Full Thangka

Reality

2009-09-20T17:23:00.004+09:00

.Reality is not a thought. Reality is not what you think. Reality is not what you can think. Reality is what is immediately experienced.Reality is what it is. Truth is what it is. The real question is, what are you?Finding Freedom Beyond BeliefsSteve Hagen

Blowin' in the Wind

2009-09-17T11:47:00.007+09:00

My parents had a number of Peter, Paul and Mary records from which I learned to sing If I Had a Hammer, Lemon Tree, Where Have All the Flowers Gone? and several more. Outside of kindergarten ditties, I think these were some of the first songs I committed to memory.The trio got together in 1961, the year I was born. Mary Travers, the female of the group, is the same age as my mother. My

White Gompa 1978

2009-08-31T00:39:00.002+09:00

I ran across this photo while searching for something else and was impressed by the quality of the photo itself, as well as the complete absence of buildings surrounding the gompa. Those who have been there recently know the area is now entirely developed.The photo and accompanying story of the gompa's founding is here.#

L'ecole d'art tsering

2009-08-19T00:39:00.004+09:00

Early this year when I was painting in Kathmandu a French film maker came to art school for a few days to shoot for a documentary. This evening I received a note from Yoji in Belgium that he saw me on TV and that the film is available for viewing online for one week only here.I feel somewhat melancholy seeing my old classmates, the temple, the school, and the neighborhood. Those were beautiful

A last look at Japan

2009-08-14T21:39:00.002+09:00

.Somewhere between Fukuoka and Osaka. #

And this bird you cannot change

2009-08-12T16:27:00.007+09:00

Soon after publishing my wistful rainy morning post, a breeze from long ago blew through my in-box. It was the organizer of this year's 30th high school graduation reunion with an update on this month's event.Anyone who went to an urban US high school in the late 70's remembers three groups of students: geeks, jocks, and stoners. I was never in the second group and might have ended up in the

And then a rainbow

2009-08-12T07:59:00.008+09:00

.This morning I took my coffee on the veranda and watched the dark clouds roll over. The cicadas were chirping. A crane flew past, angling toward the river. A man came out to the park with his Shiba for the morning fag and constitutional.I was feeling a bit melancholy. Twelve years of my life in this city, in this apartment, and looking out at this view. One quarter of my life. And after

Review: Kyoto (Japan) Vipassana Center

2009-08-09T14:26:00.007+09:00

.The Kyoto Vipassana Center was a veritable hotel.There was soap in the bathroom, detergent for washing clothes (by hand in a bucket), a spinner to save you the effort of hand wringing wet clothes, screens on all the windows, hot water on demand, clean futons, immaculate wood floors, a wide assortment of condiments (such as pickles, teas and sweeteners), insect repellent, salve for bug bites, a

Saying Goodbye

2009-08-08T09:11:00.007+09:00

.This week I've been saying farewell to the people I meet on my daily rounds through the neighborhood, as well as a few friends and colleagues.The Fukuoka Giant Revive Club:cycling around Ohori Koen with cousin RandyThe postman (sorry to say, all these years later I don't know his name)Mr Shimizu, the neighborhood green grocerHiroyuki at Taguchi Shoten RecordsThe ladies of Fukuoka Foreign

10 hours to Dubai

2009-08-05T11:54:00.003+09:00

.My flight details came in yesterday. I was initially scheduled to fly Asiana to Seoul and then Emirates to Dubai, but I put in a friendly request and will now be flying ANA to Kansai (Osaka) and then on to Dubai by Emirates. This works out better as I can take advantage of Emirates' higher baggage allowance (which would have been impossible flying Asiana).If all goes according to plan, I'll be

Stolen Tibetan Treasures

2009-08-04T10:12:00.006+09:00

.Back in April we attended an exhibit of Tibetan cultural relics organized by the Chinese government. It appears someone in Japan has at last decided to organize and do something to educate the media and the public. Good for them.Check out the website in English and in Japanese.#

Shiori (one and a half)

2009-08-04T09:24:00.006+09:00

I arrived in Fukuoka last night after a 10-day meditation retreat in Kyoto and a couple of days visiting with the in-laws. I will write more later about the Kyoto experience, but for now wanted to let you have a look at my niece.We still had some trouble communicating, as we have had since the last time we met. Besides her mother and grandmother, Shiori is wary of contact with anyone else,

Tsering's Tara

2009-07-18T15:59:00.006+09:00

If you were with me back at the beginning of the year when I was working on my first thangka, you might remember pictures like this.On the left is my painting. On the right is my classmate Tsering, my friend and confidant who, as you can see, was working on a painting of Tara.Just yesterday she sent me some photos of the completed work, which I thought I'd share with you here. This is, as far

