About the Author
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the Internets a better place. Thanks for reading!
Monthly Archives: June 2009
Japanese language: saying more with less
This is one of those lessons that I keep rediscovering over the years after I first met my wife, studied in college, and now preparing for the JLPT. It’s a lesson that comes up again and again, but becomes so … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, JLPT
3 Comments
Home from Paris
Too tired to write a single thing, so I will just post a link to Flickr where I uploaded some of the better photos. We mostly visited the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and my wife’s favorite, the … Continue reading
Posted in France, General, Travel
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Fun with Japanese Onomatopoeia
One of the things I’ve gradually learned about Japanese is how many sound-effect words, or onomatopoeia, exist in there. Every language has sound-effect words, but I noticed that Japanese language and culture are particularly descriptive. I guess that’s why Japanese … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, JLPT, Language
5 Comments
The problem with the world is people
My writing in this blog has dropped off again lately, but I haven’t really felt like explaining why, until I read today’s comic by Xkcd: I’d say this sums up my thoughts on certain things. For some reason, after some … Continue reading
Posted in Bsd, Buddhism, General, Hosso, Japanese, Taoism, Technology
10 Comments
Japanese language: give and take
Unlike English, expressing giving and receiving in Japanese can be much more complicated. This is because of a few factors: Whether you’re speaking of yourself or someone else. Social rank of the giver and receiver (is one higher than the … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, JLPT, Language
2 Comments
This is definitely a sign I need to find a new hobby
I spent the last hour working on a big expansion/edit of a certain Wikipedia article on the Hossō school of Buddhist thought, when my clumsy fingers closed the tab I was working on, deleting all changes. It’s 11:35 pm, I … Continue reading
Posted in General
6 Comments
The Shingon Vinaya sect
Continuing to read Tanabe’s Religions of Japan in Practice when I came across an article about a little-known sect in Japanese Buddhism called the shingon risshū sect (真言律宗). This sect appears to be an off-shoot, or another branch of Shingon … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Shingon
2 Comments
Awakening the Eye of Wisdom
A lot of people believe that you can awaken wisdom through exotic practices and such, but I found this quotation by Kōkai, founder of the Shingon Buddhist sect, rather interesting. I found this in Religions of Japan in Practice, a … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Shingon
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Understanding Chinese Buddhism, early Japanese Buddhism
As I continue to read Francis Cook’s Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra, I found his explanation of Chinese Buddhism to be interesting. Normally when looking at Japanese Buddhism, you see lots of schools and sects, with different practices, … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Hosso, Shingon
6 Comments
Me and the Internets
Another great comic from Xkcd: This is why I need to take breaks from time to time from the Internet, and blogging. Sadly, like the girl in the comic, I can’t pull myself away.1 So I am going to try … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Technology
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