...is the second birthday

Call me Mr. Free Radical

Rely on the right stuff

No Fear

Spider's web

When I woke up this morning, the pale rays of the dawning sun were shining through a web that a spider had spun between a thanka, a bunch of incense and the top end of a candle on the altar. In itself, that wouldn't be too curious at all- the incense "stupa", for instance, is ritual and is never lit anyway. What makes it interesting, though, is that I had lit the candle right after I had put it in the stand just before going to bed last night. Therefore, the spider must have attached the strings of his creation to an already burning candle! How is this for building your worldview on a shaky ground?

The candle has now still another couple of centimeters to burn, and the string is miraculously still intact, descending with how the candle burns. Yet, soon it will reach the stand, the flame will keep burning until there is no wax left, and the stand will be heated to an extremely high temperature. Is that what the spider counted on from the beginning? Is he so sure that his silk will stand the heat?

I'll see when I come back in the afternoon.

Sry...

Sorry, been busy, and will be, for a while.

With what?

Some of the reasons:

Notes on the Brief Dudjom Tersar Ngöndro
by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche

Ushnisha Vijaya Puja

Coming:

Uttaratantra of Arya Maitreya
teaching by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

宗薩欽哲仁波切2006年臺灣弘法行程

Also, a relatively unannounced event:

Saturday, May 20, 2006 7:30 p.m.
"Parting from the Four Attachments"
lecture by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
at Tharig Center, Taipei

Tharig Center
3F/51, ChangAn E. Road, Section 2, Taipei City
TEL: 02-2511-8850
FAX: 02-2511-7172
Email: sakya@mail2000.com.tw


5月20日 晚上7:30 佛學講座~遠離四種執著
講授者:宗薩蔣揚欽哲仁波切

薩迦佛教法林總部 / 社團法人
中國藏密薩迦佛學研究會
地址：台北市長安東路二段51號3樓
聯絡電話：2511-8850　傳真：2511-7172
Ｅ-mail：sakya@mail2000.com.tw

Count 00012345!

The number of books translated by the whole Arab world over the past 1000 years is equivalent to the number of books translated by Spain in one year..

Little in the news can nowadays surprise me. Yet, this did.

Article in the Chronicle

Source,'ARAB HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2003'

"The aggregate total of translated books from the Al-Ma'moon era to the present day amounts to 10,000 books - equivalent to what Spain translates in a single year (Shawki Galal, in Arabic, 1999, 87)3.

I was immediately reminded of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche's remarks about "camel dust"...

12 + 1

L6petasin esimese, ametliku osa oma palverannakust: 8 paevaga 12 Sakyamuni Buddhaga seotud pyhapaika. Tihti 8 tundi paevas India bussis India teedel. Samas- kui m6tlen Buddhast, kes need vahemaad jalgsi labis, ja Khamtul Rinpoche'st, kes 80-aastasena meiega koos selle rannaku tegi, pole see ko"o"meski. Tempost hoolimata oli see s6nulseletamatult v6imas aeg.

Yleeile saabusin McLeod Ganj'i- eelnevaga v6rreldes kuurorti. Rinpoche j6udis tagasi eile. Vapustavad elamused jatkuvad, aga neist me ei raagi. Muuhulgas naen toaaknast hommikuti paikeset6usu lumistel Himaalaja tippudel ja all orus Dharamsala pisilinnas, ja teisel pool, jargmisel k6rgendikul, Dalai Lama residentsi ja templit. Eile kaisin seal tema labi viidud initsiatsioonil, kus olid ka jarjekordsed paarsada asja Tiibetist saabunud p6genikku.

Happy New Year! 新年快樂!

Yesterday's lottery

Of the 12 numbers that we had altogether, we got 1 right :D
So the point lies elsewhere.

December 19, Garje Khamtul Rinpoche's birthday

For me it kicked off with a rather dismaying surprise- when I was warming up my motorbike to go to work, out of clear sunshine it started raining, the kind of thick drizzle, so I had to rush back upstairs (I was late already) to get the waterproof outer layer for my down jacket. The sun kept on shining through the rain. Well, that I've seen- usually for a few minutes. Yet, the weather just went on doing it all through the day, and rainbows appeared, strong and clear.

Just my imagination? Illusion anyway :)

At least Lama Shenphen pointed out the rainbow when we were (sic! to create the CAUSE in addition to the CONDITIONS) buying lottery (today's jackpot was something like a billion NT$- haven't checked the numbers yet). We made a deal to split the loot. And I still have a promise to halve 50 million if I make it...

No matter what, the day was magical, one of important beginnings.

Have a fruitful stay in Bhutan, Venerable Lama Shenphen Zangpo!

A word of joy for all the fans of peace & happiness; shake & shiver, gnomes and goblins!