Ras al Khaimah at flickr

2009-07-15T17:11:00.006+09:00

Ras al Khaimah, UAE, originally uploaded by jeffinmoscow.Click this link for a slideshow of photos from our new home. (Clicking on the photo will take you to the page for this photo only and not the slideshow.)#

Nagasaki: Daionji & Tomonaga-sensei

2009-07-14T16:10:00.005+09:00

Yesterday Mutsumi had a couple hours of work in Nagasaki and as I haven't been in a while and as I'm unemployed and mostly ready to move to the UAE, we decided to make the trip together and rode out together on the 07:00 bus. While Mustumi was working I wandered around through Daionji, a 17th century temple which sits at the bottom of a mountain that we would later that day climb by taxi.I didn't

Moving to Ras Al Khaimah

2009-07-12T16:23:00.009+09:00

The email for which I have been waiting has arrived and I can now announce that I will next month be moving to Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Mutsumi will be joining me next year after completing her contract with her present employer.I will be teaching at the women's Higher College of Technologies, about which you can learn a little more on

Limits of intellection

2009-07-11T10:43:00.015+09:00

I don't know who Moeka Hiraoko is. Perhaps she's a student of Parissa Haghirian, an Austrian professor of management at Tokyo's Sophia University on whose website Moeka's essay is posted. Google didn't return much on Moeka except a Facebook entry, and as her essay is copyright 2009, and is about her experience studying in the United States, I guess she may even still be a student.Who she is,

Rainy season

2009-07-10T10:06:00.002+09:00

The view from our balcony 07:00 this morning. Which could have been any morning this week. Wet, gray, and windy. #

The illusion of wealth and happiness

2009-06-30T21:10:00.005+09:00

While going through a box of books I found a 1999 copy of the Kyoto Journal, a rather special issue with articles on Donald Ritchie, homelessness in Kobe, and Princess Mononoke. But what caught my attention was a long essay titled "Buddhism and Poverty," whose author argues that the developed world's poverty reduction efforts, carried out through such organizations as the World Bank, the UN,

Finding Happiness

2009-06-28T07:48:00.010+09:00

.It seems rather intuitive.Follow the heart to happiness.Follow the herd to dissatisfaction.This is what researchers at the University of Rochester claim to have found in a small study examining intrinsic and external forms of motivation in 147 recent university graduates. Students that focused on achieving personal goals self-reported as happier than those who focused on socially defined goals

Shakin': Oita Earthquake

2009-06-26T08:54:00.005+09:00

Here you see the chart from Yahoo Japan's Earthquake page, a regular feature of the weather section, with details of last night's quake in neighboring Oita Prefecture. While a pretty good shake at 4.6/7, there was no damage here, nothing falling from shelves, just a tremor to wake us from sleep.#

Patacara

2009-06-15T21:23:00.003+09:00

[I thought:]"Plowing the field with plows,sowing the ground with seed,supporting their wives & children,young men gather up wealth.So why is it that I,consummate in virtue,a doer of the teacher's bidding,don't gain Unbinding?I'm not lazy or proud."Washing my feet,I noticed the water.And in watching it flowfrom high to low,my heart was composedlike a fine thoroughbred steed.Then taking a lamp, I

Thanks for the music

2009-06-08T17:02:00.005+09:00

We closed CDJam today, almost four years since we started in the late summer of 2005. Sales were always a steady dribble, enough to pay the cyber rent. A few artists recovered their start-up fees and made a small amount of money. For ourselves, I think we about covered our costs.It was fun while it lasted. It gave us a chance to meet many wonderful people, Japanese customers and overseas

The Elephant Man

2009-06-03T16:28:00.004+09:00

I used to teach The Elephant Man to some of my university reading/writing classes. We read the graded novel (pictured), watched excerpts from the film and the students wrote a number of pieces from the point of view of the characters (Joseph Merrick to his mother, for example) or on parts of the story that invite reflection (was Dr Treves motivation for helping Merrick primarily selfish, was

My days at home

2009-06-01T20:21:00.006+09:00

Looks rather tasty, doesn't it?This is what I do most days, make lunch. We're eating two meals a day, breakfast at around 06:30 and lunch at around 14:00. In between and after we snack. If Mutsumi is working, she'll have a bento at noon and whatever I had for lunch at around 18:30. Makes for a light stomach at bedtime, a sounder sleep, and an appetite in the morning.I've also learned a bit

Movie Review: Into Great Silence; Philip Gröning, dir; 2005

2009-05-18T08:51:00.005+09:00

.Halfway through the film I said to Mutsumi about a scene that struck me as particularly well-composed, this looks like a painting. Most of the film, she said, looks like a painting. And she's right. It does. Into Great Silence is perhaps one of the most beautiful movies of recent years, a cinematic poem of tranquility and serenity that may leave you wishing you didn't have to return to your

