SOME  MYTHS  ABOUT  THE  ORIGINS  OF  BONSAI



Myths vs. Historical Facts

        "Myth is not a distortion of fact, but the womb through which fact must come.  Myth involves an intrinsic understanding of the nature of reality, couched in imaginative terms, carrying a power as strong as nature itself...
        "When you accept myths you call them facts, of course, for they become so a part of your lives, of societies and your professions, that their basis seems self-apparent.  Myths are vast psychic dramas, more truthful than facts.  They provide an ever-enduring theater of reality...
        "Myths are natural phenomena, rising from the psyche of [humanity] as surely as giant mountain ranges emerge from the physical planet...
        "... Often your myths get in the way.  When myths become standardized, and too literal, when you begin to tie them too tightly to the world of facts, then you misread them entirely.  When myths become most factual they are already becoming less real.  Their power becomes constrained...
        "Facts are a very handy but weak brew of reality.  They immediately consign certain kinds of experiences as real and others as not.  The psyche, however, will not be so limited.  It exists in a medium of reality, a realm of being in which all possibilities exist.  It creates myths the way the ocean creates spray..." 1

        So, what are some of the origin myths of bonsai?

        The legend of Fei Jiang-fang.

        Attribution to T'ao Yuen-ming.

        Then there is the more recent "The Origin of Bonsai," A Legend and Illustrations by Ann Dunsmore  (Bonsai Magazine, BCI, Vol. 42, No. 5, September/October, 2003, pp. 32-33.)  A summary of this tale is as follows:
        "Two thousand years ago, somewhere in Asia, a woman hiked into the mountains and looked at the beauty around her..."  An exquisite little tree was found which reminded her of this wonderous location, and it was easily brought back to her courtyard and planted in a beautiful handmade dish.
        Carefully tended to, it flourished and moved friends and families who marvelled at its beauty.  Though she related to them its true origin, none of them could understand what it meant to the woman through the seasons and through the years.
        Willed to her daughter when the woman passed away, the tree only lived for two more weeks.  Its spirit had gone on to live with the mother.
        Yearning for something to remember her mother by, the daughter hiked into the mountains and found a cascading tree lovelier than the first.  With effort she collected this tree and brought it back home.  Planted it a beautfiul handmade container, the tree was cared for -- but it died.  Caring for the tree for some time afterwards, she finally admitted that it was not just dormant.  She then lacquered the dead branches and trunk, and decorated the tree with colordul paper flowers which were changed with the holidays.
        "... But the beauty of the living tree haunted her.
        "Then, one day, the daughter put her boots on, grabbed a shovel and pail, and climbed the mountain again.
        "This is the true story of the origin of Bonsai."


As our researches go through the various back issues of the specialty magazines, we will include additional myths and origins here.


See also Possible Ways Dwarf Potted Tree Culture Started.

NOTES

1.     Roberts, Jane  The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.; 1981), pp. 89-90.



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