{"id":8462,"date":"2024-08-23T08:12:29","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T15:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8462"},"modified":"2024-08-23T08:12:29","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T15:12:29","slug":"ko-un-two-beggars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/23\/ko-un-two-beggars\/","title":{"rendered":"Ko Un – Two beggars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two beggars
\nby Ko Un<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two beggars
\nsharing a meal of the food they\u2019ve been given<\/p>\n

The new moon shines intensely<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a>, Edited by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Mr. Kris<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I find this short poem deeply moving. My first instinct is to say it is filled with compassion, but that\u2019s not exactly what this poem is about. Ko Un isn\u2019t telling us to see the hunger of these two beggars and to feed them. There is something else going on. He is, instead, calling on us to see not two beggars, but two human beings in communion, expressing their humanity even in their extremity. These two beggars aren\u2019t objects of pity; they have become our teachers.<\/p>\n

The two are hungry, yet they share the very little they have with one another. They have given us a moment to see a human connection at its most desperate, yet most profound moment.<\/p>\n

In that simple act of human communion, something heavenly is recognized. And we, the witnesses, are that much more alive, awakened from our own spiritual lethargy, as a result. <\/p>\n

The new moon shines intensely.<\/i><\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Ko Un<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
What?: 108 Zen Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nTen Thousand Lives<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Three Way Tavern: Selected Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nLittle Pilgrim: A Novel<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nFlowers of a Moment<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n
\n\"Ko<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nKo Un<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Korea (1933 \u2013 )
\nBuddhist<\/a> : Zen \/ Chan<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Ko Un was a witness to the devastation of the Korean War. He volunteered for the People\u2019s Army, but was rejected because he was underweight.<\/p>\n

He became a Zen Buddhist monk in the 1950s, and returned to secular life sometime in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Ko Un became an activist opposing the harsh and arbitrary rule of South Korea\u2019s president, President Park Chung-hee. His dissident activities led to several terms of imprisonment and torture.<\/p>\n

The democratization of South Korea in the late 1980s finally gave Ko Un the freedom to travel to other countries, including a visit to the United States and make a spiritual journey through India.<\/p>\n

He married in 1985 and had a daughter.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Ko Un<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two beggars by Ko Un Two beggars sharing a meal of the food they\u2019ve been given The new moon shines intensely \u2014 from This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World, Edited by Ivan M. Granger \/ Image by Mr. Kris \/ I find this short poem deeply moving. My first instinct is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[40,292,293],"class_list":["post-8462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-buddhist-poetry","tag-ko-un","tag-korean-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8463,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462\/revisions\/8463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}