Movie Review: Act Normal; Olaf de Fleur, dir; 2006

2009-05-16T09:09:00.004+09:00

.Act Normal addresses questions faced by many young men who join a monastery at a young age: What is the “real” world like? What am I missing by not being in a relationship, by not having a family? How can I renounce what I haven't yet experienced? Shot over a decade in Iceland and Thailand, the film follows a young Englishman who after 16 years as a Buddhist monk puts aside his robes for a

Westward from Kobe

2009-05-15T11:00:00.007+09:00

.In Tarumi with the KawamurasThis past week we had guests from Thailand. Krit and Knot, the couple whose wedding we attended back in March, flew to Tokyo to meet up with their friend, Dr Earth (whose real name is much longer and more difficult to read), who had already been in Japan a month studying surgical procedures at the National Cancer Center. After a few days in Tokyo and Kyoto, they met

Images

2009-05-07T16:44:00.001+09:00

In a mirror, in water, in an eye, in a vessel, and on a gem, images are seen; but in them there are no realities anywhere to take hold of.LankavataraDT Suzuki, trans

Clearing out and starting over

2009-05-07T16:18:00.007+09:00

.I talked to my mother this week. She asked me what I've been doing. And I didn't know quite what to say. It seemed I haven't been doing much.But that's not really true, of course. It's just that there is nothing too terribly unusual or interesting to write about. Mostly I've been working on sorting through stuff that we have collected over the years in Fukuoka, 12 years of books, cds,

Movie Review: The Beginner's Guide to L. Ron Hubbard; Simon Egan, dir; 2006

2009-05-07T15:56:00.007+09:00

.L. Ron Hubbard was a pulp fiction writer of the 1940's, a man with an apparently charming personality and a knack for self-promotion. To those who knew him well, he was also paranoid, spiteful and cruel. He is regarded by his followers as a 20th century guru, to the rest of the world as perhaps the century's most successful fraud, the founder of the Church of Scientology, the pseudo-religion

Movie Review: Zen Buddhism: In Search Of Self; Gong Jae Sung, dir; 2007

2009-04-27T15:55:00.005+09:00

.This is one of the better films about Zen and for a very simple reason. It doesn't preach and therefore doesn't get bogged down in philosophy and metaphysics. It teaches only by pointing the camera at its subject, the 90-day winter retreat of the nuns of Korea's Baek Hung temple. If you ever wanted to know what a mediation retreat is like, this film will give you a nice taste.What you see is

Movie Review: Stephen en Martine Batchelor; Gude & Verhoeven, dir; 2008

2009-04-23T13:55:00.008+09:00

.Over on my henro blog this week I linked to a new Dutch film about the Shikoku pilgrimage produced by Holland's Boeddhistische Omroep Stichtung, otherwise known as the BOS, the Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation, which according to its website is "the first independent Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation in the west to produce and broadcast buddhist programs within a country’s Public Broadcasting

Movie Review: The Century of the Self; Adam Curtis, dir; 2002

2009-04-22T12:21:00.004+09:00

.Retracing the history of the 20th century through the lens of psychology, British documentarian Adam Curtis leads the viewer in The Century of the Self on a journey into the methods developed to manipulate public opinion. Make no mistake. Curtis is not spinning a conspiracy theory. There are no aliens, no Jewish cabal, no Templars. Only doctors, scientists, businessmen and politicians who

Book Review: Pain and It's Ending: The Four Noble Truths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon; Carol S. Anderson, 1999

2009-04-18T12:00:00.006+09:00

In this exhaustive survey of canonical iterations of and scholastic research on Buddhism's central philosophical tenet, American scholar Carol S. Anderson concludes that the value of the Four Noble Truths lies not in being the subject of the Buddha's first teaching (which it most probably wasn't), nor in being a catalyst to stream entry or nibbana (which seems in the first case to have happened

Are Buddhists violent?

2009-04-17T17:01:00.002+09:00

Lawrence Osborne, author of The Naked Tourist and a new book about Bangkok to be published next month, writes in Forbes about the incongruity of Western perceptions of Buddhism and the reality of modern Thailand:Buddhist violence--or violence committed by Buddhists, more properly speaking--is a strained concept for us, to put it mildly. I can easily imagine being assaulted by an infuriated

Movie Review: The Trials of Ted Haggard, 2009; Alexandra Pelosi, dir

2009-04-16T09:39:00.002+09:00

Having watched Alexandra Pelosi's other two films over the past week, we finished Wednesday night with her profile of exiled evangelical leader Ted Haggard, a name by now synonymous with deceit and hypocrisy, a textbook definition of someone hoist on his own petar. Mutsumi and I were, I suppose, looking forward to a few laughs at Mr Haggard's expense. When the film ended 50-minutes later,

