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Bowing to Receive the Mountain is a collection of poetry complimented by selected essays. The title mirrors the spirit of the book. Webster defines bowing as "to incline (as the head) esp. in respect or submission." In the preface Jensen quotes the late Shunryu Suzuki of the San Francisco Zen Center. "You should be prepared to bow, even in your last moment." The writings in this work, each in some unique way, suggest this teaching.
In the essay "Window Birds," Mr. Jensen relates an experience that occurred while he was confined to bed with a back injury. "I was exhausted. The best that could be said was that, if hope had collapsed for the time, I was still holding on. And then great wet tears formed, overran the sockets of my eyes and spilled down the sides of my face." As he lay there looking out the window, a flock of sparrows appeared; they rose into view, then dropped from sight several times before disappearing. This simple experience is articulated with emotion and insight culminating in a greater understanding.
The window birds are memory now. Beyond the window, I see the garden buried beneath snow. Down under, the garden lies fallow and waits, as I lie here fallow and wait, as everywhere, in all places, at all times, and in all beings, joy lies fallow and waits.
With a different style Mr. Roberts finds ways to express knowledge realizations through poetry. Consider, for example, the following excerpt from "Gardening."
III
My garden is inhabited by:
sow bugs which nibble at the stems of plants;
earwigs which eat leaves;
slugs and snails which eat everything;
gophers which burrow underground, eat away
the root systems and stems.
Between the garden rows, I leave rolled newspaper,
and when it is filled with earwigs and sow bugs, I burn it.
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