We visited Nezu shrine last night to make prayers for the new year. They had stands of food set up, and lots of pigs for sale, in effigy that is, if by chance you needed one. It was very calm and pleasant standing on the bridge in front of the shrine, holding our sugared sake close for warmth. I almost expected it to snow.
Incidentally, my name in japanese happens to mean "his leaves fall on the stream". If that`s the case, i see it as a call to action to make well sure they`re worth a damn.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Maid Cafes
I have a new obsession with maid cafes. Maid cafes are these places where the waitresses dress like raver french maids and act like they are your indentured servants. I demanded we go to one today. The quest was finally fulfilled in Akihabara. They have surreal shows where all the maids sing and dance and stuff. Totally strange and fascinating. My waitress blessed my sticky rice with fairy power. We played this game where we had to guess one of the girl`s favorite flower and such, but we got trounced. Who`d have guessed she likes lilies, or what she wants to be when she grows up is a doll...(?)
You should check it out!
You should check it out!
Dayo!
(dayo= damn straight)
Woo`s new neighborhood in Tokyo, Yanaka, is unbelievable. It`s an old, quiet neighborhood right in town, with narrow, winding alleys to explore. There`s a temple at every turn, and original wooden traditional buildings everywhere. His friends are jealous. And so am i- i`d live here in a flash. We have to walk through Yanaka cemetery to get to the train station, which is dayo cool, especially at night. It`s really old, and the stone lanterns look like people until you get close. Spooky. There`s a pedestrian market street very near to Woo`s flat, Yanaka Ginza, that stays open late. We went there to find a restaurant for dinner after we landed. Woo for some reason had a hankering for raw chicken, so he ordered us five different kinds, along with lots of shochu, and some gingko nuts. Don`t knock the chicken sushi, especially the wattle, because with a dollop of whole grain wasabi napalm, it`s delectable.
Woo`s new neighborhood in Tokyo, Yanaka, is unbelievable. It`s an old, quiet neighborhood right in town, with narrow, winding alleys to explore. There`s a temple at every turn, and original wooden traditional buildings everywhere. His friends are jealous. And so am i- i`d live here in a flash. We have to walk through Yanaka cemetery to get to the train station, which is dayo cool, especially at night. It`s really old, and the stone lanterns look like people until you get close. Spooky. There`s a pedestrian market street very near to Woo`s flat, Yanaka Ginza, that stays open late. We went there to find a restaurant for dinner after we landed. Woo for some reason had a hankering for raw chicken, so he ordered us five different kinds, along with lots of shochu, and some gingko nuts. Don`t knock the chicken sushi, especially the wattle, because with a dollop of whole grain wasabi napalm, it`s delectable.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Patient as a zen spider
I got all my spy gear packed and Melly's got her ninja gear, and we're sewing it all up to leave in the morning. It's all coming together. Here's a little something Hu says about traveling:
"This world, this universe can be seen as a house. Whole universe is the house. We are staying in the universal house. You and I have never acquainted each other before but in reality we are acquainted, because we are in the same house that is the universal house. In the same way, the sun, the moon, the stars, winds, storms, mountains, oceans, rivers, etc together with us are members of the family. Formerly, I have thought that if I visit to Paris, Berlin, or New York, as though I am travelling in a new land, a new world where has new people, new tradition, new rules of society it is strange to me. But now I think to go from Vietnam to France to America is like that we go from this room to others in a house. We in reality have never gone anywhere, we are still in the universal house, day after day, year after year.
So, If you are in the universal house, what will you create, what will you plan? "
Next time i write i'll be in Japan. bye
"This world, this universe can be seen as a house. Whole universe is the house. We are staying in the universal house. You and I have never acquainted each other before but in reality we are acquainted, because we are in the same house that is the universal house. In the same way, the sun, the moon, the stars, winds, storms, mountains, oceans, rivers, etc together with us are members of the family. Formerly, I have thought that if I visit to Paris, Berlin, or New York, as though I am travelling in a new land, a new world where has new people, new tradition, new rules of society it is strange to me. But now I think to go from Vietnam to France to America is like that we go from this room to others in a house. We in reality have never gone anywhere, we are still in the universal house, day after day, year after year.
So, If you are in the universal house, what will you create, what will you plan? "
Next time i write i'll be in Japan. bye
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Hu Truc's Dukkha Speech
I have this friend in Hanoi who is a buddhist monk. He has reclused himself. He really likes to write, and i pulled this excerpt out, because i think it's particularly great. He says a lot of great stuff, so try to bear with his english.
"(Suffering: "đau kho" in Vietnamese, dukkha in Pali language. I will use word "dukkha").
Many people see dukkha like a disease so usually oppose or avoid it, but dukkha can also be seen to similar a friend. Perhaps when we contact dukkha, we should think ourselves like spies. Spies are humans who act in the enemy’s lap, but they treat opponents like comrades and treat comrades like opponents. Dukkha is a friend, this friend help us to awake before the impermanent rule of the universe.