Of Tibet and Maple

2009-04-15T18:13:00.008+09:00

This afternoon we made the short trip to Dazaifu to take in the exhibit of Tibetan Treasures now at the Kyushu National Museum. Perhaps because I've just returned from a world where these kind of artifacts are part of daily life it wasn't as impressive as it might be to those encountering them for the first time or after some period of absence. But as many of the items in the exhibit are show

The Butsuzo Girl

2009-04-14T18:23:00.006+09:00

As we share an interest in Buddhist art, I've sent an email to Ikumi Hirose. I first learned about the 29-year old graduate of Tokyo's Sophia University last week in the English edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun. As a young woman working in a field commonly tended by balding, bespectacled scholars, she's something of a curiosity, and by coining a name for herself she helped the media sell her to

The war proved one thing

2009-04-14T07:35:00.003+09:00

In his 1932 essay, "In Praise of Idleness," Bertrand Russell argues that the Great War, WWI, provided valuable evidence about meeting the material needs of society.Modern technique has made it possible to diminish enormously the amount of labor required to secure the necessaries of life for everyone. This was made obvious during the war. At that time all the men in the armed forces, and all the

The Gospel of Consumption

2009-04-12T09:40:00.003+09:00

A few weeks ago I was writing about some of the changes that had taken place in my life over the last few years, including learning to live with less, to step off the merry-go-round of consumerism. The management and workers at Kellogg, the American cereal maker known most commonly for Corn Flakes, decided to do the same themselves many years ago, adopting less pay for shorter working hours. It

The Buddha's Birthday at Full Henro

2009-04-09T17:39:00.006+09:00

.08 April 2008 I set out from Koya-san to walk around the island of Shikoku. That day also happened to be Ohana Matsuri, the Buddha's birthday.Yesterday, on the one year anniversary of that event, I did a one-day bicycle pilgrimage to the town of Sasaguri. I've written about it at Full Henro, which I've spruced up just a bit with a new header.Lots of pictures to see. Go there by clicking here.#

When Less is More

2009-04-06T15:08:00.017+09:00

While checking the news yesterday morning I came across a USA Today article marveling over Japan's underpaid CEOs, in particular Japan Airline President Haruka Nishimatsu, who after taking over the company following a series of accidents and scandals, cut his own salary to US$98,000, rode the bus to work, and ate in the company cafeteria.The $98k figure probably represents Nishimatsu's base pay,

Movie Review: Earthlings (2005); Shaun Monson, dir

2009-04-04T16:16:00.005+09:00

Earthlings shows things no sane human wants to watch, things that make you wince, that make your heart shrivel, that leave you feeling drained and stupefied at the horrors perpetrated on a daily basis for nothing more than satisfying the interests and tastes of individual homo sapiens. Many may describe this as a film about animal rights, but the subject is not so much animals as it is humans,

Waking up to paradox

2009-04-02T09:47:00.003+09:00

On 09 March 09 I wrote in a post called Fukuoka ghost:It feels strange to be back here in Fukuoka. It's like visiting my old self, the self that used to have a life here but which seems to have vanished somewhere along the way in Nepal and India. I don't want to find that person. I'm happy to let him go.A couple of readers picked up on this and asked to know more. I was curious myself. Over a

Good morning

2009-04-01T09:53:00.000+09:00

Coffee grounds in the tea,knife cut on my thumb,melon on the floor.Even after she said “no, thank you,”granola in her bowl.Practicing mindfulness in the kitchen.#

Echoes of Kuwait

2009-03-31T10:14:00.007+09:00

Since returning to Fukuoka I've been cleaning house, going through 12 years worth of accumulated stuff and finding that we should have gotten rid of most of it as soon as we had finished with it, or had declined it when offered.I suppose Mutsumi and I are not the only ones to do this, to hold on to things thinking that perhaps we will again someday have a need for them. My experience is that

Memorial Service 50th anniversary of Occupation of Tibet, Fukuoka, 29 March 09

2009-03-30T11:06:00.007+09:00

Free Tibet Fukuoka this past weekend organized events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Chinese occupation of Tibet, including a memorial service for Tibetans who in the past year lost their lives in protest of China's campaign of cultural genocide.The service was held at Nanfukuji, a small Shingon temple up a narrow road in a residential area of the city quite close to where we live but

Treasures of Miidera Temple, Fukuoka City Museum, 01 April - 10 May 2009

2009-03-28T15:17:00.007+09:00

01 April - 10 MayA collection of national Buddhist art treasures is arriving in Fukuoka for 40 days beginning April 1. The items are from the Tendai temple of Miidera, one of Japan's four largest temples and also one of its oldest.Lake Biwa from Miidera, ca 1890's(from NY Public Library Digital Gallery)The exhibition features nearly 300 pieces, including a large number of statuary as well as

Praying for tomorrow

2009-03-27T18:08:00.002+09:00

We pray for our life of tomorrow,Ephemeral life though it be;This is the habit of our mindThat passed away yesterday.IkkyuZen and Zen Classics

