Ezra Pound: The gods have never left us / Rock's World (from Canto CXIII)

.

Yulong Xueshan on the left, rising above Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, China: photo by ZiCheng Xu, 28 December 2006

And over Li Chiang, the snow range is turquoise
Rock's world that he saved us for memory
...............a thin trace in high air

*

But for the sun and serenitas
............................(19th May '59)
H. D. once said "serenitas"
...............................(Atthis, etc.)
................at Dieudonné's
.................................in pre-history.
No dog, no horse, and no goat,
The long flank, the firm breast
.......................and to know beauty and death and despair
and to think that what has been shall be,
.........................flowing, ever unstill.

Then a partridge-shaped cloud over dust storm.
The hells move in cycles,
.......................No man can see his own end.
The Gods have not returned. "They have never left us."
........................They have not returned.
Cloud's processional and the air moves with their living.
Pride, jealousy and possessiveness
..................3 pains of hell
and a clear wind over garofani
..................over Portofino 3 lights in triangulation
Or apples from Hesperides fall in their lap
..................from phantom trees.

*

In mountain air the grass frozen emerald
...............and with the mind set on that light
.........................saffron, emerald,
..........................................seeping.



Ezra Pound: from Canto CXIII, May 1959

And over Li Chiang, the snow range is turquoise: Lijiang Snow Mountain summit, Yunnan, China: photo by Corymgrenier, 22 October 2009



House where Joseph Rock lived in old Lijiang, Yunnan, China: photographer unknown, 29 July 1998, from Joseph Rock's Images, Harvard University (via Pratyeka)



Rock's World that he saved us for memory / a thin trace in high air: Joseph F. Rock with some of his Naxi assistants: photographer unknown, 14 November 1928, from Joseph Rock's Images, Harvard University (via Pratyeka)



Cloud's processional and the air moves with their living: The backbone of the Min Shan Range, Gansu, China: photo by Joseph F. Rock, 18 October 1926, from Joseph Rock's Images, Harvard University (via Pratyeka)



Cloud's processional and the air moves with their living: The Snow Peaks of the Liang-chow Nan Shan, Gansu, China: photo by Joseph F. Rock, 11 November 1925, from Joseph Rock's Images, Harvard University (via Pratyeka)



Cloud's processional and the air moves with their living: The Ta-pan Shan Range, Gansu, China: photo by Joseph F. Rock, 9 October 1925, from Joseph Rock's Images, Harvard University (via Pratyeka)

Naxi priest during naga cult ceremonies, Yunnan, China: photo by Joseph F. Rock, c. 1925, from Joseph F. Rock Collection/Naxi Collection, Asian Division, Library of Congress

The hells move in cycles: Panels from Part I of the Ha zhi p'i, a 39½-foot long by approximately 1-foot wide Naxi funeral scroll, made of homespun hemp cloth in gouache painting. Collected by Joseph Rock, this scroll is divided into 103 sections. These sections depict the stages and realms through which the soul of the deceased has to travel and traverse. They pass through the nine black spurs in hell guarded by the demons, on to the human domain, and eventually to the realm of gods, their journey usually ending when they reach the domain of the supreme deities of the Naxi pantheon. The scroll is attached to the head of the coffin. The first part of the scroll begins with the demon realms closest to the head of the coffin; the end of the scroll depicts the realms of the gods that must extend in a horizontal position in a northeasterly direction. The scroll serves as a bridge for the soul to reach the realm of the gods. The officiating dongbas perform an exorcism to propitiate and banish demons and evil spirits in the funeral ceremonies.

A close examination of this scroll reveals the cosmological concept of the sacred places of heaven and hell in an indigenous Naxi religion, with elements of Tibetan Bon-Shamanism, Indian Tantrism, and Lamaism. (Naxi Collection, Asian Division, Library of Congress)

The Gods have not returned. "They have never left us.": bottom panels, depicting the realm of the gods, from Part III of Naxi Funerary Scroll, the Ha zhi p'i (Naxi Collection, Asian Division, Library of Congress)














Panel from Naxi pictographic manuscript containing myths detailing Sacrifices to the Highest Deity (lovers' suicide ritual): [Yunnan Sheng]:[1500?-1934]; transliteration and translation by Joseph F. Rock (Naxi Collection, Asian Division, Library of Congress)

Joseph Rock was born in Vienna and emigrated to the United States in 1905, becoming an American citizen in 1913. A self-taught botanist, among his other occupations Rock was also a correspondent for National Geographic Magazine.

Rock’s proclivity for exploration resulted in his spending the bulk of his time away from the United States. His travels always had a strong academic bent. During one trip, Rock collected tens of thousands of native plant and bird specimens for a variety of U.S. government and academic institutions including the Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institution, and Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum.

Rock’s main academic focus, however, was the study of the Naxi people, their language, and their culture. He spent twenty-four years among the Naxi in Yunnan Province in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and collected thousands of Naxi manuscripts. Rock worked diligently to become fluent in the unique Naxi pictographic language. The Library purchased its Naxi manuscript collection from Rock between 1923 and 1948.

With help from the Naxi shamanistic priests, or dongbas, Rock translated many of the manuscripts that he collected. His work was invaluable and includes a 1,094-page Naxi dictionary and two Naxi histories.

-- Library of Congress Asian Division, Naxi Collection catalogue