Facades or Fulfillment? What the Tao Te Ching Says
Monday, December 29th, 2008 | Uncategorized | Read 7 Comments
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thirty spokes converge on a hub but it’s the emptiness that makes a wheel work
pots are fashioned from clay but it’s the hollow that makes a pot work
windows and doors are carved for a house but it’s the spaces that make a house work
existence makes something useful but nonexistence makes it work**
Are you more concerned with the objects you own or the function they serve? Are we more concerned with appearance than function? In your life, are you concerned with facades or fulfillment? Which way brings more happiness? ~Ken
**from: Lao Tzu’s Taoteching Translated by Red Pine with Selected Commentaries of the Past 2000 Years", Bill Porter, Mercury House, San Francisco, CA 1996. |
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Amarantine: Music for Feeling Magical and Special
Monday, December 29th, 2008 | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
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You know when you give your love away it opens your heart everything is new. And you know time will always find a way to let your heart believe it’s true. |
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You know love is everything you say; a whisper, a word, promises you give. You feel it in the heartbeat of the day. You know this is the way love is.
Amarantine….
You know love may sometimes make you cry, so let the tears go, they will flow away, for you know love will always let you fly -how far a heart can fly away!
Amarantine….
You know when love’s shining in your eyes it may be the stars fallen from above. And you know love is with you when you rise, for night and day belong to love. |
Purchase the CD OR Download the MP3!
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amarantine: an eternal flower symbolizing enduring spiritual love
Wild Horses
Sunday, December 21st, 2008 | reality | Read 3 Comments
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The race horse wears blinders so it can’t look left or right. The goal is at the other end of the track.
The wild horse roams freely. It doesn’t run for a carrot, it tastes the lush grass at its very own feet.
The wild horse has no illusion that a destination is a goal. The wild horse appreciates where it is.
When the wild horse passes on, it returns to the earth. The race horse is ground up into dog food.
~Autumn Mountain |
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Understanding “Tao Te Ching”
Saturday, December 20th, 2008 | Qigong, Uncategorized, reality | 1 Comment
Tao Te Ching is about living happily and harmoniously. Not to be confused or associated with Confucious, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching is about individual and internal harmony whereas Confucious was more concerned with society and government.
While we were volunteer teaching in China, we enjoyed many conversations with Chinese college students about politics, education, and other international issues. Out of these conversations we got a lot of laughs and made a few friends.
In one conversation, I found myself explaining to a Chinese person about the Tao Te Ching; and ancient Chinese philosophical text. It was a serious conversation but one of my inner voices was nearly bursting from the irony of me, an American, telling a Chinese person about ancient Chinese philosophy.
It was akin to an American teaching a Japanese person how to make sushi. Of course, all Japanese people know how to make sushi so that would never happen! And it was almost as preposterous as the fact that I (I’m half-Japanese) learned Karate-do from a caucasion guy! What’s the world coming to!?
Anywho, I recommended to my Chinese friend that, in order to get more enjoyment and fullfilment in life, she should read the book "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu; the seminal text of Taoist philosophy.
Today, we received a holiday greeting from our Chinese friend and an interesting question. She said that she read the book but found much of it difficult to understand on the first reading.
Here’s some encouragement and advice to anyone having difficulty "getting into" the Tao Te Ching:
I had the same difficulty when I first picked up the book and I still can’t say that I fully understand the whole book. At first, maybe only one page made any sense to me. But that one page resonated deeply within me so I put the book down on the coffee table and I resolved to make that one verse part of my life.
Perhaps one month later, another verse made sense to me. I then resolved to make that new verse part of my life; and so on.
To understand the Tao Te Ching, I suggest finding just one verse that makes sense and embrace just that verse. Keep the book handy and then after a while, when you see the book sitting on the counter or the coffee table, open up the book and look for another line that makes sense.
No one should expect to understand the Tao Te Ching all at once. If it was that easy, we’d all be levitating around on flying carpets and feeling happy and special all the time.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, we’re just not quite there yet.
*Image from: "Lao Tzu’s Taoteching Translated by Red Pine with Selected Commentaries of the Past 2000 Years", Bill Porter, Mercury House, San Francisco, CA 1996.
Yogapoint Group Photo
Friday, November 21st, 2008 | Yoga | Read 2 Comments
Can you believe we had to spend a month with these people? There weren’t any fences or guard dogs keeping us on the premises but, because of the remote location of the Ashram, we knew there was no escape. Of course, I’m just kidding!