Sakura

2009-03-27T17:27:00.004+09:00

Yesterday we took a walk through Maizuru Koen and found the cherry trees in full bloom. I went back this afternoon with my camera.#

Among the apes

2009-03-24T09:35:00.003+09:00

To dwell on the improbability of spending seventy-odd years on this planet as one of six billion worrying apes upsets the consoling belief that deep down inside I am a permanent and independent soul.Stephen BatchelorLiving with the Devil

Deliberately telling lies

2009-03-24T08:57:00.004+09:00

The Chinese government last week sent a delegation of Tibetan legislators to the United States to counter what it calls a lack of accurate information about life in occupied Tibet. Regarding accusations of torture and imprisonment for expressing political or religious views, a fellow by the name of Tenzin Chodrak said of his fellow Tibetans, "I think that some of them are deliberately telling

Kobe: 20-22 March 09

2009-03-24T08:19:00.000+09:00

Friday, as you must be aware by now, was the first day of Spring, known here in Japan as Higan and celebrated by all as a national holiday. We took the occasion of a long weekend to pay a visit to Kobe and celebrate Mutsumi's father's birthday. He may be 83, but he's still clear and sprightly.The weather over Japan for most of the weekend was not very holiday-like, cloudy, windy and wet.

What is the net doing to our minds?

2009-03-19T16:46:00.003+09:00

Writer Nicholas Carr poses the question in a recent piece in Atlantic:Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today. Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us. The Net’s intellectual ethic remains obscure.His conclusion

Fukuoka Free Tibet events March 2009

2009-03-18T12:49:00.008+09:00

For a guilt-free Tibet experience in Fukuoka, you might like to join the two events being sponsored by Fukuoka Free Tibet over the 28-29 March weekend.Undercover in Tibet &Discussion with Tibetans living in Japan28 March Fukuoka-shi, Chuo-ku, Arato, FukuFuku PlazaFilm begins 17:30, admission 500yenThis British television documentary first aired in spring 2008 and follows a young Tibetan, now

Tibetan Treasures at Kyushu Museum 11 April - 14 June 2009

2009-03-18T11:37:00.006+09:00

The Chinese government just a couple of weeks ago attempted to obstruct the auction in Paris of what it calls looted national art treasures, while here in Fukuoka we have the Japanese government, through it's national museum in Dazaifu, cooperating with the Chinese government in a month-long exhibit of Tibetan cultural relics. I don't think anyone asked the Dalai Lama if they could borrow a few

Sign of the Dhamma

2009-03-16T16:57:00.004+09:00

Captured this afternoon on the Chikagai, one of the city's shopping districts. In the 10 minutes I shot this monk, I saw no one put anything in his bowl. When I dropped in 500yen, I saw he had only 100yen. A couple of hours later when I rode by on my bicycle, I saw a middle aged woman drop a coin in his bowl as she passed.#

Of surveys and prophets

2009-03-15T10:38:00.007+09:00

It's been a quiet first week back in Fukuoka. Except for a trip to the supermarket and an equally short job interview conducted in the neighborhood McDonald's, I've spent my time at home. I haven't had a need or an urge to go into the city and I've had plenty on my computer to keep me busy, including editing two papers and setting up a couple of new websites (about which I can tell you more

Wat Suthat

2009-03-15T09:53:00.000+09:00

We' ve lost count of the times we've been to Thailand, but it seems we have yet to run out of Wats to visit. Located not far from the central train station and a 5-minute walk from our hotel, Wat Suthat is a good-sized temple that appears to more than just a museum. A large number of worshippers were in attendance during our early morning visit.We didn't see such notices at any other

Just be still

2009-03-10T17:47:00.002+09:00

If the heart is stilled, where then do you seize the passions? Do not tire yourself by making up discriminations, and quite naturally, of itself, you will find the Way.Línjì Yìxuán

Wat Po paintings

2009-03-10T17:29:00.005+09:00

Everyone who's been to Bangkok has been to Wat Po. It's known for 2 things: the giant statue of the reclining Buddha, and its massage school.It's also got some great chedi (or stupas).As well as outstanding mural painting, only about a third of which is visible to a person walking on the floor. For the rest you'd need a ladder or a scaffold.a motif running around the room at the bottom of the

Fukuoka ghost

2009-03-09T17:03:00.002+09:00

Returning to Japan wasn't the experience I expected. China Airlines pulled a stunt I last saw at the Indian border. At that time two young guys tried to strong-arm the foreigners into paying additional baggage fees. This time it was a cute young lady at the check-in counter trying the same thing with a smile instead of muscle. That encounter fairly ruined my morning; for my anger I have no

