Painting the Dao

68 ak9.20 The River-borne Censer Ink and watercolour on cloud-dragon paper mounted on cotton paper 52 × 74 cm, Bangkok, 2009 Two artist seals 水松石山房 Shuisongshi shanfang (Water, Pine and Stone Retreat) 攜杖老人 Xiezhang laoren (Old man who carries the staff ) Published The Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat, Beyond the Stage of Time , ii: Staff Masters and Stone Fools (Hong Kong: Rasti Chinese Art, 2020), 62 inscr iption I never did discover what sort of wood the River-borne Censer was made of, but it was as heavy as iron, which is why it stayed unnoticed in the mountain brook outside my retreat for so long before I discovered it while washing my feet of the dust of many a mountain path. Nudging it casually with my foot, it rolled into a different position and through the water I could see that it was a natural incense burner. Because of its affinity to iron, I set it on a naturally-pierced nugget of iron ore of the type said by stone brethren to fall from the heavens. It burned well right from the very beginning.