The Trouble with Superstition

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Doug

Today, I wanted to share yet another good passage I found from the 13th century Japanese text, the Essays in Idleness by Kenkō. This deals with the notion of superstition, using the example of the Six Days, but this could apply to others such as Yakudoshi, horoscopes and such:

[91] The yin-yang teachings [e.g. Taoism] have nothing to say on the subject of the Red Tongue Days [shakkō 赤口, one of the Six Days]. Formerly people did not avoid these days but of late—I wonder who was responsible for starting this custom—people have taken to saying such things as “An enterprise begun on a Red Tongue Day will never see an end” or “Anything you say or do on a Red Tongue Day is bound to come to naught: you lose what you’ve won, your plans are undone.” What nonsense! If one counted the projects begun on carefully selected “lucky days” which came to nothing in the end, there would probably be quite as many as the fruitless enterprises begun on the Red Tongue Days…Good or ill fortune is determined by man, not by the day. (trans. Donald Keene)

Kenkō is a Buddhist monk, and well-versed in the notion of karma, but I think he also points to two important points:

  • Karma and “fortune” are determined by us. We are responsible for our own fate.
  • Superstitions seem real until you apply wisdom to them.

Elsewhere he relates a story about an Ox:

[206] Once when the Tokudai minister of the right was chief of the Imperial police, he was holding a meeting of his staff at the middle gate when an ox belonging to an official named Akikane got loose and wandered into the ministry building. It climbed up on the dais where the chief was seated and lay there, chewing its cud. Everyone was sure that this was some grave portent, and urged the ox be sent to a yin-yang diviner. However, the prime minister, the father of the minister of the right, said, “An ox has no discrimination. It has four legs—there is nowhere it won’t go. It does not make sense to deprive an underpaid official of the wretched ox he needs in order to attend court.” he returned the ox to its owner and changed the matting on which it had lain. No untoward events of any kind occurred afterwards.
They say if you see a prodigy [portent] and do not treat it as such, its character as a prodigy is destroyed.

Wisdom and good conduct are indeed the highest blessings one can have from the Buddhist perspective. Superstitions have no power apart from what you give them.

P.S. Was not intending a double-post today, but got the scheduling kind of confused. Enjoy anyway! :-)

Posted in Buddhism, Japan, Literature, Taoism | 1 Comment

Raising bilingual children, one year later

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Doug

This post comes at request for a reader who, like me, is raising a child who’s both Japanese and Western. About a year ago, I wrote a post on the subject of raising bilingual children, and recently I was looking back on how things have changed so it’s a good subject to review. Since that time, some things have changed, some have not.

Our daughter, “Baby” is now three and a half years old and no longer a baby (*sniff*). Her language skills in general are pretty sharp, but as was the case previously, she is more comfortable with Japanese because she’s with mom so much of the time, and my wife’s friends are all Japanese housewives too. We even decided to keep her in a nice Japanese preschool in the area. She is very comfortable in this environment and has little friends to play with and likes her teachers too.

The problem has always been in an English-speaking environment, she gets very shy and self-conscious. For example, around my mother, who’s gregarious and not one to shy from conversation, Baby would get shy at first. If they played together long enough, Baby would get more confident and try out English more, or she would just talk to my mother in Japanese which was cute but not helpful. She was less open to my other relatives though, and still shy around total strangers.

However, around three years old things began to change. I think Baby started to understand that there is more than one language in the world, and as a result, she could compartmentalize one language (Japanese) versus another (English). This means she figured out to speak Japanese to Japanese speakers, and English to English speakers. At first, she assumed all Asian-looking people spoke Japanese, but as we have Korean friends, this didn’t work, and she got better at switching between the two. She knows now that my mother understands English, and is more open now to use English with her, and as the relationship deepened, she is less shy around my mother as well. I remember her showing toys to “grammy” on her last visit to our house. :)

When teaching the alphabet (or Japanese Kana), this was hit or miss. She grasped Japanese Kana quickly because the one-sound, one-syllable, one-letter style of Kana makes it easy to learn and put words together, but English is harder because you have to put letters together in combination to create a single sound. It’s more ambiguous and less clear-cut. Again, due to the stronger Japanese influence, she picked up Japanese faster as well, and can now sound out words in Japanese kana pretty well, while she can only read a few English words (e.g. ‘red’, ‘princess’).