Riding easy in Bangkok

2009-03-06T10:59:00.006+09:00

There are 227 rules of conduct for Theravada Buddhist monks, some them very minor, such as not having your robe washed by a nun unrelated to you, or accepting a rug made of black wool. (The Buddha on his death asked the minor rules to be relaxed; unfortunately, no one could figure out which rules were minor and which major, so nothing was changed).Basically, ordaining as a monk means giving up

The root is branch

2009-03-05T10:12:00.003+09:00

Yesterday while waiting for Mutsumi to do a bit of shopping, I wandered over to the magazine rack, where I found the 30 year anniversary issue of Shambala Sun, in which I found this lovely piece from Ajahn Chah consoling someone approaching death.The things you can find in supermarkets. ;-)As soon as we are born we are dead. Our birth and our death are just one thing. It's like a tree: when

Appreciating what you don't have

2009-03-04T11:03:00.002+09:00

On the way from a lecture about meditation, on the way to a yoga class, we passed through Central Department store. On this Sunday afternoon the displays of clothing, cosmetics and designer food were teeming with chattering people searching, inspecting, weighing, evaluating, hungry to fulfill cravings for beautiful things, to hold, to own, to possess, to smell, to taste, to be attractive,

Bangkok wedding

2009-03-02T13:50:00.009+09:00

The ceremonies began the day before with a visit to the Bank of Thailand. It's not that Thais or our Thai friends are especially money-minded, though both families do carry on a bit of the Chinese-merchant tradition, especially when it comes to finding a bargain, such as a rent-free hall. The bride's mother is a long-time employee of the bank and as such has access to what serves on weekdays as

Adjust again after initial failure

2009-02-28T15:27:00.004+09:00

I have forgotten how the world works. The rest of the world outside Nepal and India.For some reason when I checked in at the Kathmandu airport the Biman agent gave me a boarding pass for only the Kathmandu-Dhaka flight. By the time I realized I didn't have a pass for the Dhaka-Bangkok flight I was already through immigration, so I let the issue go until I arrived in Bangladesh. The layover

Passing

2009-02-24T17:50:00.005+09:00

Coming to the end of days in Kathmandu, packing, throwing away, saying goodbye, I found experience reflected in this selection of a 3rd century sutra.All things conditioned are unstable, impermanent,Fragile in essence, as an unbaked pot,Like something borrowed, or a city founded on sand,They last a short while only.They are inevitably destroyed,Like plaster washed off in the rains,Like the sandy

Farewell to old friends . . .

2009-02-24T17:47:00.002+09:00

. . . and old shoes. The guy downtown on Sunday insisted he could fix these for me. I know better than to argue with the touts but I was perhaps in a good mood. “I don't need them fixed because day after tomorrow I'm going to throw them away.” But I can fix them for you. “No you can't. Besides a torn heel there are wholes in the sole” I can fix that.I realized then he wasn't interested in

Learning more than painting

2009-02-24T17:29:00.003+09:00

While I was cutting my painting out of the canvas, the teacher said to me that I had made a good first thangka, that it was particularly clean.By this I don't think he meant to compliment me on the uncluttered nature of the composition or the sharpness of my lines. I think he used the word “clean” as we most commonly use it, as an antonym of “dirty.”It might seem a strange thing to say. But I

Meeting of the artists

2009-02-23T12:24:00.004+09:00

When I arrived back at my guest house after the wedding last Friday, I found a few friends in the dining room. I went in to show them my kurta, over which they oohed and ahhed, before they introduced me to a man in the dining room I hadn't yet met, someone who had that day just arrived from India. “This is Jeff,” they said to him. To me, “He's interested in thangka.”Bart is a primary school

First Thangka: Day 46 - finished

2009-02-22T12:45:00.008+09:00

When interacting with others, much of our visual attention is directed towards the face. So, too, when we look at thangka. We tend to pick out the face, not so much because it can tell us about the deity, but from the habit of directing attention there and because the face is usually the center piece of the composition. It's one spot in the painting that requires symmetrical precision and a

Rinpoche came to visit

2009-02-19T17:50:00.007+09:00

Life at art school was thrown into a manageable tizzy this week when the Rinpoche decided to pay a visit. The management was given a couple of days notice and so everything was mostly ready when he arrived this morning at around 09:00.Rabjam Rinpoche is the abbot of the monastery where I study, the guy in charge, and the spiritual heir and grandson of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, one of Tibet's

Audio Postcard: Morning wedding procession, Kathmandu - 13 February 09

2009-02-18T20:33:00.001+09:00

The groom's family got off the bus a few hundred meters from the wedding hall and followed the marching band in noisy procession. I had my microphone clipped on the shoulder strap of my camera bag and as you may notice the sound of the horns is at first distant, then much closer, as I moved from the back of the line towards the front.For a description and photos of the wedding, see the post

