I like to think I have a cold mind and a warm heart...

And here's a recent thought from the cold mind department...

I wish the Newtown families would come to Texas to lobby the Texas legislature. 

Now I love my native Texas for reasons that would take me a while to research, but I am reasonably sure that such a visit would inevitably result in some jackass from the Lege (as we fondly refer to it here) piping up and saying something so incredibly gauche and and insensitive that national sympathy would rebound to good effect in Washington D.C. and (who knows?) result in the passage of a truly meaningful gun safety bill.  

The reason I assign this thought to the cold mind department is I really would not want the families to have to undergo the ordeal.   I also doubt there is any gun safety legislation pending in the Texas Legislature.  

The Dude De Ching & a fictional Laotian Communist

 

I came across the movie *The Big Lebowski* some years ago when I was channel surfing.  The first five minutes or so was full of effing this and effing that I was put off--not because of the obscenity per se, but because I simply couldn't see how the story could go anywhere with that kind of lame repartee.   In other words, I was unfamiliar with the aesthetic sensibilities of the Coen brothers as applied in this movie.   So I didn't watch it.  

But the last coupla years me & some guys get together every Wednesday night and trade lame repartee and watch movies--which is what we do instead of bowling (for we would be a danger to ourselves or others in a bowling alley--besides, none of us like strenuous exercise.)   ANYWAY, one night somebody brought the *Big Lewbowski* for their turn and we all watched it.  (It is an unwritten rule that we *must* watch the chosen movie even if we don't like it.)     Well, being obliged to watch it long enough to grasp the Cohen bros. way of making a movie (or this movie), I found the movie most enjoyable & pretty doggone funny.   The character played by John Goodman I felt was a real tragicomic figure.  I felt like I knew people who actually lived out those kinds of delusions about themselves.   (Actually , I don't really--it was just a feeling, or rather if I do know people like that I don't recognize them--or maybe I'm one of them).  

Just recently Jeff Bridges was on the Daily Show promoting a book that was put together by a friend of his whom he described as a Zen Master.  The book is called *The Dude de Ching* and it is based on an ancient Taoist text, *The Tao Te Ching,* which most of you have probably read--or possibly you haven't.  (If you haven't I don't know what will become of you--may turn out to be a President, a millionaire or an alligator wrestler in Orlando.) 

The *Dude de Ching* itself is simply(?) a re-writing of the *Tao Te Ching* using the lingo of the Dude as he spoke in the movie *The Big Lebowski*  The authors helpfully interpose the actual chapter of the *Tao Te Ching* behind each of the Dude's gloss on each chapter. 

I can almost promise you it won't help much unless you do have a serious inclination toward mystical contemplation.  

Now, I love both the *Dude De Ching* and the actual *Tao Te Ching* but mostly for esthetic reasons.   The sayings are wry, paradox-ridden and quite whimsical.  There are times when I even glimpse hints of deep meaning, but, of course, it is quite impossible to communicate those passages.  As the *Tao Te Ching* says at the beginning, "The Tao that can be known is not Tao."   

Much the same can be said of Zen Buddhism which as I understand it,  is sort of the half-breed offspring of the union between Taoism and Buddhism.    

Both Zen Buddhism and Taoism can give the light-minded excuses for non sequitur, ADHD-style remarks which may sound profound.  Or one may get in the habit of interpreting the random remarks of grocery shoppers or politicians as if they were speaking Zen or Taoist riddles.  Well, one takes one's entertainment where one can find it. 

But what I really want to do with this writing is call everybody's attention to the mystery novels of Colin Cotterill.  He has a couple of different series, but my favorite is the series featuring Dr. Siri Paiboun as the protagonist    The setting is post-Vietnam War Laos and Dr. Siri is in his 70's and he is the National Coroner of Laos, a job he did not want.   He spent many years in the jungle, fighting alongside his comrades in the Pathet Lao, the Communist Party of Laos.  When the Pathet Lao rather unexpectedly beat the French and achieved independence, all Dr. Siri wanted to do was retire and enjoy his golden years.  But the Party insisted on making him the National Coroner because, well, he is about the only native  Laotian with medical training.  Dr. Siri attended medical school in France which is where he met his late wife, a passionate Laotian Communist.  Naturally, when he fell in love with her, he found it necessary to join the Party.   Now a widower for a long time, Siri does not much believe in Communist doctrine--but since he can't see anything better for his country, he soldiers on.  It also emerges that Siri has the ability to see into the spirit world, a thing which *really* bothers him, since he does not believe in the spirit world either.  

Imagine my surprise when I opened *Dude De Ching* and found that it was illustrated by Colin Cotterill, for the man is an illustrator and cartoonist as well.  

The Dude abides.  As does the Tao.  Or Something.  I guess.  

R.  

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/