I was concerned about all this for a long time because we live in the US, where English is obviously predominant, until I talked with a co-worker from India. He and his wife hail from Bengal, and when he came to the US, his kids were raised to speak Bengali only for the first few years, and my co-worker told me that by 5, their kids picked up English very quickly and adjusted in school fine. Another co-worker from India told me how he and his brothers grew up in different schools as young children. My co-worker learned only one language at first, while his brothers learned a few different languages (English, Marathi, Hindi), and so the brothers ended up speaking a strange mixed up language only they could understand, while my co-worker learned subsequent languages just fine without getting the mixed up. The brothers had to go through some speech therapy to correct this, while my co-worker did not.

The lesson from both examples was that learning one language first as a young child seems like the smartest approach for the first few years, and then additional languages can be incorporated when the child is old enough to know how to compartmentalize languages in separate “buckets”, usually around toddler age if not older. In our case, we didn’t try to force English too much, and so far Baby has managed well, but now that she’s becoming more mature and sociable, her English is rapidly catching up to her Japanese. I teach her English of course, but I try not to force the issue too often.

Still, not knowing English can be frustrating for Baby who sometimes gets upset now when she doesn’t understand something in English, and doesn’t want to speak it. I believe that as time goes on, she should get more comfortable with English and be less self-conscious about it, but I have to be careful to not push her either, otherwise she might resist and resent English somehow. Her interest in Disney Princesses and such provides good motivation as she likes to sing along with the songs even though she doesn’t understand the words. Hearing her sing Aladdin’s “A Whole New World” is entertaining. :)

But as stated before, her interest in Japanese and Japanese music (e.g. boy bands like “Arashi”) is still there, and the best we can do until school starts is to let her explore both.

So, that’s where we’re at now, about a year after my last post. Raising children is never easy, especially when two-cultures and two-languages are involved, but I am happy to report that Baby is doing well overall, and is a happy, bright little girl, and I am happy with the way our little Family is turning out. I miss little “baby” girl, but I am happy to see her grown up into a little girl.

Posted in Family, Japanese, Language | 11 Comments

Passed the RHCE, onto the JLPT!

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Doug

I am happy to report that I managed to pass the RHCE exam for RHEL5 Linux this past Friday, after taking the test for a second time. Coworkers thought I was to take the test again just one month after the last failure, but with so many things gig on this year, I wanted to get it out of the way, but also because I wanted to keep the test fresh in mind. I went back carefully and reviewed he test, and compared it to the book I used figuring where I had gone wrong, and my score the second time was as follows:

RHCT score: 92.6/100
RHCE score: 100.0/100

My RHCT score remains unchanged (I know which question I got wrong, but still haven’t figured it out), but my RHCE web from 52.0 last time to 100/100. So how did I pass the test?

Due to confidentiality reasons, I can’t talk about the test structure itself. Instead I will refer you to the RHCE online prep guide, which is very up to date, and should be your primary source of reference. Note that in the RHEL5 version of the RHCE exam, the test is now condensed into 3.5 hours, so time is even more crucial now.

Unlike past certification tests I’ve taken (Comptia A+, Network+, LPIC 1 and 2), this test is very hands-on. You have to demonstrate a genuine hands-on ability to cover all basics of Redhat Linux systems administration and be flexible with the test environment you’re working on. Of course this is all necessary for on the job work, and that’s why the test still considered one of the best in the industry.

For me, here’s what I did to study, practice and prepare:

  • Most importantly, I setup a virtual RHEL environment on my home computer (Mac). Personally, I used Parallels software to create a server and get hands-on experience. In hindsight, a big part of the reason for failing the exam the first time was not spending enough time checking my work to make sure I did it correctly. You really should get through the test fast enough that you can double and triple-check your work.1 After failing the first test, I also setup a client virtual host and used it to practice testing various services on the virtual server. That helped a lot come test time.
  • Get a copy of RHEL5, now available from RedHat through the RHN Network. Just create a demo account, download a DVD version of the software and use it to install the virtual machines mentioned above. Originally I tried Fedora and others, but there were enough differences in behavior that I got confused, and just decided to get RHEL5 instead. You’ll save a lot of grief that way.
  • Even if you have lots of Linux admin experience, it’s a good idea to review the material anyways. I found a lot of my Linux experience was dated, and I was doing things the “old” way, when RedHat had newer stuff now (e.g. the up2date command has been entirely replaced by yum). As for exam material, I found this book was the most useful and gave myself enough time to go through the whole book (700+ pages) and practice. This book also comes close, but had some information missing in my experience. Both books do not take into account the new test format of the RHEL5 version of the exam, so some information is pretty inaccurate, especially in the latter one.
  • Anki helped me a lot for remember commands and the particular flags. I didn’t have to make too many flashcards, but it was nice to go through them enough they become rote. This is what Anki is for, of course. :)
  • I personally did not take the RHCE exam courses offered by RedHat, but this blog has lots of good things to say about the course, and the blogger did pass. If you’re willing to spend the extra money, and get the solid education plus the chance to pass the exam, it’s worth it. I wish I had done that more than doing self-study. There’s a lot of things books just can’t convey.

