Re: SV: Small Query re a quote (buddhism)

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@sff.net>]

From: Dyfan <dyfan@LEWIS.SE>

> Do you have any more data on GG and Buddhism?

I don't know how much specific information there is about this. Glenn Gould
was private, so while he may have discussed his interests with some people,
he wasn't the type to place "I Love Zen" and "Buddha Fish" bumper stickers
on his Town Car. :->

GG's interests in Japan and Zen Buddhism were mentioned in one of the Sony
web chats. You can read the transcript here:
http://www.glenngould.com/gg/trnscrpt.html

Also, if you look at the list of selected books owned by GG at the Ex
Libris web site, you'll find that he owned some books with an eastern
connection. For example, "Japan and Zen" by Betty and Van Meter Ames;
"Anthology of Chinese Literature, Vol.2"; lots of books by Soseki; plus
"The Way of Zen" by Alan Watts. Also, I have read that GG kept Soseski's
"The Three-Cornered World" on his night stand. ("The Three-Cornered World"
had been referred to as a "Zen novel.")

http://users.erols.com/petalpages/gg/index.htm

There's a page about Soseki here, and it includes a link to one of Junichi
Miyazawa's posts on F-Minor :
http://www.eldritchpress.org/ns/soseki.html

The interest seems to be mutual. GG is popular in Japan -- and also in
China. If you go to About.com's Chinese culture page, there are very
dominant links to the official GG web site on display.
http://chineseculture.about.com/culture/chineseculture/library/music/bl1501
0401.htm

> Been listening to his WTC 1 tonight especially unbearably beautiful Bb
> minor. GG always belittled the preludes in speech as compared to the
fugues
> but when he played them it was as if he had infinite respect for them

Even when he belittled them, he still seemed to find them charming on their
own terms. He just didn't seem to think most of them belonged with their
fugues.

P.S. While searching for stuff about Glenn Gould and Buddhism, I found yet
another Glenn Gould quote.
"When it becomes illegal for a child to pull the wings off a butterfly, I
will become interested in the peace movement."

Anybody know where that one came from? It was in the middle of a web page.