Professional Documents
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Cage Ox Herding Pictures
Cage Ox Herding Pictures
60 full-color illustrations
HHtti
John Cage
ZEN OX HERDING PICTURES
— John Cage
John Cage
ZEN OX-HERDING PICTURES
\1 \\ YORK
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
John Cage: Zen Ox-Herding Pictures
Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art and Print Studv Center,
University of Richmond Museums, Virginia
October 2, 2009, to April 7, 2010
Photograph credits:
Courtesy of Ray Kass and Mountain Lake Workshop Archive: frontispiece and page 9.
Frontispiece:
John Cage at the Mountain Lake Workshop, 1988.
All rights reserved. Xo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law and except
bv reviewers for the public press) without prior written permission from the publisher.
ND1839.C28A84 2009
780.92 — dc22 2009002679
PREl \< I 6
Richard Waller
JOHN CAGE WIPES HIS BRUSH: THE MOl VI \I\ LAKE WORKSHOP LEGAC V
Rav K.iss
Stephen Addiss
Stephen Addiss
ENDNOTES 124
-Ln 1988, Ray Kass invited John Cage to paint who peruse this publication as well as by those
at the Mountain Lake Workshop in Blacksburg, who seethem on view in the exhibition. With
Virginia, and they began a series of experiments this project comes a wonderful story, beginning
with watercolor pigments that resulted in fifty- with how the paintings came to be made and
five densely marked paper towels. Though these ending, or perhaps beginning again, with seeing
towels were merely collaborative test sheets them in the rich context of the history of
created while Cage acquainted himself with a Zen ox-herding poems and paintings and the
new medium, Kass saw that they had a beauty writings of John Cage.
of their own and suggested to Cage that they In his essay, Ray Kass unfolds the sequence
should be used as material for an entirely new of events that leads from John Cage's visits in
piece. Cage replied, "You should make a piece the 1980s to the Mountain Lake Workshop
with them." to the exhibition in the Joel and Lila Harnett
Two decades later, Cage's pupil and friend Museum of Art and Print Study Center and
Stephen Addiss has joined Ray Kass in realizing the publication of this book in 2009. At the
the potential of these singular images. From University of Richmond, we are fortunate
Kass' collection of carefully archived towels, to have Stephen Addiss on our faculty as the
Addiss created three sets of images that echoed Tucker-Boatwright Chair in Humanities: Art
the narrative of the Ox-Herding Pictures, an and Professor of Art History, and we are even
illustrated parable to which Cage often referred more fortunate that he has curated several
in his discussions and writings. Kass followed important exhibitions for our University
suit, creating a set of his own and, finally, the two Museums. When Ray and Steve first came
authors created a fifth set using Cage's chance- to me with this incredible group of painted
operation methods — we leave it to readers to paper towels and the tale of how they came
decide which set was created by which method! to be, I was overwhelmed with the singular
Over the months following the completion of opportunity to have the University of
the sets, Addiss read through Cage's writings, Richmond be the catalyst to bring these to
selecting fragments to accompany the images in the public.
each set. The results of these explorations are The successful realization of this project
united here with Addiss' and Kass' reflections is due to the invaluable contributions of many
on this unique collaboration. people. First and foremost, our deepest thanks
It is thrilling to have the University of go to our curators, essayists, and editors for this
Richmond Museums involved in bringing these project, Stephen Addiss and Ray Kass. They
unusual, but beautiful, works to be seen by those have been patient, supportive, and gracious
throughout the entire process of bringing an \t the Universitj of Richmond, our
idea to fruition. The depth of their research special appreciation goes Edward L to Dr.
and expertise is evident in the thoughtful Avers, President; Dr. .Stephen /Mired, Pn
essays that contribute so invaluably to our and Vice President for Academic Affairs; and
appreciation of these works. We are particularly Dr. \ndrcw 1. Newcomb, Dean of the School
grateful for Steve's history of Zen ox -herding of \rts anei Sciences, tor their continuing
poems and paintings, his reflections on his guidance and support of the University
studies with John Cage, and his perceptive Museums, comprising the fod and I.ila Harnett
remarks and insights on the Zen influence on Museum of \rt, the )oel and I.ila Harnett
Cage's work. Steve is also to be commended Print Study Center, and the Lora Robins
for closely reading through the writings of Cage Gallery of Design from Nature. \s always, we
to select just the right poetic fragments that give thanks and appreciation to the Staff of the
accompany each of the images in the five sets University Museums.
of ox-herding pictures. His pairing of text Support has been generously provided
and image expands our aesthetic experience for this publication and exhibiton by the Louis
tremendously. S. Booth Arts Fund and the University of
This project could only have been Richmond's Cultural Affairs Committee.
completed with the close collaboration of the We believe that Cage would have been
John Cage Trust, and we are indebted to Laura pleased with this fresh use of the pieces
Kuhn for her essential role in this endeavor. In created during the Mountain Lake Workshop
addition, the authors would like to thank Jerrie years ago Perhaps this book is a reflection of
Pike and Audrey Yoshiko Seo for their helpful the ox-herding parable's final image, in which
ideas and support and Stanley Lombardo for the spiritual traveler "returns to the village
JL he five sets of Zen ox-herding pictures and paper towels adds a celtain objectively "iconic"
poems in this volume have an unusual history, dimension to them.) The brown/beige hue
formed by a unique confluence of people, of the paper works well as a color field for
ideas, energy, and experience. This history the decidedly earthen watercolor mixtures
began in 1983 when I invited John Cage to the that Cage was using in this series of paintings.
Mountain Lake Workshop in Virginia to attend Also, the randomly overlapping watercolor
an exhibition of his etchings and drawings marks in these practice sheets seemed fresh
and to experiment with watercolors. On a and unselfconscious as they negotiate paths
return visit in 1988, he painted the contours across the towels' folds. The paper towel wipes
of stones for the eight works comprising New formed an extraordinary collection. At one
River Watercolors: Series IV. During this process, point I suggested that we do something with
Cage tested his brush, or requested that I do the collection, and Cage said that / should make
so, for various reasons — to lighten or darken apiece out of them.
the consistency of the color mixtures or to try Keeping Cage's comment in mind, I saved
out movements of the brush — on ordinary the 55 paper towels in Cage's Mountain Lake
brown paper towels. He was practicing in order Workshop archival collection, only periodically
to master (according to his own standards) the showing them to visitors. For many years I
new materials that he would subject to chance thought about what kind of project could bring
operations in determining the compositions of them together as a meaningful "piece."
his New River Watercolors. The opportunity arose in 2007, two years
The paper towels were therefore a result after I had begun working with Dr. Stephen
of John Cage's engagement with watercolor Addiss, a composer, musician, poet, painter
painting, and were among the many and varied and historian of Japanese art. In the late 1950s,
practice sheets that Cage generated. In this case Addiss studied with John Cage in his now-
I simply grabbed a package of the towels from famous classes in experimental composition at
a shelf in the broom closet because they were the New School for Social Research; I knew that
small, absorbent and disposable — although Cage liked Addiss and admired his published
I never disposed of them in the conventional scholarship on Zen Buddhist art. One of Cage's
way. favorite books was Addiss' The Art of Zen:
A resulting group of 55 watercolor "test Painting and Calligraphy by Japanese Monks 1600-
sheets" was particularly appealing to me, and I 1925, and we always had a copy of this book at
said so as I removed and refreshed the paper the workshop when Cage was painting.
towels beside Cage. (The fact that they were Before I began working with Addiss
in 2005, I had already met him several times, to me because- I knew that Cage liked tin
but I had known of his scholarly writing and Herding Pictures, particularly the longer version
artwork for more than twenty years. At first I with ten images that ends not with the eighth
"smoked" paper for Addiss, in the manner that image of the "void," but with the enlightened
I had developed for John Cage, to use for his one returning from the "void" to the "origin,"
own excellent sumi painting. Next, in 2006, we and then hnalh to "the village beat
worked together to organize a Mountain Lake- This version mirrored Cage's optimistic nature.
Workshop in paper smoking at the University Aeleliss' expertise in /.en Buddhist art and
of Richmond, as well as a related exhibition in his understanding of the work of |ohn I
the University" Museums that included paintings made him an ideal collaborator for the 'piece"
on smoked paper by Cage, Addiss, and me. that Cage had proposed almost twent)
In November 2007, I invited Addiss earlier. He agreed that the paper towel paintings
to give a lecture at Virginia Tech on the and their abstract imagery might work as visual
from the group that corresponded to the Ten encouraged him to select two additional groups.
Ox-Herding Pictures. The idea probably came I also chose a group, and we usee! "chance
Photograph co
untain
operations" (Cage's own computer-generated specialpresentation at theforay symposium and attended
I-Ching pages of random numbers from his an opening of an exhibition of his recent prints and
watercolor workshops) to select another group. drawings that I curatedfor the Squires Student Union
In all, five sets of ten images each were selected. Gallery at nearby Virginia Tech. Included were several
We decided not to reveal the order or origins of works from a new series of etchings and drawings
the selection, thus introducing an appropriate entitled'Where R= Ryoanji that Cage had based on
element of ambiguity. the fifteen stones of the Zen-inspired Ryoanji garden in
presented with poems to accompany each On the final day of his 1983 visit, Cage
painting, so Addiss took the next several months discovered the smooth rocks of the nearby New River,
to select short texts from John Cage's own and selected many examples that he asked me to bring
writings to accompany each of the fifty images. to him in New York City. The following morning, only
His sensitive selection breathes new life into the afew hours before his return flight, I surprised him with
project, as Cage's writings touch on many ideas an array of papers, brushes, watercolors and the stones
raised by the Ox-Herding Pictures. By adding the that I had arranged in my studio so that they could
text fragments, Addiss has created a book of be easily accessedfor "chance operations. " I invited him
poetry grounded in John Cage's writings that, to experiment in making watercolor paintings using the
along with these unconventional images, offers stones that he had selected the previous day. He was silent
a new experience of the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures for a few moments while he looked over the arrangement
to the reader. of the materials I had prepared. He then took out
While it is important to remember that for a folder containing a computer printout of random
Cage these were "try-outs" and not individual numbers based on the hexagrams of the I-Ching
watercolor paintings, re-contextualizing these and immediately set to work making a program for a
images invites the audience to experience them painting. He created several "try-out" sheets painting
hope that we have contributed to the ongoing to work on a larger sheet of watercolor paper in which
collaborative spirit of "indeterminacy" that the stones, colors, brushes and their placement on the
Cage's work represents for the past, present, paper were all selected by "chance operations. " He then
and future of art. added a wide grey wash over the entire sheet as the final
response to the composer's first visit to the Mountain 1988, 1989, and 1990.
Take Workshop in 1983, where he participated in a
mycologicalforay and symposium that I had organised
with Orson and Hope Miller. At that time Cage made a
10 I 11
1
ZEN INFLUENCES
IN THE WORK OF JOHN CAG
I do not want to blame Zen Buddhism with what I have you would leave the lecture without any consciousness of
done. I would not have done what I have done, exceptfor having learned anything .... nothing would have been
it; and so I am very gratefulfor it. On the other hand, pounded into ) our head or even made noticeable f>
of actions to which I came. This description of Suzuki could also Ik- applied
to ( iage's own teaching style, which was ccrtatnlv
—John Cage not to indoctrinate us into his own beliefs, but
rather to encourage us towards experimentation
in order to develop and follow our own paths.
At the time, this involved working with sounds
IVLy own introduction to Zen came through rather than visual images, and he had a much
John Cage, but it came indirectly. In the late broader view of composition than I had found in
1950s, when I was one of his students in my previous studies as a music major in college.
there — in addition to a piano and our own music as a means of changing the mind. Of cour
voices, we had access to a closet full of musical proper concern first of all has been u-itb cbang;>
instruments from different cultures, many of own wind. . . . It was through the study of Buddhism
them percussion instruments that we could all that I became, it seems to me, less confused. I saw art not
try out. However, if there were not enough of as something that consisted of a communication from
our own compositions to fill the class period, the artists to an audience but rather as an acti:
we would hold discussions, and sometimes sounds in which the artist found a way to let the sounds
classes of Daiset^ Suzuki in Zen Buddhism for two taste, and let the sounds be themsel..
years, and that had a determining influence upon my if we could open ourselves up to this idea, how
music and my thinking.
2
. . .He taught at Columbia and could it be done?
