"Where's your grandpa?"

"In the trunk of our car."

A few weeks ago my friend David asked whether I could make a “Buddha of Compassion” for him, but said he wanted to see a drawing first.

Enku at work

When I first started carving wood in the Army in Japan, my great love was the sculptor/monk Enku (1632-1695). And following Enku’s example I set out to carve as many buddha statues as I could, as quickly as possible. However, while I’ve carved hundreds of buddha statues, I’m not really sure what constitutes a “Buddha of Compassion,” and so I told David that I would have to do a little research first.

The eight principal and six secondary symbolic gestures, with variants

The iconography of buddha sculpture is such that the various poses and gestures each have specific symbolic significance. A book by E. Dale Saunders entitled Mudrā (Princeton University Press: 1960) covers this territory fairly comprehensively, though it doesn’t entirely nail down what specifically constitutes a “Buddha of Compassion.” After studying the matter, I am left with the feeling that every buddha is one of compassion to some substantial degree.

A drawing by Simon Dorrell

Yesterday I came across a drawing in a rock gardening book. The left hand holds up a flower—a lotus blossom perhaps—while the right hand is held downwards, palm open, in a gesture of offering. It’s a little hard to tell but there seems to be a basket or shell containing a sea bream at his (her?) feet. And the topknot on the head seems tied in an infinite loop. Could this be a Buddha of Compassion?

Okonomiyaki in a pan

Around the time of David’s request, I suddenly had a hankering for okonomiyaki, a sort of vegetable pancake (okonomiyaki is Japanese for cooking “as you like it” or “whatever you wish,” suggesting you can put in whatever you’ve got). The essential ingredient is chopped cabbage, and to this you can add any other sort of thing you like. When I visited my friend Ben’s Bent Fork Farm stand at the farmers’ market, he was out of the scallions I was looking for, but said “I’ve got leeks!” which I discovered are even better. So I’ve been entertaining with these lately; they’re easy to prepare and serve while chatting in the kitchen.

Here’s my recipe for two fairly large (7”~8”) pancakes:

1/8 head of cabbage, chopped fine

one carrot, grated

one leek, minced

one egg

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup water

a teaspoon of soy sauce

Mix together and fry in oil, about three minutes to a side, until crispy. Top it with whatever you like. I sprinkle with a little soy sauce and serve with apple cider.

A final note. This week I carved the inscription on the granite rock by the entrance of the park we are making on Main Street: