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!
Category Archives: Taoism
Need Some Focus
Hunchback of Chu: “…No matter how huge heaven and earth, or how numerous the ten thousand things, I’m aware of nothing but cicada wings. Not wavering, not tipping, not letting any of the other ten thousand things take place of … Continue reading
Yokohama Chukagai: Adventures in Japan’s Chinatown
On the same day that I visited Sojiji Temple with “Johnl”, we had some time left over, but not enough to visit another temple, so John led me to Yokohama’s famous Chinatown called chūkagai (中華街). The name basically just means … Continue reading
Leaving your mark upon Life
Another bit of sagely advice from Confucius comes from the Analects of Confucius, book 16, verse 12, courtesy of Prof. Charles A.C. Muller’s online translation: [16:12] Duke Ching of Qi had a thousand teams of horses, but when he died, … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Religion, Taoism
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Living the Simple Life
As faithful readers will no doubt have noticed, I read a lot. I read on the bus, read on my lunch break at work, I used to read in the car when Baby was one-year old and would take extended … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Confucius, Religion, Taoism
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The Trouble with Power
This is one of the last poems found in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology. I found it thought-provoking: [93] 世の中は Yo no naka wa つねにもがもな Tsune ni mo ga mo na なぎさこぐ Nagisa kogu あまの小舟の Ama no obune no 綱手かなしも Tsuna … Continue reading
Posted in Dune, Japan, Religion, Taoism
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Memories of Hanoi, part two: the Perfume Pagoda
Following my recent post about Hanoi, I wanted to show some pictures from my little adventure at the time to the famous Perfume Pagoda, or Chùa Hương in Vietnamese.1 As mentioned previously, I took these in 2001, with a cheap … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Taoism, Travel, Vietnam
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Solving a Chinese restaurant mystery
This is something that’s frequently piqued my interest, but I had nowhere to turn to solve this little mystery. In Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants here in the US, and certainly elsewhere, you’re likely to see an altar like this one: … Continue reading
There’s Religion and Then There’s Religion
While reading Professor Yao’s book which provides an overview of Confucianism, I was struck by one section with grappled with the question: is Confucianism a religion or a code of ethics? What struck me with this section, is how Professor … Continue reading
Am I Buddhist Anymore? A Brief Socratic Dialogue
(Because Socratic Dialogues are more fun, and otherwise this post would sound too whiny. Plus this was inspired by a funny sign someone at work made a few months back which I took a photo of. Enjoy! ) Hiero: Hey … Continue reading
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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