji and began a series of pilgrimages
that lasted five years. He then returned to his native
village, found an abandoned hermitage nearby, and was
to spend most of the rest of his life there, meditating,
writing, and interacting with the world around him.
The poems he wrote are largely concerned with events
in his daily life, and can be read with enjoyment by
anyone. Seemingly simple, they conceal real depths,
depths that will be apparent to those familiar with
Zen and with Buddhist ideas such as 'no-mind' and 'impermanence,'
and with certain Buddhist symbols.
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