Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

the acquaintance of a true Oriental. Time, discretion, and patience are most important.A few weeks later Konrad visited El-Zafaran at his shop in the same remote part of town, far from the fashionable jewelrystores of St. Petersburg. Obviously El-Zafaran, like Henri, worked only on commission for a select few customers whowere knowledgeable of Sufi work.El-Zafaran received him with a fine smile and locked the door. "Greetings Konrad. I feared I would never see you again.What you are after is serious business. What would you like to do?""As I have told you, I am neither a master goldsmith nor an initiated Sufi. I undertook both labors to collect andunderstand myself. My wife’s mother, who is the semabashi of the Halveji tekke in Tiflis, taught me the turn last year. Iwould like to improve my turning and next spring when I will return from China work in gold again. At the moment I don’thave the time to do both.""You seem to be a modern man, intelligent, skeptical, and worldly. You are not looking for any nebulous mysticism. I likethat in you. You will visit China?"Konrad bowed his head. "I have been invited by a Georgian tea grower to travel with him to Turkmenistan and China tostudy the tea-making process. The man wants to improve his Georgian tea production and to study the country.""Do you speak Turkish or Chinese?""I am learning Chinese but don’t speak Turkish."For the first time Konrad noticed a discernable emotion crossing the even face of El-Zafaran. "I have long wanted to findinformation on the connections between Central-Asian Sufism and the Chinese Buddhist meditation sects. I was told thatthe name for these sects is Ch'an, the originally Chinese version of Japanese Zen. The oldest Sufi schools were foundedin Samarkand in the twelfth and thirteenth century, but they surely have older roots."Konrad held his breath. This was the kind of information that interested him. He had never heard of Ch'an, nor of arelationship between the Sufiya and China. He admitted his ignorance, but also his interest and promised to inquireamong the China experts at the university."Do you practice writing Chinese characters with a brush?"Konrad had to deny. His teacher considered the use of the brush an art of its own, which he did not have to learn at thistime. Konrad wrote the characters with a pen without any artistic ambition."Working in gold is only one of many Sufi exercises," El-Zafaran said. "Writing Arabic script is another which I had topractice for three years, but I speak Arabic so it made some sense. You should take up Chinese calligraphy. I am surethis would have the same merits, to concentrate entirely on your hand."Konrad could easily see that. "Instead of the name of Allah I could copy Chinese classical poetry." He smiled, knowingthat this Syrian Christian would not take offense to this otherwise sacrilegious comparison. "Would you show me some ofyour work?"El-Zafaran retrieved a collection of gold pieces from a safe and laid out the jewelry before Konrad. They were verydifferent from Henri’s designs, edgy, monumental. They are male, thought Konrad, while Henri’s round, flowing, free-formpieces were female. He said so."I have never seen Henri’s work, but your necklace is definitely female. Henri must have sensed that this was what youneeded most at the time. You are still more rigid than is good for you, but in this scatterbrained culture a little mentaldiscipline is always useful. I think you should pursue Chinese calligraphy for a while. It can be either male or female."Konrad was not surprised that the man had noticed his occasional absentmindedness. "You are right, the idle,superficiality of life in St. Petersburg has been getting to me."It had become late. El-Zafaran invited him to their sema on any of the following Thursdays. Konrad would not beexpected to participate in their turning, but El-Zafaran would introduce him to their semabashi who could teach himprivately.On leaving, Anastasios hugged and kissed him as his student.Konrad asked his Chinese teacher for lessons in Chinese calligraphy. She was aghast. This was much too difficult forhim and would take years. Konrad insisted, feeling that she was considering him a Western barbarian who simply couldnot and should not penetrate the secrets of her culture. If it was difficult, he would practice calligraphy for a few years.She then confessed that her calligraphy had always been judged poor; her father had sent her brothers to a calligraphyartist, but not her. She was a woman and could not teach him. But she promised to ask an old Chinese acquaintance,whose hand was excellent, to take Konrad as a student.Konrad asked Alekseev about Ch'an. Alekseev was surprised, he did not know much about Ch'an, but had a practicalsuggestion. In the Yellow River archipelago outside of Shanghai lay an island, Putuo Shan Dao, inhabited by Ch'anmonks. On the island was one of the five holy mountains of Chinese Buddhism, and the Ch'an monasteries wereexceptionally beautiful. Putuo Shan Dao was an insider’s tip, few foreigners knew of its existence. But Konrad should notget too hopeful of learning anything about Ch'an thought or literature there, the monks practiced age-old meditativeexercises, but knew little which they could put into words.The St. Petersburg university library owned several Ch'an texts, but they were poorly catalogued and, of course, inChinese. Even if Konrad knew Chinese, it would be an impossible task to decipher the obscure, hyperbolic imagery of160