So now, one out of four objectives this year is complete (another I withdrew from). During this time, I never forgot about the JLPT at the end of the year, but my ability to study was somewhat limited in recent months, and now I am able to return full-circle and focus on passing the N3 exam. Just in time too, as registration begins August 2nd in the US, just days away!

I hope I am not too late to study, but I’ve not been idle in the meantime, and now I can go into “cram” mode for the next four months. :-D

For folks who have been following along with the blog and are taking the JLPT too, thanks for your patience, and now I can return to this subject once more.

If you’re taking the RHCE exam, don’t be discouraged if you fail the first time. I was surprised to see another test-taker from my first attempt there taking the test a second time, which gave me some relief. For me, going back and reviewing what I did wrong really taught me a lot, so there’s no shame in defeat if you learn from it. Good luck!

P.S. Unrelated, but this week marks “unagi” season in Japan, when the weather is really hot, and people try to cool off by eating unagi. I don’t care for eel myself, but if you’re in Japan, or anywhere hot, please try to stay cool. Me? I am regretting the big sunburn I got this weekend. :-p

1 During this last round of the RHCE exam, I am glad I triple-checked my work as I managed to find critical typos or neglected that would have actually made me fail questions. :-o

Posted in JLPT, Japanese, Linux, Technology | 2 Comments

Buddhism: Form matters, or does it?

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Doug

This is another quotation from the 13th-century Japanese text, Essays in Idleness, which I’ve quoted quite a bit in recent months during “Idleness Week“, but I felt this was a very worthwhile one to share:

[157] If we pick up a brush, we feel like writing; if we hold a musical instrument in our hands, we wish to play music. Lifting a wine cup makes us crave saké; taking up dice, we should like to play backgammon. The mind invariably reacts in this way to any stimulus. That is why we should not indulge even casually in improper amusements…Though our hearts may not be in the least impelled by faith, if we sit before the Buddha, rosary in hand, and take up a sutra [to recite], we may (even in our indolence) be accumulating merit through the act itself; though our mind may be inattentive, if we sit in meditation on a rope seat, we may enter a state of calm and concentration, without even being aware of it.

Phenomenon and essence are fundamentally one. If the outward form is not at variance with the truth, an inward realization is certain to develop. We should not deny that this is true of faith; we should respect and honor a conformity to truth. (translation by Prof. Donald Keene)

When I read this, I was reminded of many things. First, I was reminded of a contemporary book on Soto Zen, which talked about the importance of Zen posture and entrusting everything to it. For Pure Land Buddhists, we also entrust ourselves to the nembutsu, even when we really don’t feel like reciting it.

Sometimes it’s better to do a half-ass effort1 than no effort at all. :)

I don’t mean to be flippant of course, but my perennial issue is my waning dedication to a given Buddhist practice, and often this is due to a kind of self-doubt that often arises sooner later. I think that because I have doubt, or get bored, then I assume the practice not right for me, but Kenkō says you’re still better off doing it, as inner awakening cannot help but follower outer form. I guess I kind of assumed the opposite (inner form before outer). Another way of looking at it is that it’s easy to do a Buddhist practice when times are good, and enthusiasm high, but persisting when times are not ideal and faith is slacking is part of the growing process itself.

Food for thought for fellow Buddhists out there.

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. Ironically this post kind of contradicts this one, but only on the surface I think. ;)

1 On the subject of Japanese Yojijukugo, I am reminded of the oft-used chūto hanpa (中途半端), which basically means doing something half-assed in a more poetic way. ;)

Posted in Buddhism, Japan, Jodo Shu, Literature, Zen | 3 Comments

Who’s who in Buddhism, part six: the Sutra Audience

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Doug

Reading Buddhist sutras can be a difficult exercise for those not familiar with the style. Nearly all sutras begin with the famous phrase “This is what I heard” or “Thus have I heard” implying the oral tradition from the earliest days of the Buddhist community. But, frequently the Mahayana sutras in particular tend to have large descriptions of attendees, both human and non-human, such as this excerpt from the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings:1

Thus Have I Heard. Once the Buddha was staying at the city of royal palaces on mount Grdhrakuta with a great assemblage of great Bhikkhus, in all twelve thousand. There were eighty thousand Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas. There were gods, dragons, yakshas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, and mahoragas, besides all the bhikshus (monks), Bhiksunis (nuns), Upasakas (laymen), and Upasikas (laywomen). There were Great wheel rolling kings, small wheel rolling kings, and kings of the golden wheel, silver wheel, and other wheels; further kings and princes, ministers and people, men and women, and great rich persons, each encompassed by a hundred thousand myriad followers. They went up to the Buddha, made obeisance at his feet, burned incense, and scattered flowers. After they variously worshiped, they retired and sat to one side…

But who are all these groups? This post is a brief summary of who’s who in the sutra attendance, and in the Mahayana Buddhist pantheon.1 This was inspired in large part by the visit I made to the Treasure Hall at Kofukuji Temple in Nara, Japan, plus my experiences with the related iPhone app.

So let’s look at the various attendees mentioned above and delve into who they are. I’ve added Japanese terms were possible since the topic was related to Japanese Buddhism in particular:

  • Bhikkhus (biku 比丘) – Bhikkhus are the disciples of the Buddha who have taken monastic vows and are part of the Vinaya community that still exists today in many parts of the world.2 In Sanskrit-linguistic terms, men and women of the Vinaya community are divided into:
    • Bhikshus (biku 比丘) who are male
    • Bhiksunis (bikuni 比丘尼) who are female
  • Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas (bosatsu makasatsu 菩薩摩訶薩) – The Bodhisattvas are saintly beings in Mahayana Buddhism3 who are fully focused on the path toward Buddhahood, and have turned their practice outward to help and teach others along the way. The term Mahasattva is an honorific term for especially great, wise Bodhisattvas.
  • Devas (gods) – In Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, the gods comprised a large, complex family of divine beings. Indra is the king of the devas, and is a protector of the Buddha. One can also attain rebirth as a deva if one lives an exemplary life, but like other states of rebirth, it is limited in span, subject to frustration and stress on some level or another. Many devas were disciples of the Buddha, just as people were. Among other types of devas or legendary creatures are:
    • Dragons – These are serpents, and probably related to the Indian Nāga.
    • Yakshas – These are nature spirits and vaguely analogous to similar creatures in Greek myths (e.g. nymphs, nereids, satyrs, etc).
    • Gandharvas (kendatsuba 乾闥婆) – These are divine musicians and attendants to the gods. These are depicted here at Kofukuji Temple.
    • Asuras (ashura 阿須羅) – These are divine beings constantly at war with the gods, particularly Indra. Sometimes they are compared to the Titans in Greek mythology. The most famous Asura is the one artistically depicted at Kofukuji, who repented his violent ways, and became a protector of the Buddha.
    • Garudas (karura 伽樓羅) – These are mythical birds and servants of Indra. Like the mythical Roc, they are thought to be extremely large and eat dragons. At Kofukuji, the Garuda is depicted in more human-like form.
    • Kimnaras (kinnara 緊拏羅) – Another type of musician and attendant to the gods. At Kofukuji, they are depicted as half-man, half beast with a third eye.
    • Mahoragas (magoraga 摩睺羅伽) – This is a kind of snake spirit or demon shaped like a boa, that has also become a protector of the Dharma like other beings shown above. (big thanks to Rev. Stephen for finding this on Prof. Muller’s excellent Buddhism Online Dictionary).
  • Wheel-turning Kings – In Buddhist thought, the king or ruler was a pillar of society. Texts like the Golden Light Sutra and others show that when the king is virtuous and upholds the Dharma, society prospers. The term “wheel-turning” is frequently used in Buddhism for teaching the Dharma, or keeping it going. Like a real wheel, if you don’t turn the wheel, it will slow down and eventually stop, until someone turns it again. So, kings who were virtuous and supported the Buddhist community earnestly turned the wheel too, in a sense. The emergence of a Buddha in the world is a big event in “turning the wheel”. The very first sermon of the Buddha, is also called the Sutra of the Turning of the Wheel, where the Four Noble Truths, the Middle Way and the Eightfold Path are all laid out.
  • Upasakas (ubasoku 優婆塞) – These are laymen in Buddhism. The term, in a narrow sense, refers to one whose officially and publicly converted to Buddhism, taken the Five Precepts and so on.4
  • Upasikas (ubai 優婆夷) – These are laywomen in Buddhism, but are otherwise indistinguishable from laymen. The Five Precepts apply equally to both.

So that’s a brief look at the Sutra audience. I may expand this later as I get more information, and tips and references by others are always appreciated. Thanks!

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. Past who’s who can be found here:

1 Frequently seen together with the Lotus Sutra. It’s often regarded as the Lotus Sutra’s “prologue”.

2 In Japan, the situation gets muddied quite a bit though. Monks in Japan are not always the same as monks in the traditional Buddhist sense. For the purposes of this post though, Bhikkhus here are defined as members of the Vinaya proper.