I liked his lectures very much 5
Very frequently With (age, it involved using
methods "freeing the ego from its taste and memory, In class discussions, Cage often referred to
its concern for profit and power, of silencing the ego Suzuki's lectures on Zen, and described some of
so that the rest of the world has a chance to enter the ways he could reconfigure these ideas in his
into the ego's own experience whether that be outside own work. As his life went on, he found that his
or inside."
6
Of course, in the musical new process became valid not only for music.
establishment he was greatly criticized for He often took the writings (and sometimes the
this use of chance, since tradition held that art) of people he admired, such as Thoreau and
a composer should be held accountable for Joyce, and subjected them to chance operations,
every sound in his works. But Cage's sense of such as in his mesostic form of poetry, which
responsibility was to the entire sonic world, found new uses for the words of others.
rather than to his own likes and dislikes. Over the course of his lifetime, Cage
continued to talk and write about Zen, which
In our everyday life sounds are popping up, just as visual remained one of the significant influences upon
things and moving things are popping up, everywhere his music, writing, and art; Most interesting to
around us ... . Sounds should be honored rather than me was how he was able to interpret Zen in such
enslaved. I've come to think that because of my study of uniquely creative ways, quite unlike traditional
Buddhism, which teaches us that every creature, whether Zen-influenced arts in China, Korea, or Japan.
sentient (such as animals) or insentient (such as stones It was not merely his studies with Suzuki
and air) is the Buddha. Each being is the center of the that influenced Cage; in his later interviews and
1
universe, and creation is a multiplicity of centers. writings it is clear that he was intimately familiar
with D. T. Suzuki.
Photograph courtesy of
the John Cage Trust at
Bard College.
12 I 13
with a number of major Zen texts. For example, they did they caught uP with him
he told in his own way the story of Hui-neng, .manded
(II
an illiterate kitchen helper who proved his the Robe the bowl
enlightenment with a poem.* he oFfcrcd them
withOut hesitation
The oldest monk in the monaster) said, 1
in the middle of the night. He was chased by that case, says the first monk, let's burn another
monks who wanted the robe and bowl that one.
had been given to him by the Fifth Patriarch Cage also alludes here to the /.en V
as symbols of succession. Cage continued who, when monks argued over a cat, threatened
elements of this story in one of his mesostic to cut the cat's throat unless someone could
poems, here using the word "Performance" immediately answer him correctlv:
running down the center.
of times and then having done it to do so again another that people are afraid to empty their minds for
chance-determined number of times at highest volume} 3 fear of plunging into the void, not realizing that
their own mind is the void. It was in this context
[This play is] an affirmation of life, not an attempt to that Cage, referring to Huang-Po, wrote:
bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements on
creation, but simply a waking up to the very life we're "Nothing is accomplished by writing, performing,
living which is so excellent once one gets one's mind and hearing a piece of music (instantaneous-unpredictable):
one's desires out of the way and lets it act of its own our ears are now in excellent condition. " Couldn 't have
14 1
(although "Neti Neti" is not strictly speaking "The Huang-Po Doctrine of Universal Mind. This
a Zen text). is a text, not a phrase." When asked why, he
18
said "I have no idea."
The Buddhist texts to which I often return are the Cage also wrote:
Huang-Po Doctrine of Universal Mind (in Chu
Chan's first translation, published by the London All
Buddhist Society in 1947), Neti Neti byL. C. Beckett activities fuse in one purpose which
of which (as I say in the introduction to my Norton is (cf. Huang-Po Doctrine of Universal
Lectures at Harvard) my life could be described as an Mind) no purpose. 19
illustration, and the Ten Oxherding Pictures (in the
gifts of a smiling and somewhat heavy monk, one who Finally Cage refers several times to the
14 I 15
-
returning to the world with compassion. ten ox-herding pictures of /.<n Huddhism. Once caught,
the ox the ego is no longer risible. What happens?
