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Mongolian Dharma Poetry: Simon Wickhamsmith

Simon Wickhamsmith is a Buddhist monk turned scholar, computer musician, and one of the only translators of Mongolian literature into English. He teaches in the Writing Program at Rutgers University and has been traveling back and forth to Mongolia since 2006. In this conversation he traces his spiritual path from Catholicism through Tibetan Buddhism and back to medieval Christian mysticism, introduces the Mongolian poet Mend-Ooyo, and takes us deep into the life and poetry of the 19th century Buddhist polymath Danzanravjaa — a figure Simon considers his primary teacher — including a live reading of the poem Twos, a stunning meditation on nonduality from the Mongolian steppe.

Topics

  • 00:00 — Introduction
  • 00:02 — Simon's spiritual path: Catholicism, Opus Dei, the Desert Fathers, and Zen
  • 00:04 — Discovering Tibetan Buddhism, Samye Ling monastery in Scotland, and ordaining as a monk
  • 00:06 — The three-year retreat, his mother's illness, and returning to the world
  • 00:07 — Returning to medieval Christian mysticism: Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, The Cloud of Unknowing
  • 00:10 — How SAND connected with Mend-Ooyo in Mongolia — and how Simon met him
  • 00:12 — Teaching himself Mongolian by translating Danzanravjaa's complete works
  • 00:13 — Introducing Mend-Ooyo: born 1952 into a nomadic herding family, poet and cultural guardian of Mongolia
  • 00:16 — The underground literary group GAL (Fire) and Mend-Ooyo's role in Mongolian literary culture
  • 00:18 — Mend-Ooyo's mission: reconnecting Mongolia to its nomadic heritage after Soviet collapse
  • 00:19 — Mend-Ooyo's new novel The Solitary Tree: Robin Hood, shamanism, Buddhism, and falcons
  • 00:23 — Who was Danzanravjaa? Born in the Gobi Desert, recognized as the fifth reincarnation of the Noyon Hutagt
  • 00:26 — Danzanravjaa's approach: spontaneous, impromptu poetry as dharma teaching
  • 00:28 — Mongolia's first traveling theater troupe and the poems as dictated teachings
  • 00:31 — Live reading and analysis of Perfect Qualities — a love poem, a guru poem, and a poem of nonduality simultaneously
  • 00:33 — The three levels of meaning in Danzanravjaa's poetry: outer, inner, and secret
  • 00:38 — Bhakti yoga, Ram Dass, Maharaji, and the connection to direct transmission beyond doctrine
  • 00:41 — Danzanravjaa and the land: the Shambhala vortex at Hamriin Hiid
  • 00:44 — Horses, landscape, and the spiritual path in his poetry
  • 00:45 — Simon's personal experience of the Shambhala site and animist relationship to land
  • 00:49 — If Danzanravjaa were alive today: his anti-Manchu politics and primary focus on deepening practice
  • 00:50 — Live reading of the poem Twos — nonduality in full
  • 00:54 — On translation: humor, layers of meaning, and the paradox of the poem itself

 

 

Resources & Links

 

Simon Wickhamsmith

 

 

Mend-Ooyo Gombojav

 

 

Danzanravjaa (referenced poems)

 

  • Perfect Qualities (also known as The Five Senses / Five Offerings)
  • Twos — read in full during the episode
  • Mend-Ooyo's essay on Danzanravjaa: mend-ooyo.mn/content/86.html

 

Referenced spiritual figures & texts

 

  • The Cloud of Unknowing — anonymous 14th century medieval Christian mysticism text
  • Julian of Norwich and Meister Eckhart — medieval mystics Simon returned to after Buddhism
  • Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Scotland — where Simon did his retreat
  • Ram Dass and Maharaji — referenced in discussion of bhakti yoga and direct transmission
  • John Cage — Simon's original entry point into Zen Buddhism

 

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