Some foretaste of what's coming soon:

All six

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche's
Peace Vases

destined for Estonia have landed safe and sound in Taiwan, right on my desk.

MKLVFKWR

I've gotta take my words back. Admittedly, it would be very easy- just edit them out from the previous post; but it's even better to deeply recognize your mistakes and thus receive purification, innit?

First, no bling. Puns are fun, but that was outta place in this case. Nothing bling about what was happening the other day at the Ministry of Sound Taipei- perhaps only that it was such an honor for the club to celebrate its reopening with Public Enemy, so I guess you could as well call it flashing off.

Second, however the Ministry handled the whole thing, the mere fact that they were able to bring the living legend to us weighs more than any bungle. Just a pity that because of deficient promotion so few a person could be part of the experience.

Or, possibly bling (say these words 6 times very fast!) after all- these guys are pure gold themselves. It was the best show I've seen in town, and that's almost a decade. The only comparable performance was (rap again! political again! I love these guys with a mission!) Beastie Boys' "Freedom For Tibet" gala a couple years ago in Taipei on the deserted wine factory grounds, right across from Sun Yat-Sen memorial, but because of the different premises (outdoor venue, various artists) it didn't rise to the level that Wednesday night at MoS took the people to.

I concede- I went there expecting to hear Flavor Flav, to see Terminator X behind turntables... For me, the epitome of rap has always been Public Enemy's 1988 "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back", & I've been away from it all pretty seriously, so to see a different lineup was a bit of a disappointment- but that was just a flash. The band, to be more exact, Chuck D with Professor Griff and his 7th Octave + kick-butt DJ Lord, ah, not to forget the 2 burly "military movement squad" guys, were incredible. No need for Anthrax, give us ghetto metal! The guitarist amazed, Professor's screams in "Son of a Bush" (son of a baaaaa-a-a-aad maaa-a-aan!) sent shivers down the spine, and Chuck D JUST HAS THAT PRESENCE! Call him a superstar with a cause.

Those heavy beats still ROCK!

Mr. Chuck- we've taken your word on coming back to Taipei, Taiwan!

Public Enemy No. 1- Ministry of Sound!

Dang y'all at MoS Taipei! Did I sign up for the membership just for you to give me a knuckle-draggin' 24-HOUR NOTICE before you BLING THE NOISE- PUBLIC ENEMY?! Seems that you do have all the connections, but lack motivation or sumthin'... I dunno what these grandaddies of sociopolitical rap have been up to for the past decade, but before it they produced such pearls that they deserve due RESPECT! Anthrax would be the icing on the cake :)

Hidden crouching, tigers, dragons- another reason why I love TW

Saturday night, I was riding my Kymco Custom 150 and had stopped at the traffic lights, reading the volunteer traffic policeman certificate on the rear window of a pretty dilapidated taxi in front of me- a rare sight here that.

All of a sudden the taxi backed up closer next to me. The drivers window rolled down and I heard a voice (barely catching a glimpse of the guy in the dim lights of 光復南路): "Sir, you need to repair the ignition block." He'd hit the nail in the head. I'd been meaning to have it done, but never had the chance. The driver made sure he'd driven it home: "The ignition block. A second-hand, two hundred fifty," with accompanying gestures. "Thanks a lot!" was the only thing I was able to utter at that moment. He raised his hand, the window rolled up again, the lights turned green and we went our ways.

Like a Chinese doctor who can put you a diagnosis just by looking at your face-out of the blue, he had told me the problem, the medicine and even its price, in English clear as daylight. This is one of the million reasons I just love this place. All the hidden dragons, disguised as taxi drivers, street vendors, cleaning people- you don't always see them, but you know they are there by these spontaneous appearances just as this one, and it melts your heart.

Magnetic storms KNOCKING OUT laser equipment?

Not real good days been, the past couple or so. Moooooods ain't the best. Magnetic storms, a friend says.
I was left high and dry to boot! Monday night- well, OK, Tuesday morning- I lull(aby)ed myself to sleep with a newly borrowed Karmapa CD; then, Tuesday night, even the display of the DVD/CD player had dimmed to oblivion (nyyh...).
Alrighty, decided to sleep over it- but Wednesday not only found the ENG (shall we call it ANGst? - better not, lest mistaken for a rather different kind of mistake embodied by The Boss) DVD player still in a coma, but also my laptop's CD-ROM drive refused to drive anywhere but to take the highway to hell. No music. No music. No music. Life? NNNNnnnnnn.......
So had a trip to 光滑 ;p商場 for a combo. Nice, sleek; me- happy- until I discovered the old drive had risen from the dead. Lawn of the Living Lead. So then an even happier me. Oh my.

The New Blob Is Here

This blob reflects random events, thoughts and images as they appear in my real/unreal existence. Let this be the beginning.