There are two versions of the ox-herding pictures. One The ox- herder, fat, smiling . . . returns to the village
21
concludes with the image of nothingness, the other with bearing gifts).
bearing gifts. Nowadays we have only the second version. Perhaps Cage's understanding of the
2"
They call it neo-Dada. importance of the last stage of the
memory and the resultant fixed habit ("Leave thy Stephen Addiss
THE HISTORY OF
OX-HERDING POEMS AND PAINTINGS
V^x-herding poems and paintings are deeply The earliest series of Zen ox-herding
rooted in Zen history, having been utilized by poems was written in China around 1050
Masters for centuries as teachings that could be by C'hing-chu. These are not completely
readily understood by people from every walk preserved. Another set composed by P'u-ming
of life. While the ox has long been a symbol was circulated in Chinese Zen circles, but the
of fertility in China, in Zen it also represents series that became the best known was written
the heart-mind unity. In Chinese and Japanese and illustrated by K'uo-an Shih-yuan (Japanese:
the same character t<2 has both meanings, so Kakuan Shion) in the mid-twelfth century.
searching for the ox can be understood as His pupil Tz'u-yuan (Japanese: Jion) published
searching for one's own true self. As a metaphor these paintings and poems as woodblock
for the path to enlightenment, the ox-herding prints, adding an introduction that included
poems and paintings form a spiritual narrative, these paradoxical comments:
making them part of a great tradition: the
journey outward that leads to a journey inward. From the first "Searching for the Ox" to the final
However, the basic structure of these narratives "Entering the Marketplace " I have deliberately stirred
— searching, finding, and returning — informs up waves and attached horns sideways on the head of
only the first six of the ten ox-herding pictures the ox. Furthermore, since fundamentally there is no
presented here. After his return, the traveler heart-mind to be sought after, why then should there be
transcends the ox, goes back to the origin, any need to search for an ox? Andjust who is the devil
2i
and finally re-enters the village bearing gifts. at the end who enters the marketplace?
This corresponds to Zen training, in which
one grapples with the question of self, reaches What might Tzu-yuan have meant? That
enlightenment, and then returns to the world the set of ten ox-herding pictures and poems,
with compassion for all creatures. even though it became one of the "Four Texts
There are several early Zen texts that refer of Zen," should only be taken as the finger
to the ox as one's own Buddha-nature. For pointing at the moon, not the moon itself?
example, a disciple asked the Master Pai-cheng Or simply that we should question the process
(720-814) how to search for the Buddha without itself: who is searching for what, and who is
knowing the way. Pai-cheng answered, "It's like the enlightened being at the end?
looking for the ox on which you're riding." The Woodblock book versions of K'uo-an's set
disciple then asked what to do when conscious were printed over the next few hundred years in
of the truth, and Pai-cheng replied, "It's like China and Japan, and was his illustrations that
it
returning home on the back of an ox." became the paradigms for most later East Asian
16 I 17
painters. In Zen teaching, ox-herding pictures plain ordinary people, when art) religious colorat
and poems could be appreciated at various levels charity, salvation or satori has completely disappeared.
of understanding. For example, when Zekkai
Chushin (1336-1405) was asked in 1395 to The best-known paintings of the subject
explain Zen Buddhism to the Japanese Shogun, are attributed to the monk-painter Shubun of
he used K'uo-an's book as a point of departure. the early fifteenth century; the) are preserved
More recently, when the Zen Master Shibayama at the temple Shokoku-ji in Kyoto, hollowing
Zenkei (1894-1974) came to America in 1965, the most common format for this theme, they
he arranged for a translation of his comments are painted within circles. Until the seventh
on a simplified set of six ox-herding pictures to picture they are quite literal: we see the herder
24
be printed and distributed. searching, finding traces, seeing, catching,
In 1984 the Zen scholar Yanagida Seizan taming, and then riding home on the ox. Then
(1922-2006) gave a talk on the book of ox- the narrative takes a more spiritual dimension.
herding pictures at the Japan Foundation in The seventh picture, "forgetting the ( K."
