The Way of the Crane

Life is filled with those little moments we can't explain.  Some pass it off as coincidence, others fate.  Be it a happy accident, kismet, or intelligent design, there are those strings of events that both demand appraisal and defy elucidation.  For now, the reasons are inconsequential; it's the results of those strings of events that I want to examine tonight. 

Kunihiko Kasahara

For years, I've practiced origami.  I've folded everything from flowers to dragons.  As accomplished as I have become, there are those in this world whose skill in the art of paper folding can only be described as genius.  Among those is the origami master, Kunihiko Kasahara. 

A few years ago, I purchased one of his books, Origami Omnibus.  So much of his work is beyond my meger abilities, but there was one piece he designed and created that I wanted to learn more than any other; The Crane in Flight.  The traditional crane was the first piece of origami I had ever learned to make at the age of 7.  When I taught Pre-K, it was the most popular piece among my students. 

My Traditional Crane

As I sat home alone, I found an old stack of origami paper left over from when I was teaching.  For old times' sake, I folded a couple of different cranes.  Afterwards, I started cleaning up where I left off and found my copy of Kasahara's Omnibus hidden behind the entertainment center.  I don't know how long it had been sitting back there.  I know that I hadn't looked through in over a year since the last time I tried to fold the Crane in Flight and gave up in frustration.  I felt compelled to give it one more shot. 

My Traditional Crane II

Things went smoothly at first.  The brilliance of Kasahara's design is immediately apparent from how different its initial folds are from the traditional style of origami cranes that I'm familiar with.  How he ever came up with this particular configuration is beyone me.  As the wings of the crane began to take shape, I began to remember what had originally frustrated me so much in my previous attempts.  Kasahara's instructions are not for novices.  His step by step illustrations contain very little in the way of written instruction.  Instead, he relies heavily on well mapped out diagrams.  It's much like the instructions for assembling IKEA furniture.  

My Completed Crane in Flight

Annoyed by fact that I couldn't get my crane's wings to look like they did in the book, I gave up and walked away.  I went back to cleaning up; this time in the kitchen.  While putting some papers away, I found an envelope with one of its corners turned inside out and Kasahara's instructions suddenly made sense.  I ran back to the crane I had set aside and began to resolve the complex wing fold by turning the offending piece inside out with the aid of a cheese knife and some nimble fingers.  

My Crane in Flight

Finally, I understood.  It made sense to me much the same way a mathematical equation does the first time you understand it.  Trigonometry and geometry in a tangible form.  I had found the Way.  And so it hit me; the title for tonight's post.  But this is not the end of the evening's string of curious revelations. 

On a whim, I "googled" The Way of The Crane.  Among the myriad of results that search returned was a link to a poem on the origins of The Way of the Crane, whose author I could not discern.  Its significance astounded me.  It was the conclusion to a seemingly insignificant string of minor events that left me questioning my place in this world; not only because of the poem's purport, but because of its similarity to the events I have just reccounted.  And so I leave off tonight with "The Way of the Resplendent Crane" for you to ponder over.

The Way of the Resplendent Crane

And it will be forever known, the lamenting ache-filled tone

echoed in every note plucked along the heart and spine,

plaguing like an infection of the mind, of the songs that must

recall the much regretted Third Age fall.

For, by what means could one foresee such a shattering tragedy,

with Earth and Heaven separated as a cosmic punishment and

the guilty Wan Xian traipsing about the Middle Kingdom like soul

shattered puppets flailing at acts of life. You can see it

in their eyes,

the battle that wars inside,

of the righteous and the vile, vying to ride the human shell.

But not Xue, who pursued through meditation a mode of control over

the internal forces that pulled him in conflicting directions.

beneath the Falls of Tóng he pondered,

for at least a thousand nights,

until his flesh was green and bloated, at that moment disappointed,

for no new wisdom stirs within.

Hunger wakes him from his focus, driving him into the blinding snow,

where prowls the furthest reaches, yet finding nothing to consume.

He finally arrives at frozen water, where he spies the graceful crane

snatch a frog up from the depths, which becomes a butterfly.

In this moment Xue understands it, the purpose of this cursed life –

to dredge the ugly frogs up from the wicked world

and make them beautiful again.

And thus, the Way of the Resplendent Crane is writ,

recognizing impurity and striving to overcome it.

Author - Unknown -