Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper: Z
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Chapters: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
Extracts from Adam Hart-Davis's book.
(Buy the book from Micheal O'Mara Books, ISBN 1-85479-250-4, hardback 1-85479-245-8, or in the US, ISBN 1570760810.)
- Zen and the Art of Excretion
-
In his manual of zen training Selling water by the river,
Jiyu Kennett says there is a special small ceremony before using
the lavatory; this verse should be recited three times:
Adoration to all the Buddhas.
Adoration to all the limitless teaching.
Peace! Speak! Blaze! Up! Open!
To the glorious, peaceful one for whom there is no disaster whilst upon the water-closet, Hail!
Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo devotes a whole chapter to Senjo. Those practising outdoors must use a privy, and for cleaning theselves arrange seven balls of sand into two rows. Monks practising indoors must enter the lavatory, or tosu from the left-hand side of the corridor, with a towel folded in two on the left shoulder, and purify the lavatory by snapping together three times the thumb and index finger of the right hand. When finished hold the water bucker in the right hand, cup water in the left, and wash the genitals and buttocks three times.
- Zero-gravity Toilet
-
Early in the second part of Stanley Kubrick's wonderful 1968 film
2001, A Space Odyssey, the hero Heywood Floyd takes a
shuttle trip to the Moon. He goes to the lavatory, sits down, and
then his eyes narrow and his brow wrinkles as he looks across at
the back of the door. There hangs a notice---several hundred words
of detailed instructions---under the heading ZERO GRAVITY TOILET.
A copy now hangs in the bathroom of Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the
screenplay.
(See them on the Web.)
^UP^ to Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper index.
Text extracts from "Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper" copyright (c) Adam Hart-Davis 1997. Web extracts first published 2007-07-18, updated ✎2018-02-25
Images available from the DHD Multimedia Gallery.
Site content copyright (c) Damon Hart-Davis 1997--2018 unless otherwise stated.
Hosted by ExNet.
Text extracts from "Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper" copyright (c) Adam Hart-Davis 1997. Web extracts first published 2007-07-18, updated ✎2018-02-25
Images available from the DHD Multimedia Gallery.
Site content copyright (c) Damon Hart-Davis 1997--2018 unless otherwise stated.
Hosted by ExNet.