Kyoto in which he said: shows the boy praying, while the eighth,
"Transcending the Ox," is just an empty circle
What is Zen? Since this little book answers that (enso). This is one of the most fundamental of
question fully, its usefulness is without equal. . . . A Zen images; it represents the universe as well
child may read it as easily as his elders; anyone can read as the void, and can signify enlightenment. The
it. There are various translations in English, German, ninth picture, "Returning to the Source.'* is
and French, so it seems to be the Zen text with the composed of a flowering plum tree, an emblem
most international appeal. The reason for this is that of the beginning of spring, along with rocks,
pictures convey meaning more directly than words. . . . bamboo, and water. The final inv ering
The relationship between bull and herdsman is indeed an the Marketplace," depicts the wandering monk
allegory of the process of meditation, where we succeed Hotei, who became a god of good fortune in
in capturing and quieting this present arrogant heart oj Japan, offering gifts to a figure who may be the
ours, which runs wild. . . . Zen training only begins when same boy of the first seven pictures.
we become aware, in the midst of our dreaming, that the These images come from k
bull has run awayfrom us.... [The ox-herdingpicturesl no ttunka \ "/pies).
are an expression of that element in Zen thought which Translations of K'uo-an's poems .ire graciously
finds the profoundest miracle in the dialogue between provided by Stanley Lombarda
.
/. Searchingfor the Ox
3. Seeing the Ox
18 |
19
4. Catching the Ox
5. Taming the Ox
6. Riding the Ox Hi
8. Transcending the Ox
Whip, rope,self, ox —
no traces left.
Thoughts cannot penetrate the vast blue sky,
20 I 21
'
] *
/0. Entering the Marketplace
fir ,
' i
JAl
Barefoot and shirtless, enter the market
Smiling through the dirt and grime.
4'*-'
Mr 4V» J Tm V
jy^gj.. No
all
Shubun has transposed a few of the poetic almost always conform to the K'uo-an and
images; for example, the withered tree blooming Shubun prototypes, with literal images used
in poem ten is the plum of painting nine, while when possible for the narrative. The five
the pine in paindng ten is an evergreen. And of John Cage's abstract watercoloi mart
what of the boy in the final picture? He is paper towels offer a different connection
carrying a bag on a staff; might this hold his between text and image in which you, the
belongings as he sets out on his own search? viewer, are invited to make your own
This would bring us full circle to the idea of correlations and interactions. The artist's
pilgrimage, but now the boy has the wisdom freedom from intention, often celebrated bv
and generosity of Hotei to help guide him, I
in his music, poetry, and visual art. is here
just as young monks in training work with an extended to a m.i|or /en theme s anil
feelings
empty
being lost
24 | 25
SB
BUBF**
i
/ —2 Finding its Traces
more space
to feel with mv feet the faint marks
26 I 27
I —3 Seeing the Ox
It was a juncture
28 I 29
I —4 Catching the Ox
two members of
each other
30 I 31
I —5 Taming the Ox
the dance
the magic
in some way
the contours
32 I 33
J —6 Riding the Ox Home
let it dance
between mind
moving and not moving
34 I 35
/ —7 Forgetting the Ox
Multiplicity
ran
no play of power
dancing
free
36 I 37
/ —8 Transcending the Ox
began
a center
38 I 39
I —9 Returning to the Source
something immense
that adds up
to zero
40 I 41
10 Entering the Marketplace
liberation
42 I 43
II — / Searching for the Ox
44 I 45
II —2 Finding its Traces
how
to
read
it
independently
of
one's thoughts
46 I 47
i|^fW|f
II — 3 Seeing the Ox
gurgling
of awareness
on the
apprehension
48 | 49
II —4 Catching the Ox
it has
of
its own vibration
50 I 51
II —5 Taming the Ox
it is one
and
transformation
52 I 53
mill . mi
II —6 Riding the Ox Home
certain
real
that it is
54 I
55
II —7 Forgetting the Ox
no rules
not
yet
not yet
the world
56 I 57
II —8 Transcending the Ox
What
we've already done conspires against
what we have now to do
58 I 59
X.
II —9 Returning to the Source
out
60 I 61
-Mfe,
II — 10 Entering the Marketplace
Each day
unexpected
salvation
62 I 63
Ill — / Searching for the Ox
what exists
is the mind
ancient overview-
it can sympathize
with absence
64 I 65
Ill —2 Finding its Traces
66 I
67
Ill —3 Seeing the Ox
to hear
to see
originally
we need to
change
68 |
69
*in
Wff *
St'JL
>M *..