Kathmandu Wedding

2009-02-17T21:51:00.013+09:00

Since discovering Bollywood movies a decade ago, one enduring interest has been to attend one of those elaborate weddings so often depicted therein. They usually take place in palatial mansions with expansive grounds dotted with single-family-home-size tents erected to shade the hundreds, even thousands, of guests attired in finely embroidered silk saris and kurta. The wedding is an all day

First Thangka: Day 37

2009-02-12T21:46:00.002+09:00

Today was a holiday at the monastery and so a holiday as well at the art school. The only ones to show up to paint beside myself were the sixth year students, who are working on their final exam, a complete thangka that must be finished within 45 days. Like me, they're on a deadline and so don't take much time off.Since it was a holiday, all the normal rules were not enforced, including the

Movie Review: Zen Noir; Marc Rosenbush, dir; 2006

2009-02-12T18:31:00.004+09:00

If you have no interest in Zen or Buddhism, its unlikely you'll find anything exceptional in Zen Noir, except perhaps for Debra Miller's boobs. While these were remarkably firm, the film is unbearably flat.Dressing his project out in 1940's hard-boiled detective genre, first-time American director Marc Rosenbush attempts with minimal set and plot to play both high camp and high philosophy.

Book Review: How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings; Richard Gombrich, 1997

2009-02-10T21:43:00.003+09:00

This book is not an easy read. The four essays cover obscure scholarly topics, the arguments based on Pali and the Brahmanical cultural milieu of the Buddha's age.Nonetheless, I found it quite compelling and refreshing.Compelling because of the author's careful detective work; refreshing for it's approach to the Buddha and early Buddhism. This is no work of religious devotion, but a sober

First Thangka: Day 32

2009-02-08T21:54:00.002+09:00

I finished 95% of the lining on Friday. Still a few little bits to do, most noticeably the face, but for the moment I'm working on shading, another long and tedious chore, not so physically demanding as lining, but like doing the sky requiring repeated applications of light color and the patience to wait for the color to emerge, rather than splashing it on.After our half-day Saturday class, I

On suffering and chicken turds

2009-02-04T23:13:00.001+09:00

Really, someone who suffers when living alone is foolish. Someone who suffers when living with others is foolish. It's like chicken turds: if you carry them around by yourself, they stink. If you keep them when you're among others, they stink. You carry the rotten things with you.Ajahn Chah

First Thangka: Day 29

2009-02-04T22:34:00.004+09:00

As I noted in my previous post, I've started the process of lining and so that you can see what I'm doing I've created a composite. The top version is from Sunday, after I had completed the coloring. The bottom is from this afternoon, after 2 days with a fine brush trying (though often unsuccessfully) to draw very precise lines.Five hours of this is hard on the shoulders and the eyes. One of

Movie Review: The Blue Buddha: Lost Secret of Tibetan Medicine; Aerlyn Weissman and Tetsuya Itano, dir; 2006

2009-02-02T22:57:00.004+09:00

The practice of Tibetan medicine has never been lost, nor secret, and the Blue Buddha is simply a gimmick to catch the attention of bored television viewers. But don't be misled by the title. Otherwise you'll miss a fine feature on Tibetan culture, a joint production of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Japan Broadcasting Corporation, aired in 2006 on the CBC series, The Nature of

First Thangka: Day 27

2009-02-02T22:42:00.002+09:00

I finished coloring this afternoon and this is how the thangka looked before I started lining. I did only a little bit of that before the day ended, but it has already been a discouraging experience. The lines never look quite like they should and I end up feeling disheartened, that after all this time I still can't get this bit right.#

Letting go

2009-01-31T21:34:00.003+09:00

Let things be in their own wayand there will be neither coming nor goingObey the nature of thingsand you will walk freely and undisturbedWhen thought is in bondage the truth is hiddenfor everything is murky and unclearAnd the burdensome practice of judgingbrings annoyance and weariness Verses on the Faith MindSeng Tsan#

First Thangka: Day 25

2009-01-31T21:10:00.002+09:00

You know how your body feels when you've had a bit too much to drink, a feeling of warm, embracing numbness? I was feeling that way last night as I lay in bed waiting for sleep. But then something quite unusual occurred, flashes of more intense bodily sensations, the kind I normally get while meditating. It seems that meditative state, as a result of regular practice, is beginning to leak out,

I haven't yet tried either

2009-01-31T21:01:00.001+09:00

I noticed this restaurant for the first time last week while waiting to use the ATM. Not only does it have something of an unusual name, but if you look closely you'll notice that it's located directly beneath a college of Chinese medicine.I wouldn't be surprised if they have the same owner.#

Thangka Painters in Nepal

2009-01-30T21:09:00.005+09:00

Thangapainting.com is an online retailer of thangka paintings. Nevertheless, the site features an interesting essay on the life of an average Nepali thangka painter, a fairly grim portrait of a life of subsistence.For myself, I know few such painters. You may recall the bit of temple painting I did in the hills outside Kathmandu. This was a Tamang community, among which were a number of