I’m still trying to find the words to describe the full experience of spending 30 days at a Traditional Yoga Ashram in India.
That’s a whole ‘nother blog entry, but for now I just wanted to post these pics for our yoga friends.
Yoga friends,
You should be able to find one with your eyes open. Click the image for the full resolution version. If you want to order a print, send me an email, post a comment or else send me a message on facebook. We have lots more photos that I will go through and post once we get moved into our new place and I get my real computer running again.
Enjoy! and leave a comment!
All the best,
Ken and Mandy
Movie Review: Not One Less
Friday, November 21st, 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
(2000, Rated G, English Subtitles)
Directed by Yimou Zhang
Ken’s Review:
Sit down with a cup of tea and a box of tissues on a quiet evening and immerse yourself in a true vision of China as presented by Yimou Zhang, the director of "Hero" and "House of the Flying Daggers".
Cast entirely with nonactors and shot on location in rural China, "Not One Less" is the story of Wei Minzhi; a stubborn 15ish year-old girl who takes a substitute teaching job in a tiny rural town. When one troublemaking boy heads off to the city to help support his starving family, Wei is charged to find the boy and bring him back. The teenage substitute teacher finds herself in way over her head at every turn but her inspiring determination carries her through to an amazingly climactic end.
The film is by nature a little bit dry and is by no means fast-paced but, just when you least expect it, all of the frustration and suspense release like emotional flood gates. This is one of the best films of the 21st century. Bring tissues.
make a difference to a Soldier in 60 seconds
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 | Uncategorized | Read 4 Comments
This morning, you woke up in your own bed, made some coffee, took a hot shower etc etc. Now, whether you’re at work or home, consider your surroundings. Now, imagine how the estimated 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq started their day and what they’re doing right now.
You can give one Soldier a little pick-me-up by sending a simple "We Support You" card and it only takes 60 seconds!
Whether you support the war or not, our troops have sworn to protect us Civilians so we should do what we can to support them in hard times. You can’t choose specifically who will receive the card but it will make you feel good to know that you have brightened a Soldier’s day. It might be the kindest thing you do today!
Visit www.letssaythanks.com
Walking with Lion cubs in Zambia
Friday, October 10th, 2008 | Our Most Popular Stories, Travel, our Planet | Read 3 Comments
Plan B
After a frustrating serious of events with the "Raj and Manoj" at Garhwal Himalayan Expedition in India, we cancelled our plans to travel throughout northeastern India and instead decided to visit Lauren who is currently working in Zambia helping to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
When we first arrived in Lusaka, capital of Zambia, I was surprised that the shabby town was the capital city. Lauren took us to a western style shopping center that bared a strange resemblance to any plaza in northern Mass. After a good meal and an overnight rest, we hopped on a bus to Livingstone, the tourist capital of Zambia located on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border.
The Bus
As I boarded the bus, I noticed a sign that said "Capacity: 70" and in case you don’t know, that’s a lot of people stuffed into a coach bus for a seven hour bus ride!
Traveling in the crowded bus down the dusty highway actually wasn’t so bad until we reached the unpaved section of the highway. Yes, the unpaved section of the highway! The bus driver made a valiant attempt to avoid every pothole so instead of getting our teeth rattled out of our heads, we were treated to whiplash. It felt as though the driver was making such violent maneuvers that he must have been trying to "shake us" like in a car chase scene from an old movie, swerving all over the road in the most unpredictable manner possible.
To complete the whole package, the bus had no AC and all but two brave, dusty passengers closed their windows to avoid being covered by the dry dirt billowing through the window.
With all this combined, the temperature notched its way up to 39 degrees celcius, which is 102 degrees fahrenheit. We didn’t have to guesstimate the temperature because the bus had a digital screen that alternated between a painfully slow clock and an evil digital thermometer. As though we needed a thermometer to tell us it was hot! I had to keep reminding myself that we were on the highway to the most popular tourist destination in the country.
Lauren later explained that there is a small airport in Livingstone for the nonadventurous travelers.
Livingstone
When we first arrived in Livingstone, Lauren pointed out the main strip of this Zambian tourist mecca. It consisted of about eight retail establishments on each side of the street. At first, I didn’t believe that this strip was "it" but that’s all there was, just a bank, a restaurant, a fast food place, and a few other nondescript retailers. The whole scene was reminiscent of scenes from an old western movie; all that was missing was a sign over the bar entrance "SALOON".