Ill —4 Catching the Ox
having
all at once
changes
70 | 71
Ill —5 Taming the Ox
transformation
to be done
72 | 73
Ill —6 Riding the Ox Home
Arriving, realizing we
never departed
74 I 75
77/ —7 Forgetting the Ox
In removing
boundaries is the
76 I 77
Ill —8 Transcending the Ox
time is provided
is possible
it follows
is transcended
78 |
79
I
Ill —9 Returning to the Source
something immense
asking
80 I 81
Ill — 10 Entering the Marketplace
not withheld
from any form of life
82 I 83
IV — / Searching for the Ox
84 I 85
25.
4*4
SPaKiT.W
'
si
IV — 2 Finding its Traces
Does it emerge?
Or do we enter in?
86 I 87
IV — 3 Seeing the Ox
the resonance of
space brings
only
interacting
88 I 89
IV — 4 Catching the Ox
gift
of self to self
90 I 91
IV — 5 Taming the Ox
no accomplishment's
involved
92 I 93
IV —6 Riding the Ox Home
circumstances
94 I 95
*™fr#^p
),-«! !' #'1***4*^1
IMft
**i^
** f^n'fi
W— 7 Forgetting the Ox
questions I might
have
learned
to ask can
no longer
receive replies
96 | 97
IV —8 Transcending the Ox
surrounded
by mystery
98 I 99
IV — 9 Returning to the Source
origin
100 I 101
IV — 10 Entering the Marketplace
102 I 103
V— / Searching/or the Ox
Looking for
couldn't find it
104 I 105
V— 2 Finding its Traces
outside it
106 I 107
V— 3 Seeing the Ox
108 I 109
M^Bv*
"ft m
•««<*
•• -f»Vs
-f
V— 4 Catching the Ox
Hunting for
one thing, finding another
110 I 111
m Ii lii^
ibMA
ij
,
liH
r c
P *» •*•
V— 5 Taming the Ox
112 I 113
V— 6 Riding the Ox Home
A
possibility of
lives
circle another
114 | 115
V— 7 Forgetting the Ox
narrow the
terms of
elsewhere
in the universe ultimately a nothing between must be
what happened
116 I
117
V— 8 Transcending the Ox
to leave no traces
nothing in between
no need
118 I 119
V— 9 Returning to the Source
in whatever's
happening
flowerings
120 I 121
V— 10 Entering the Marketplace
all creation
endless
interpenetration
122 I 123
.
ENDNOTES
2. Kostelanetz, Conversing with Cage, p. 29. 1 8. Kostelanetz, Conversing with Cage, p. 25.
3. Cage, John. For the Birds, John Cage in 19. Cage, John. A Year From Monday, Middletown,
Conversation with Daniel Charles. Boston and CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1967, p. 10.
Hui-neng, see Stephen Addiss with Stanley 23. Adapted from Yamada Mumon, Fectures on
Lombardo and Judith Roitman, Zen the Fen Oxherding Pictures (Honolulu:
Sourcebook. Indianapolis IN and Cambridge University of Hawai'i Press, 2004), p. 2.
Cambridge, MA: Exact Change, 1993, p.50. 25. For an earlier Japanese set dated to 1278, see
124 I 125
SOURCES FOR
JOHN CAGE'S POETIC FRAGMENTS
•
6, Composition in Retrospect, p. 1 22 IV — 334
6,7- VI, p.
-1,7-KT, p. 233 V — M:
1, Writings '67-72, p. 61
— X: 2, Writings 79-'82, p. 136 V— 2, Composition in Retrospect, p. 1 59
-\I-VI, p. 418 V— 56
3, 7-1 7, p.
— Composition
1, in Retrospect, p. 165
— 41
2, Silence, p.
— Composition
3, in Retrospect, p. 24
— Composition
4, in Retrospect, p. 1 62
— Composition
5, in Retrospect, p. 74
— A Year From Monday,
6, p. 1
— M: Writings '67-72,
7, p. 153
— 1-VJ, 238 8, p.
— Composition
9, in Retrospect, p. 133
— Composition
10, in Retrospect, p. 128
.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Press, 1968. Cage, John and Alison Knowles. Notations. New
.
Empty Words. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan York: Something Else Press, 1969.