There is a story in Buddhism as follows: Once upon a time, there is a young mother whose child was died. She very suffered, all day to hug the body of dead child in her lap and lull it. She did not allow people to bury the dead child. She always think that the child still live on the earth. A month had elapsed, someone had compassion then pointed her to meet Buddha who was known as a person that could doctor all disease, so she could hope her child would revive. The young mother very rejoiced, she went to Buddha instantly. She talked her story with Buddha and implored Buddha for a kind of medicine which could revive her child. Buddha told her "You go to find a seed of mustard what is in any families its three generations haven't got any dead humans and bring it for me. I would revive your child". The woman acted on Buddha’s advice. She went from this family to other but there was not any families its three generations hadn’t got dead humans. At last the woman came back to meet Buddha and said: "I could not find a kind of mustard what is in the family its three generations haven’t got any dead humans, but I found a thing that is any humans must also die". Then the woman buried her dead child and asked permission of Buddha to become a Buddhist nun. Afterwards she reached the peak of the Way.
There is a thing to be pulled out from this story: The death of the woman’s child is just the thing that brought the woman to the Way and help her to leave the false port of call (Ben me) and to escape Samsara (Luan hoi). That death is called as a mean in Buddhism. In the general way, dukkha (suffering) or forms of dukkha are means of enlightenment. Several times I wonder why there are humans who have conditions about wealthy, status, knowledge than others but they couldn’t go on the Way as humans who have ever met deprivation and misery in life.
Sometimes, you feel like you are swept away by the flood waters; sometimes you feel like is an abyss opens its mouth and drags you into it; sometimes you feel like as a wounded animal and fall into a trap, etc. So in this journey, remember that you are an observer, not an activist. You shouldn’t participate in these scene and only observe them calmly, objectively. If you participate in them, you will have feels such as lust, hate, infatuated, sad, lonely, etc, or you want to demolish, forget, flee; thus, the journey would to have to stop and you would be stuck at somewhere in your past and your inside… What will happen if we really go to the underworld and suddenly be stuck in there?"
Amen, Hu.
"(Suffering: "đau kho" in Vietnamese, dukkha in Pali language. I will use word "dukkha").
Many people see dukkha like a disease so usually oppose or avoid it, but dukkha can also be seen to similar a friend. Perhaps when we contact dukkha, we should think ourselves like spies. Spies are humans who act in the enemy’s lap, but they treat opponents like comrades and treat comrades like opponents. Dukkha is a friend, this friend help us to awake before the impermanent rule of the universe.
There is a story in Buddhism as follows: Once upon a time, there is a young mother whose child was died. She very suffered, all day to hug the body of dead child in her lap and lull it. She did not allow people to bury the dead child. She always think that the child still live on the earth. A month had elapsed, someone had compassion then pointed her to meet Buddha who was known as a person that could doctor all disease, so she could hope her child would revive. The young mother very rejoiced, she went to Buddha instantly. She talked her story with Buddha and implored Buddha for a kind of medicine which could revive her child. Buddha told her "You go to find a seed of mustard what is in any families its three generations haven't got any dead humans and bring it for me. I would revive your child". The woman acted on Buddha’s advice. She went from this family to other but there was not any families its three generations hadn’t got dead humans. At last the woman came back to meet Buddha and said: "I could not find a kind of mustard what is in the family its three generations haven’t got any dead humans, but I found a thing that is any humans must also die". Then the woman buried her dead child and asked permission of Buddha to become a Buddhist nun. Afterwards she reached the peak of the Way.
There is a thing to be pulled out from this story: The death of the woman’s child is just the thing that brought the woman to the Way and help her to leave the false port of call (Ben me) and to escape Samsara (Luan hoi). That death is called as a mean in Buddhism. In the general way, dukkha (suffering) or forms of dukkha are means of enlightenment. Several times I wonder why there are humans who have conditions about wealthy, status, knowledge than others but they couldn’t go on the Way as humans who have ever met deprivation and misery in life.
Sometimes, you feel like you are swept away by the flood waters; sometimes you feel like is an abyss opens its mouth and drags you into it; sometimes you feel like as a wounded animal and fall into a trap, etc. So in this journey, remember that you are an observer, not an activist. You shouldn’t participate in these scene and only observe them calmly, objectively. If you participate in them, you will have feels such as lust, hate, infatuated, sad, lonely, etc, or you want to demolish, forget, flee; thus, the journey would to have to stop and you would be stuck at somewhere in your past and your inside… What will happen if we really go to the underworld and suddenly be stuck in there?"
Amen, Hu.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Sussed.
Just finished moving and storing everything, and the implications are now starting to hit me. I just now realized that as of today, all i am expected to do is tons of really fun things. For a really long time. It's a great feeling. Sorry Becky.
Monday, December 11, 2006
My New Soviet Camera
So i just got this sweet Soviet camera from the '50's. It's all die cast, with a metal lens cap and cyrillic lettering all over it. I'll take a picture of it soon. It came in its original box, too. Now i'm going to see what kind of photos it takes...
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