3 The term Bodhisattva is also used in Theravada Buddhism as well, but refers strictly to the Buddha Shakyamuni himself in his previous lives while still seeking out Enlightenment. For example, see the Maha-Saccaka Sutta (MN 36):

“Before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened Bodhisatta, the thought occurred to me…”

4 Sadly, despite years of following Buddhism, I have never actually been able to formally convert or take the precepts. Circumstances just haven’t worked out in my favor. Granted, it’s not strictly necessary, especially if one’s sincerely following the path, but someday it would be nice to actually take the precepts in a proper setting.

Posted in Buddhism, Religion | 1 Comment

The Akō Incident: a look at Heian Japan politics

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Doug

I’ve been continuing my read of Prof. Robert Borgen’s excellent biography on the life and times of Sugawara Michizane, the famous poet and Confucian official who later became deified in Shinto as Tenjin after a wrongful exile. One incident covered in the biography, the Akō Incident (阿衡事件, akō jiken) provides a very interesting look at court politics in the Heian Era, power struggles, and Michizane’s small but admirable role in the incident. It’s a small incident, but says a lot in my opinion and worth exploring. Note this is completely unrelated to another similarly-named incident centuries later involving the 47 Ronin.

By Michizane’s time in the 9th century, the Emperor’s power was increasingly in check by the Fujiwara clan, whose intermarriages more and more dominated key positions in the Court, while their private holdings in the provinces increasingly fell outside the purview of taxation and administration under the Ritsuryō codes that served as the law of the land. Fujiwara no Mototsune’s young nephew became Emperor Yōzei in 876, and naturally Mototsune himself acted as regent until the boy was old enough to manage affairs himself. Trouble was, Emperor Yōzei was extremely mentally unstable, and numerous incidents recorded showed him to be aloof, violent and sadistic. After the Emperor murdered the son of his wet nurse,1 the problem became so bad that the ministers unanimously demanded his retirement, and even Mototsune had to agree. After armed guards escorted the Emperor to his permanent retirement home, Mototsune had to find a new Emperor, but instead of appointing another child-relation to the throne, Mototsune made the wise, practical decision to have a mature, adult ascend the throne. That man became Emperor Kōkō, and although a “regent” was no longer needed, the new Emperor and Mototsune managed to work out an agreeable relationship whereby Mototsune retained his dual-post of Chancellor of the Realm (太政大臣, daijō daijin).

However, Emperor Kōkō became ill a few years later, and had to appoint a new heir to the throne, and that’s when the troubles began. The Emperor appointed his son, who had no Fujiwara relations at all and a mature adult himself, as Emperor Uda. Uda’s relationship with Mototsune, still in power, began well enough, but according to Borgen, trouble began as Uda sought to add more men to the Court who were loyal to the Emperor, and not the Fujiwara Clan or Mototsune, and Mototsune’s role in the government was now questionable. Per custom of the time, Mototsune withdrew to his personal residence for a time, to await the Emperor’s formal request to return to Court, and politely refused the request to come back as Kanpaku, a kind of advisor/regent. The refusal was just polite custom, no surprises. But then, the second request mistakenly asked him to return to court under the role of Akō (阿衡), which turned out to be a largely ceremonial role in Chinese culture (from which the Heian Court was modeled). Mototsune felt slighted and refused to respond. By 888, the problem worsened as Mototsune refused to return to Court, and many other officials also failed to appear claiming illness. As Borgen explains, most of them feared the wrath of Fujiwara no Mototsune if they appeared to side with the Emperor, so functions in the Court ground to a halt.

Emperor Uda had to defend his counselor Hiromi’s mistake, and sought to placate Mototsune to no avail. Finally, the stand-off ended when Emperor Uda sought to punish counselor Hiromi, and took Mototsune’s daughter as a consort, and life turned to normal at the Court.

At this time, Michizane, who was a close friend of Hiromi, wanted to defend his actions, but was serving faraway as governor of Sanuki Province, and heard about the incident well after it concluded due to delays in receiving letters. Hiromi, who made the slight to Mototsune, had been a loyal student under Michizane’s father, and he felt close to him, so he tried to defend Hiromi’s actions by further clarifying the role of Akō. While it sounds like a battle of semantics, it also became a battle between the Emperor’s camp and the Fujiwara one. Later, as Professor Borgen shows, he even sent a strong letter of reprimand to Mototsune while defending his friend:

You, Mototsune, occasionally served at the national shrine, but how can that service compare with the merit of Hiromi’s accumulated days of worship? Because of your position, you are supposed to be a model of behavior, but how can being a model compare with Hiromi’s active efforts as a teacher? Your office gives you the nobility of a great minister, but how can that status compare with his as the grandfather of princes?