First Thangka: Day 23

2009-01-29T22:04:00.005+09:00

After spending a week holed up in my room finishing the landscape, I went back to school this morning to check in with the teacher and to start the next step in the process, the addition of color. Not that color hasn't already been added, but the application technique is a bit different. Whereas the sky and ground are built up out of layers of light wash, what I'm putting on now is fairly solid

Understanding

2009-01-26T10:16:00.005+09:00

Sarnath, December 09... in order to understand ourselves we need a great deal of humility. If you start by saying, `I know myself', you have already stopped learning about yourself; or if you say, 'There is nothing much to learn about myself because I am just a bundle of memories, ideas, experiences and traditions', then you have also stopped learning about yourself. The moment you have achieved

Sweeping

2009-01-25T12:41:00.004+09:00

Last Sunday morning as I was walking around the Stupa, I found this boy sweeping. I don't know if he was being paid to do this, or if he was doing it simply for something to do.In either case, he was incredibly cute.#

First Thangka: Days 12 - 18

2009-01-25T12:35:00.001+09:00

Since my last post I've had seven days of mostly solid painting with only Friday afternoon off to visit the American Embassy (to have additional pages inserted, thanks to all the Nepali and Indian visas that take up one complete passport page each).The sky in the end took 7 days to finish, and it didn't feel so much like I had finished as I had simply run out of ways to improve. I showed it to

Audio Postcard: Dhammacakkappavattana – Mahabodhi Temple, Sarnath - 29 December 08

2009-01-23T10:19:00.003+09:00

After finishing the meditation retreat, I wasn't yet ready to face the noise and bustle of Varanasi and so stayed one night in the town of Sarnath. I had stayed here the previous year for a number of days, enjoying the slow, quiet pace of life while exploring the archaeological sites and the numerous temples.On the evening of the 29th I visited the Mahabodhi Temple for their evening puja, or

Pop

2009-01-23T10:16:00.002+09:00

Further to this week's episode involving the fly and the hair, this morning while meditating I heard a faint pop. Every 15 to 20 seconds – pop – the sound of a water bubble. On the nightstand next to the bed is a thermos, an old fashioned thermos with a cork stopper. I used a bit of the water shortly after waking and now the trapped air was leaking out. Pop – pop – pop. A tiny sound, but

Lecture Review: A Systematic Study of the Majjhima Nikāya; Bhikkhu Bodhi, 2003-2007

2009-01-22T10:51:00.007+09:00

In 2500 hundred years, quite a lot has been written about Buddhism. It's not always easy to find a convenient place to start studying, particularly should you wish to examine the most ancient texts, the teachings of the historical Buddha. Unlike the revealed religions of the Near East, Buddhism has no Torah, no Bible, no Koran. What there is instead is a very large collection of sermons,

Movie Review: Escape from Tibet; Nick Gray, dir; 1997

2009-01-18T11:45:00.010+09:00

In Escape from Tibet, a 50-minute documentary for English television, director Nick Gray follows a dozen young Tibetans as they walk across the Himalayas into exile. With no special clothing or camping gear, carrying nothing but a few meager provisions and their life savings, the refugees hike across some of the world's most rugged landscape at altitudes of up to 6000 meters in -33° temperatures

So easy to fool

2009-01-17T20:37:00.005+09:00

Each day after class all the students gather for prayers. Sometimes I chant along, but this morning I chose to sit with my eyes closed, listen to the voices around me, and focus on my breath.There was a tickle on one of the fingers of my right hand. A fly. I wiggled my finger and it flew away. A minute later it was back. Wiggled again. Flew away. The third time I was irritated, opened my

First Thangka: Days 6-11

2009-01-17T20:03:00.005+09:00

Last entry I had just started drawing the Buddha's body in outline form. As the mornings are cold and the classrooms not heated, I was sitting outside in the sun, which was great for staying warm, but not so great for getting work done. Everytime one of my classmates took a break from the classroom, they'd wander outside to see what I was doing and spend a few minutes chatting. Once or twice

Learning to say, "I don't know."

2009-01-17T10:51:00.003+09:00

I don't quote or post links to newspaper editorials, but this one was rather exceptional in observing "how little of our political behavior reflects conscious thought, judgment, or deliberation."Do opinion pieces ever change your opinion?Jonathan Zimmerman13 January 2009Christian Science Monitor#

Trouble connecting

2009-01-17T10:04:00.004+09:00

The lack of electricity in Nepal has resulted in a number of unusual repercussions. Among them a weakening of the mobile phone network. As reported in the Himalaya Times this week:Power Outage Causing Mobile Network FailureKathmandu, January 15If your mobile phone is behaving erratically, this time don't blame Nepal Telecom (NT) only. Prolonged power cuts have created additional hazards in the