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: August 2010
Confessions of a Spider Killer
As someone who strives to follow the Buddhist path as best I can, I still find I struggle with upholding the basic code of conduct, the Five Moral Precepts, which have are at their root a way of being beneficial … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Ireland, Religion, Seattle
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Confucius and the Arts
[8:8] Confucius said: “Be aroused by poetry; structure yourself with propriety, refine yourself with music.” (trans. A.C. Muller) This quotation above, from the Analects of Confucius in many ways epitomizes the ideal Confucian lifestyle: the life of a gentleman.1 For … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Philosophy
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Sei Shonagon’s “The Pillow Book”
Moving on to other topics, before leaving for Japan a few months ago, I finally finished the famous Heian-era diary, The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon.1 Until now, I haven’t even had a chance to write about the book due … Continue reading
Posted in Japan
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Oh, the joys of being stereotyped
My wife and I like to watch Japanese TV at home with our little one over dinner, since we can get NHK through cable (a la TV Japan). NHK being the state-run channel, tends to be have good family programming … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Japan, Zen
4 Comments
This is why Prostitution is evil, hands-down
Warning: for mature audiences only. While reading this article earlier today from the English-version of the Asahi Shinbun, I damn near threw up at the end. I am a father of a three-year old girl, and I could never imagine … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Religion
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Confucius and the Two Recluses
Recently, among other things, I’ve been enjoying a read of Tsai Chih-Chung’s comic rendition of the Analects of Confucius. For those not familiar, he is a very famous Taiwanese comic artist who is best known for making Chinese classics in … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Confucius, Philosophy, Religion, Taoism
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Tragic stories of post-war Japan
As Japan marks the 65th anniversary of its surrender in World War II recently, newspapers in Japan have been featuring articles and stories about life shortly after the war and the tragedies of the time. Some have a happy ending, … Continue reading
Ennin Goes to China
I found this small article in the Asahi Shinbun newspaper recently, and thought it was pretty cool. This talks about a rock inscription in China’s Henan Province bearing the name of a famous Japanese Buddhist monk of the Tendai sect, … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, China, Tendai, Travel
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Hyakunin Isshu: the card game!
This is not exactly the kind of card games you see in Japan or the West among kids these days, but it’s a popular activity among Japanese families around New Year’s. I talked about the famous Japanese poem anthology, the … Continue reading
Myoe and Esoteric Buddhism
Recently, I had been avidly reading a book about Myōe, a famous Buddhist scholar-monk from the 13th century, and a contemporary of Jokei and Honen. The author of the book, Prof. Mark Unno, demonstrates how Myō was an eclectic Buddhist … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Hosso, Jodo Shinshu, Shingon
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