Michizane had real temerity to reprimand Mototsune this way, but as Borgen shows, it helped Michizane gain favor with Emperor Uda and eventually reach the third-rank. It may also have later contributed to his downfall, states Borgen.

To me, reading this incident is a clear indication of why the Ritsuryo system of the Heian Period gradually broke down. You can see how although the Emperor was the head of government, and untouchable in a way, powerful families could still manipulate government, manipulate marriages, and exert real power to circumvent the system when necessary. By Michizane’s time, the Fujiwara Clan were already pretty entrenched, but by the time of Lady Murasaki and her diary a century later, they were practically all-powerful until the rise of the Heike and Genji samurai clans.

P.S. Interesting bit of trivia, Emperor’s Yōzei and Kōkō both have poems included in the Hyakunin Isshu poetry collection mentioned previously (poems #13 and #15 respectively), as does Michizane of course. ;)

1 Given the very real sentiment in Shinto towards death and pollution, and the belief at the time of the Emperor’s divine status, such an incident was especially shocking and impossible to pardon, let alone in the Imperial Palace itself.

Posted in Japan, Shinto | 2 Comments

Michizane Poem from the Hyakunin Isshu

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Doug

This is a small, off-schedule post today. As I continue my read of the Hyakunin Isshu poem anthology famous in Japan, I wanted to share one poem by the famous scholar Sugawara no Michizane, who is the subject of a few posts here in the blog as of late and someone I happen to admire as a fellow scholar. This is poem number 24:

このたびは kono tabi wa
幣もとりあへず nusa motori aezu
手向山 tamuke yama
紅葉のにしき momiji no nishiki
神のまにまに kami no mani mani

One translation reads as follows:

Plain hemp will not do
For a mountain offering
As our excursion begins –
Surely the gods will be better pleased
To accept a brocade of autumn leaves.

While another states:

At the present time,
Since I could bring no offering,
See Mount Tamuke!
Here are brocades of red leaves,
As a tribute to the gods.

The poem is signed as Kanke (菅家), which is the Sinified way to read Sugawara’s Family name (lit. “House of Sugawara”). You see similar names used for the Taira Clan (e.g. Heike 平家) and Minamono Clan (e.g. Genji 源氏) in later times.

According to the commentary in the book I am reading, the poem was composed by Michizane after being sent on a mission by Emperor Uda, and because he had little time to prepare, he couldn’t make a propering offering to the gods for a safe trip. The term nusa (幣) means a special staff used in Shinto ceremonies. But Michizane, admiring the beautiful autumn scene on Mount Tamuke, hopes that this will make a suitable offering instead.

While not autumn yet, I thought the poem was rather nice and hope readers will enjoy. :)

Posted in Japan, Poetry, Shinto | Leave a comment

Japanese Pizza: Okonomiyaki

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Doug

This is an old post I wanted to do for a few months, but finally found the time. :) I consider myself lucky to have married a nice lady who cooks good Japanese home-cooking (among other things), and one thing she likes to cook from time to time is okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), which are a delicacy in Japan, but hard to explain in Western culture. In books I’ve read, written by Japanese, they’re often referred to as “pancakes” since they have a similar kind of batter and the way they are cooked, but in my opinion, they are more like pizza because of the toppings. Korean cuisine also has a similar food called pajeon (파전),1 though that dish tends to be much larger, and is cut pizza-like before serving. My wife and I love Korean food2 and Seattle has a vibrant Korean community, so we consider ourselves lucky to enjoy it sometimes.

Getting back to okonomiyaki, my wife makes it like many Japanese do. She makes the basic wheat batter, and mixes in lots of chopped cabbage, and other items. Such items could include:

  • cheese
  • meat (typically seafood or sliced pork)
  • bean sprouts or other veggies

Then, like a pancake, you make a small batter circle in a fry-pan, cook on both sides and server. On okonomiyaki, you can add many condiments like mayonaise,3 a kind of brown-sauce my wife calls “bulldog sauce” but seems like the “brown sauce” I frequently enjoyed Ireland, aonori which is a kind of ground seaweed that tastes very good, ginger and so on. Here’s the finished product my wife made, minus a few bites:

Okonomiyaki

My wife also decided to experiment that night, and made one with cheese:

Okonomiyaki with Cheese

And since she likes Korean food so much, she mixed in some old kimchi in the house into another batch:

Okonomiyaki with Kimchi

But okonomiyaki is by no means a home-dish, and in fact there are plenty of restaurants where you can make okonomiyaki yourself on hot iron griddles, by mixing your ingredients and seasoning to taste. My wife’s good friends like near the old city of Kamakura, and we never fail to go there whenever we visit, and after seeing the sights of the Great Buddha and the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, we venture down the market area to a certain okonomiyaki shop and enjoy ourselves. With little children you have to be careful of course, but they do enjoy watching the little pancakes/pizzas frying on the griddle almost as much as eating them.

