When Making An Axe Handle The Pattern

Doom Scenarios, Even Though They Might Be True, Are Not Politically Or Psychologically Effective. The First Step . . . Is To Make Us Love The World Rather Than To Make Us Fear For The End Of The World.

In The 40,000 Year Time Scale We're All The Same People. We're All Equally Primitive, Give Or Take Two Or Three Thousand Years Here Or A Hundred Years There.

Ko Un's Poems Evoke The Open Creativity And Fluidity Of Nature, And Funny Turns And Twists Of Mind. Mind Is Sometimes Registered In Buddhist Terms - Buddhist Practice Being Part Of Ko Un's Background. Ko Un Writes Spare, Short-line Lyrics Direct To The Point, But Often Intricate In Both Wit And Meaning. Ko Un Has Now Traveled Worldwide And Is Not Only A Major Spokesman For All Korean Culture, But A Voice For Planet Earth Watershed As Well.

I Try To Hold Both History And Wilderness In Mind, That My Poems May The True Measure Of Things And Stand Against The Unbalance And Ignorance Of Our Times.

For Several Centuries Western Civilization Has Had A Drive For Material Accumulation, Continual Extensions Of Economic Power, Termed 'progress'...the Longing For Growth Is Not Wrong. The Nub Of The Problem Is How To Flip Over, As In Jujitsu, The Magnificent Growth Energy Of Modern Civilization Into A Nonacquisitive Search For Deeper Knowledge Of Self And Nature.