University Press, 1979. Cage, John and Lois Long. Mud Book: How to Make
. For the Birds, John Cage in Conversation with Pies and Cakes. New York: Harry N. Abrams,
Daniel Charles. Boston and London: Marion 1988.
Boyars, 1981. Cage, John, Lois Long, and Alexander H. Smith.
. 7-1 7. Cambridge: Harvard University Mushroom Book. New York: Hollanders
Press, 1990. Workshop, 1972.
. John Cage Writer: Previously Uncollected Pieces. Cage, John and Joan Retallack. Musicage: Cage Muses
New York: Limelight Editions, 1993. on Words *Art* Music. Middletown, CT:
. M: Writings '67-72. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1996 (Distributed
Wesleyan University Press, 1973. by University Press of New England).
.New River Watercolors. Richmond, VA:
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1988.
. Overpopulation and Art. New York: private
printing, 1991 (Also included in John Cage, ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Composed in America)
. Silence. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan Addiss, Stephen. "A Kaleidoscope on the Art of
University Press, 1961. John Cage," Triquarterly, 54, (Spring 1982).
. Themes and Variations. Barrytown, NY: Antin, David. John Cage Uncaged is Still Cagey. San
Station Hill Press, 1982. Diego, CA: Singing Horse Press, 2005.
. Virgil Thompson. New York: Yoseloff, Bernstein, David W and Christopher Hatch, eds.
126 |
127
Art. Chicago and London: Universitj of the Mind. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton
Chicago Press, 2001. I fniversity, l'J95.
Brown, Kathan.yo/w Cage Visual Art: To Sober and Nicholls, David, ed. Tih Cambridge Companion to
Quiet Hie Mind. San Francisco: Crown Point John Cage. New York and Cambridge:
Press, 2000. Cambridge University Press, 2m i2.
.John Cage Etchings 1978-1982. Oakland ( \: Nicholls, David. Join ( age. Champaign: Unrva
Crown Point Press, 1982. of Illinois Press, 2007.
Caplan, Elliot. Cage/ Cunningham (1991). Patterson, David. John (-age: Music, Philosophy, and
Dachy, Marc. Cage/ Duchamp. Paris: Eoliennes, 2005. Intention, 1911-1950. Boca Raton, 11.: Garland
Daniel, Charles, ed. doses surjohn Cage. Paris: Publishing, 2000.
Union Generale d'Editions, 1978. PcrlorY, Margorie and Charles (unkerman, eds. John
Dickinson, Peter. Cagetalk: Dialogues with and about Cage, Composed in Amenca. Chicago and
John Cage. Rochester: University of Rochester London: The University of Chicago Press,
Press, 2006. 1994.
Fetterman, William. /o/w Cages Theater Pieces. Revill, David. The Roaring Silen
London: Routledge, 1997. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1992.
Fleming, Richard and William Duckworth. John Snyder, Elizabeth. John Cage Works on Paper,
Cage at Seventy-five. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell 1982-90. Madison: University of Wisconsin
University Press, 1989. Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1991.
Gena, Peter and Jonathan Brent, eds. A John Cage Wada, Stephanie. The Oxherder:A Zen Parable
Reader. New York and London: C.F. Peters, Illustrated. New York: George Br.i/iller. 2002
1982. Yates, Peter. Twentieth Century Music. New York:
Griffiths, Paul. Cage, Oxford Studies of Composers Pantheon Books, 1967.
no. 18. London and New York: Oxford
University Press, 1981.
Kaak, Joachim and Corinna Thierolf. Hanne
Darboven/John Cage. Munich: Staatsgaleric
Moderner Kunst, 1997.
Kass, Ray."The Mountain Lake Workshop,"
Drawing 10:3 (1988).
Kostelanetz, Richard. Conversing with Cage. New
York: Limelight Editions, 1988.
.John Cage. New York: RK Editions, 1978.
.John Cage: An Anthology. New York: Da
Capo Press, 1991.
WITHDRAWN
No longer the property of the have been the Qrsl Happenii
with Merce Cunningham from the
Boston Public Library.
Musical Advisor ningham
Wt of ft* material benefited the Ubrwy Dance Company, lie n
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of Arts an
the American Academj
of fifty-two 9
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He is Emeritus P I of
include.!/
John
of Tin In*
exhibited in mat
include Th
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