If you can enjoy okonomiyaki or pajeon, definitely do not miss out. It’s debatable whether they’re pizzas or pancakes but taste good either way. :)

P.S. Off taking the RHCE exam again Friday, hoping to pass this time. :-/

1 Korean is not my strongest language, but I believe it’s pronounced like “pa-jawn” where the “eo” syllable rhymes with “law”.

2 Korean food is quite popular in general in Japan, and Asahi Shinbun recently did an article about the increasing popularity of Japanese food in Korea in the last 5 years. A great article showing how increasing cultural exchange between the two countries is really leading to positive things. :)

3 Japanese mayonnaise is different than American mayo, and arguably a lot better. More creamy, less oily. In the same way, British mustard is definitely superior to American mustard, and that’s one of those little foods we miss since coming back to the US. We’re happy to see certain brands sold though even here in Seattle. Beware, it’s hot though if you’ve never tried it.

Posted in Cooking, Japan, Korea | 6 Comments

As Appropriate: Buddhist Advice from Myoe

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Doug

Lately, I have been enjoying a book on the Mantra of Light, and of a famous Japanese monk named Myōe (明恵, 1173 – 1232), called Shingon Refractions by Professor Mark Unno. Myoe was ordained in both the Kegon and Shingon schools of Buddhism, which at the time was not unusual as such schools functioned more like specialized study groups than overt sects found later, and became abbot of a temple named Kōzanji (高山寺).1

The book mentions a text called the Final Instructions of Myōe Shōnin (Myōe Shōnin Ikun, 明恵上人遺訓) compiled by his disciple Kōshin (高信). In the Final Instructions, Myoe offers this advice at the beginning:

People should maintain these seven characters, arubekiyōwa [阿留辺畿夜宇和, "as appropriate"]. Monks should act as appropriate to monks, lay as appropriate to lay; similarly, emperors as appropriate to emperors, vassals as appropriate to vassals. All that is bad results from turning one’s back on what is appropriate. (pg. 123, trans. Prof. Mark Unno)

I thought this was great advice, even if painfully obvious. Even in modern times, the advice is still true. If one is a father, one should act as appropriate. If one is an employee of Company X, one should act as appropriate. What’s important here is that Myoe isn’t outlining set rules to be broken, he’s instilling common sense that one should comport themselves as appropriate to their situation. In other words, if in doubt, do the right thing.

Myoe believed in the importance of arubekiyōwa so much so, that if you were to go to Kozanji temple today, there still hangs a wooden plaque supposedly inscribed by Myoe himself in the northeast corner of the Sekisui’in Hall (石水院), with the words arubekiyōwa (“As Appropriate”) as the heading. Professor Unno has kindly granted me permission to post the contents of that plaque here in full from his book.2 The plaque is a list of regulations for the monastery, as dictated by Myōe, divided into three parts, but also provides some insights into Myoe’s approach to Buddhism and life in a medieval Buddhist monastery:

As Approprate (Translation by Prof. Unno):

06:00 – 08:00 PM
Liturgy: Yuishin kangyō shiki (Manual on the Practice of Contemplating the Mind-Only)

08:00 – 10:00 PM
Practice once. Chant the Sambōrai (Revering the Three Treasures).

10:00 – 12:00 AM, midnight
Zazen (seated meditation). Count breaths.

12:00 – 06:00 AM
Rest for three [two-hour] periods.

06:00 – 08:00 AM
Walking meditation once. (Inclusion or exclusion should be appropriate to the occasion)
Liturgy: Rishukyō raisan (Ritual Repentance Based on the Sutra of the Ultimate Meaning of the Principle) and the like.

08:00 – 10:00 AM
Sambōrai. Chant scriptures for breakfast and intone the Kōmyō Shingon (Mantra of Light) forty-nine times.

10:00 – 12:00 PM, noon
Zazen. Count breaths.

12:00 – 02:00 PM
Noon meal. Chant the Goji Shingon (Mantra of the Five Syllables) five hundred times.

02:00 – 04:00 PM
Study or copy scriptures.

04:00 – 06:00 PM
Meet with the master (Myōe) and resolve essential matters.