Thus far, I was finding Zambia to be quite shocking. After a month in China, I thought I had seen a lot, so at this point I was surprised to be shocked …I was shocked AND I was shocked to be shocked! Zambia was shocking squared.
Despite Livingstone’s simple appearance, Lauren reassured us that the city "somewhere in Africa" was worth the trip.
Walking with cubs
We were told to wear long pants for this venue because, "after all, they are lion cubs and you might get scratched." Not wanting to get any little scratches on our ankles from the young cubs, we all heeded the warning and wore closed toe shoes.
After a quick safety briefing, our guide lead us out into the wildlife preserve where we would see the furry little cubs. What I was imagining was that there would be a series of enclosures with lion cubs in them and then they would let us into one of them to pet a cub; similar to a petting zoo.
After walking down the path for a bit, we came around a corner of bushes to see two lions laying down under under a tree about 15 feet away. My eyes boinged out of my head as I kept looking for the fence or barrier that should have been in between me and the lions. Note that I am now using the term lions and not cubs. The dictionary doesn’t specify what a "cub" is but perhaps we can all agree that cubs shouldn’t weigh over 250 lbs! And then can we perhaps get this put into the dictionaries so Zambians will know the difference!?
After the intial shock, Mandy and Lauren walked up near the lions as the guide said some things. I stood behind them and peeked over their shoulders for the first few minutes.
All in all, the experience was amazing and relatively safe. There were several handlers keeping an eye on things but even they don’t have any false sense of security. One of the handlers explained, "They are wild animals and if one day he wants to kill me, he will and I can’t do anything." Which I now see translates perfectly to, "They are wild animals and if one day he want’s to eat a tourist, there is nothing anyone can do." ha!
Walking safari
So we made it out of the lion encounter alive and next was the walking safari which was promoted for having a better chance to see animals than the driving safari. Which of course also means we have a better chance of getting stampeded by buffalo or goured by a warthog.
After a jeep drove us a couple of miles into the bush, our guide hopped out and had a lengthy discussion with an angry looking guy with an AK-47 who we later found would be our Ranger; a guy with a gun charged with keeping us alive.
We saw most of the animals we would see in the following 20 minutes and then there were two hours of what felt similar to wandering around lost UNTIL…. our Ranger found the only resident white rhino in the park. It’s really strange how the lack of a barrier between you and a wild animal has an amazing magnification factor. I’ve seen rhinos in the zoo but here it looked like it was the size of a small bus.
The last rhino
This is the last of six white rhinos that were initially introduced in this wildlife reserve. One became ill and then a veterinarian accidentally overdosed and killed it with meds. Another inexplicably disappeared. The third drowned after the ground collapsed under its feet one day while it was grazing by the river. Shortly thereafter, it’s mate then starved itself to death and effectively died from a broken heart. Just nine months ago, the fifth rhino was killed by poachers and found shot to death with its horn sawn off. Just one rhino remains. He bears a constant reminder of his lost friends in the form of a limp. When he was startled by the gun shots that killed his mate earlier this year, he suffered a fall which resulted in a broken leg that has yet to heal properly.
After the guide related the rhino’s story to us we all paused and silently watched the beautiful creature nudging his face in the mud with his right foreleg dangling feably.
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world. As we approached via the trail from the entrance gate, we could hear the roar of the massive falls. When we reached the first clearing offering a first glimpse, Lauren took one look and exclaimed, "What the heck!?" October is nearly the end of the dry season. It’s the dryest of the dry season so what is usually a quarter-mile wide waterfall dumping millions of gallons of water in a majestic deluge now resembles a leaky dike, squirting a misty stream in your eye.
As you can see, the gorge was amazing. There was even a pack of monkeys on the distant side frolicking about. After snapping a few dozen photos and absorbing the beauty of this amazing place, Lauren brought levity to the moment reminding us, "Welcome to the biggest waterfall in world!"
We went to the bridge to Zimbabwe where bungie jumping can be done. Mandy was going to jump but it just didn’t work out between their business opening time and our timetable to catch a bus. Mandy still gets the respect for going to have jumped the third highest bunjie jump in the world.
All around the falls area there are unusually pushy street vendors selling wood carvings and Zimbabwean dollars. I had one guy try to sell me a 100 billion Zimbabwean dollar bill for the equivalent of .60 USD (60 cents). We also encountered a strange robot….
Lauren negotiated a cab to take us back to Livingstone where we caught our bus and headed back to Lusaka. On the bus, I took advantage of a captive audience to explain Nikola Tesla’s theory for the wireless transmission of electrical power.
A cure for the flu
That evening, I wasn’t feeling particularly well and the next morning I awoke with flu symptoms so we decided to cancel our plans to visit Lauren’s workplace which was a two-hour bus ride away. I wouldn’t have visited Zambia if Lauren didn’t live there. The fact that she is a nurse definitely provided an added sense of security. When she found out that I had flu symptoms, she jumped into action by taking my temperature, calling her doctor friends, and then administering to me a malaria test. As she stabbed me in the finger, she explained that it was basically impossible for me to have malaria after just a few days in Africa and that we were basically just doing the test "for fun." The blood test results took fifteen minutes to show up negative and then twenty-four hours later my flu symptoms cleared up.
Lusaka outskirts
Instead of mulling around in Lusaka, Mandy found a beautiful hotel with a private 650 hectar wild life reserve. I slept through the entire first day there so I can’t say much for what Mandy and Lauren did but I love this sunset photo that Mandy took.
That pretty much covers the highlights of Zambia. I recovered from my flu, we went on a mini driving safari, Lauren headed back to work, and we caught our plane to Mumbai, India.
Guide: Upgrade to a DSLR Camera in 10 minutes
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 | Photography, Product Reviews | Read 2 Comments
Since launching the Akiyamakan Blog about a month ago, we’ve received numerous kind comments about the photos. Many have asked what kind of camera we’re using. I know as well as anyone how how confusing the digital camera market currently is so here’s a down-to-earth, quick, easy guide for those interested in taking their photography to the next level.
First things first:
First, you need to understand that with DSLR cameras, the lens and the camera body are two separate components. I’ll recommend that you purchase one of the kits below, which will include the camera body and a good general purpose lens.
With a DSLR camera the electronics of camera are less inhibiting. Have you ever tried to take a photo with your point-and-shoot camera and it just keeps trying to change brightness or focus and you don’t get the photo? Have you ever tried to take a photo of moving object but it just didn’t work out? With a DSLR camera, you’ll have all of the benefits of a digital camera with almost none of the frustration.
The camera body:
I am currently using the Canon Rebel XT which has been succeeded by the Canon Rebel XTi and, most recently, the Canon Rebel XSi. The Canon Digital Rebel XSi is Canon’s newest entry level DSLR camera with numerous technical advantages so that’s the one I’d recommend, especially considering it’s priced at just $40 more than the Rebel XTi.
With the Canon Rebel XSi, you’ll have what you need to begin taking beautiful photos. I took all of the photos in this gallery in Beijing with the kit lens that came with my Canon Rebel XT. Of course, I lowered the size and quality for the web viewing but you can get an idea of how well the DSLR cameras handle colors and range of brightness/contrast etc.
While it’s tempting to purchase a super-expensive camera body such as the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
Accessorize!
Rather than recommending a bunch of lenses and filters to accompany your new DSLR camera, I suggest that it’s better to stick with the basics at first and get some experience so you can decide for yourself what direction you want to take you new hobby (ie. landscapes, portraits, insects, sports).
Here is a list of basic items you’ll need to get started:
You’ll want to learn about the principles of photography. Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson proved to be invaluable in my quest to understand the basic principles of photography.
That’s it! With so much information on the web and in print about digital photography, my goal for this guide was to provide a simple guide to help you start taking amazing photos as soon as possible. If you found this at all useful, leave a comment and I’ll continue on with more down-to-earth tips!
If you end up purchasing anything through one of the links in this article, the author will receive a modest commission from Amazon.com and it won’t cost you anything extra!
How did Britain come to control Hong Kong?
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 | reality | Read 5 Comments
Did you know that the British East India Trading Company trafficked opium?
In the 1800’s the British were importing opium into China on a massive scale. It is estimated that two million Chinese were addicted to opium. Once the Chinese government noticed the effects that widespread drug abuse was having on its society, the drug was banned for recreational abuse.
In 1839, the Chinese government confiscated and destroyed 2.4 million pounds of opium from East India Company traders. A corrupt British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, responded by initiating The First Opium War.
After China lost the war to the superior British Navy, Britain took control of Hong Kong and resumed trafficking drugs in China.
In 1997, Britain relinquished governmental control of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.
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