Ettiquette in the Temple Study Hall

  • Do not leave rosaries or gloves on top of scriptures.
  • Do not leave sōshi [bound] texts on top of round meditation cushions or on the half [tatami]-size cushions [placed under round cushions].
  • During the summer, do not use day-old water for mixing ink.
  • Do not place scriptures under the desk.
  • Do not lick the tips of brushes.
  • Do not reach for something by extending one’s hand over scriptures.
  • Do not enter [the hall] wearing just the white undergarment robes.
  • Do not lie down
  • Do not count [pages] by moistening one’s fingers with saliva. Place an extra sheet of paper under each sheet of your sōshi texts.

Etiquette in the Buddha-Altar Hall

  • Keep the clothes for wiping the altar separate from that for wiping the Buddha[-statue].
  • During the summer (from the first day of the fourth month to the last day of the seventh month), obtain fresh water [from the well] morning and evening for water offerings.
  • Keep the water offerings and incense burners for buddhas and bodhisattvas separate from those for patriarchs.
  • When you are seated on the half-size cushions, do not bow with your chin up.
  • Do not place nose tissues and the like under the half-tatami size cushions.
  • Do not let your sleeves touch the offering-water bucket.
  • Do not put the [altar] rings on the wooden floor; they should be placed high.
  • Place a straw mat at your usual seat.
  • The regular sutra for recitation is one fascicle of the Flower Ornament Sutra (or half a fascicle). The three sutras should be read alternately every day.
  • When traveling, you should read them after returning.
  • The Gyōganbon (Chapter on Practice and Vow), Yuigyōkyō (Sutra of the Buddha’s Last Teachings), and Rokkankyō (Sutra in Six Fascicles) should all be read alternately one fascicle a day.

— The Kegon School Shamon Kōben [Myoe]

I believe Myoe wasn’t just being strict, but really wanted to instill proper conduct as appropriate for a monk in every facet of life in Kozanji. This may seem strange or harsh, but I am reminded of another book I read recently about Rinzai Zen, where the author Fujiwara Tōen, a monk himself, also commented on the strict regulations in a Zen monastery, and their purpose:

As we review these regulations of the monk’s hall, their meaning becomes clear. In other words, by regulating one’s behavior, one’s mind is also regulated. The Zen patriarchs were well aware of this. Moreover, the regulations enable Zen monks to concentrate at all times on zazen. (pg. 59)

So, while a monk in a Buddhist monastery, one should act as appropriate. But also, in one’s daily (lay) life, one should consider what’s appropriate for their situation. Regardless of whether you’re at that moment an employee, parent, someone’s child, spouse, whatever, the advice is the same. In many ways, this is the essence of Buddhism, or as the Buddha described it, “living the holy life”.

Namu Amida Butsu

1 Kozanji has no homepage of its own, English or Japanese, but someone did a nice photo tour of the grounds here in Japanaese. The painting of a man in the tree is a rendition of Myoe.

2 Being a professor probably is a thankless job at times, but people like Professor Unno, Professor James L. Ford and Professor A.C. Muller make it possible for folks like us to learn more about Buddhism so definitely stop by their websites, say ‘hi’ and let them know how much their years of study and translation work are appreciated. :D

Posted in Buddhism, Shingon, Zen | 2 Comments

Weird Buddhist Dream V

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Doug

I tend to have a weird religious dream about once a year or so, especially after some troubled sleep. The last is mentioned here and another here, and an even older one here. Older ones did not survive the previous blog.1 After writing my previous post, I went to bed shortly thereafter and later dreamt I was outdoors on a hot, summer day somewhere. I was walking down a long, long stone and gravel path toward a brilliant, shining white and gold Buddhist stupa (vaguely similar to the ones linked here) wearing a light cotton shirt and some khaki pants and maybe carrying a book, but not much else. Around me, lots of other people were walking toward the stupa of various nationalities.

At some point, as I walked toward this stupa, I bowed, then I took a few more steps, and then prostrated fully upon the ground. It was at that point I woke up.

I don’t like to attach too much meaning to such dreams, and the Buddha did discourage the interpretation of dreams as yet another superstition, but I am more fascinated about what the subconscious mind is telling me through such dreams. Oddly enough, I did not read about stupas or anything like that in recent times, so this was not the kind of dream I would have expected.

Strange.

P.S. A friend recently contacted me after my last post, and some of what he stated coincides with this dream, though I had the dream before reading his email. Coincidence? Who knows. :-p

1 I still remember one from years ago, where my wife and I offered a huge bundle of incense to a statue of Kannon Bodhisattva, which actually looked more like the red-faced Chinese hero Guan Yu. In another dream, I once remember being in a massive, massive sandstone-colored temple watching a great number of monks bowing and paying homage to the Buddha, while I hid behind a pillar shyly.

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