Beijing Ho!

A fine couple of days in Beijing! Our third full day here, having officially bested jet lag, we set out on the subway from Dreams Travel Hostel on Jiaodaokou Street in central Beijing, and surfaced at the giant front gate of the Forbidden City, upon which hangs a giant portrait of beloved Chairman Mao Zedong; across the busy street in Tiananmen Square, a large proud hammer & sickle in a big red circle proclaims 90 years of communism - 1921 - 2011 - and still going strong....

The Forbidden City, the six-hundred-year-old well-preserved architecture of a bygone era, was the home to the opulent and lordly Emperors of China from c.1400 AD through the early 20th century, to say nothing of the Empresses and the Imperial concubines, as well as all the other assorted hundreds (perhaps thousands) of court officials and people who made the royal city run.... The giant open courtyards, the huge palace buildings, the sprawling gardens, all give off a highly imposing vibration, definitely on the same scale as the feel in Washington D.C., and with a ghostly emptiness that makes one wonder just what this place really looked and felt like when IT was in full swing? Where did all the officials and courtly people live, and how many folks were hanging out in the giant open spaces? What did they do during a given day? The enormous remains of the Imperial world give scant clues as to how the Forbidden City might have appeared to a fly-on-the-wall observer back in ITs heyday.... The musty old beds speak silently of Imperial trysts in midnight hours long past, and the fine palace halls boast empty chairs and foodless dinnerware, with a sedate guard seated on the side to maintain the unbroken security of these abandoned manses....

As we walked towards the Night Market, we happened by a couple of guys doing the colorful painting on an ornate building awning.... One guy was doing coloration, and the other was in the blank-canvas stage of painting mountainscapes in white panels on the awning's side.... IT was truly a treat to experience the creation of artistry in a spot that would beautify a public edifice; IT reminded me that back "home" in NYC, most "nice" buildings would never have hand-painted art as an outside decoration, and we were witnessing the creation of pieces that might adorn the space for years to come! The gentleman laughed when he noticed us and seemed happy to have an audience.... and kept right on painting, smiling back at us when he would stop to re-blacken his brush....

At the Night Market nearby what appeared to be the Times Square of Beijing, we were presented with an immense line of food vendors, all shouting to lure in the passerby, and touting such delicacies as: whole baby sharks on a stick, snakes on a stick, toasted silkworms on a stick, octopus tentacles on a stick, sea urchins, starfish, and a hundred other weird things i can't remember.... we declined for the moment....

In the Foreign Language Bookstore, we amused the girls who helped us look for Chinese language books and maps of China, and Tiffany asked two teenage boys near the registers to give me a Chinese name.... they came up with Luólán, which means violet (the flower), and i thanked them and accepted IT with grace, although several folks have been laughing at me, now that i have a girl's Chinese name....

A quick dip down a bustling sidestreet brought the disturbing sight of dozens of live wriggling scorpions impaled on kebab sticks, for sale at the kebab-style food stands.... just stuck on there, waving their little pincers and legs and stinging anything within reach with their curled tails.... For me, the irony of such a dangerous little critter reduced to this degree of helplessness was lost in the sheer cruelty and piteousness of their circumstance....

The night was capped off by a wonderful jiao zi (dumpling) meal at Xiàn Láo Man, a restaurant near our hostel, where upon our return, rather than being turned out at noon the next day as we thought would be the case, we discovered that we would be able to book an extra two nights! We were suitably psyched....

The next day.... the Temple Of Heaven! A beautiful park with ornate temples south of Tiananmen Square, where the emperors used to come to do ceremonies and stand at the center of the universe on a huge white circular platform.... During our wandering, we saw an older gentleman writing script characters on the ground with water, with a long sponge-tipped stick.... i did my "shòu" character with his permission, and he and another knowledgeable gentleman corrected my handiwork.... such an honor! Later on our walk, Tiffany saw people there in the park swirling long cloths on sticks in beautiful circles (rhythmic gymnastics?), and brought us over to check them out.... before long, we had each bought one from the lady selling them! What a great toy! IT's beautiful, fun, and guarantees smiles and happiness and friendly faces wherever you might choose to play with IT! You just can't say that about too many things.... and the guitar is another one of them! Now i've got two friend-making toys....!

Kites with brightly colored lights on the bottoms looked like crazy UFO's over the Temple Of Heaven in the darkening dusk.... And as we departed, a boom box played the loud strains of a Chinese waltz song as many couples danced cheek-to-cheek in the open space by the park gates.... ;-)

Being Human!

The Human Being is an amazing entity, the wonderful capabilites of which we are not yet fully aware as a species.... The wisdom and science of how to advance the human being has been passed down in forms specific to each culture, forms that all describe the conscious relationship between our heart-mind and the enormous energy ambient and available around us at all times....

If we were to discover blueprints and explanation of how to build and operate an aeronautic vehicle that were thousands of years old, we would all be amazed! Yet since the blueprints and operation of the human form are essentially energetic, with very little tangible material besides ritual and behavior to "hold on to", IT has taken a long time for humanity to begin to "get a hold of" the understanding which has been transmitted for ages.... A long time for amazement to set in....

i do not yet understand how to operate my human form; but IT is pure magic to have the opportunity to learn! Each of us humans is beautifully blessed to be in relationship with this material form, to be molded into as incredible an experience as we see fit, as we choose to learn and grow in understanding of who we are and what we can do.... Be thankful for being human, thankful for this learning experience; embrace IT with all the heart, for there be things in store for us, the likes of which we cannot yet imagine....!

Into The Wild?

.... i will be on a plane in ten hours, bound on a quick stopover in Honolulu for my last of two Japanese Encephalitis shots.... the following morning, i will be on a plane bound for Manila in the Phillippines, connecting to a final flight to Beijing in China, there to meet dear Tiffany in the Capital International Airport, as her flight gets in two hours prior to mine, and then to the Dream Travels Hostel to find dear Chris Mandel, to be the Three American Musketeers for a couple of days....

This is all the facts.... the reality? i have no idea what to expect; i have only the strong sense that everything will be just fine, because i have absolutely no agency in this matter of the travels of my life.... i move my body around and make base-level decisions about where to go and what to do, all guided every second by attention (ha ha.... hopefully) to the circumstances surrounding me.... and i have continually proven myself sorely lacking in the awareness department concerning such things.... Therefore, we may see what a critically enormous role my learning to be AWARE is, expressed in why this journey is happening in the first place....

My stuff - my gear - is a monkey on my back.... well, a pack on my back, anyway! Yes, i will spend a bunch of energy "tying my camel" as Willow says, making sure my "stuff" is "safe", and IT will energetically tie me to the material plane as i go.... Will this help me? Hinder me? i suppose IT's perfect at this time because i have IT; and when IT's time (if IT's time) for IT and i to part ways, then i must understand this to be the case.... The prime directive is to understand that this may happen! May not happen as well! Fifty-fifty, i have to be ready to have nothing, just as much as i eagerly and readily possess these shackling objects upon which i place the importance of the comfortable maintenance of my corporeal existence....

i am afraid.... and i am afraid of nothing....

i embrace.... and i embrace nothing....

i love so hard, and love with such spite and bitter gall.... and i love nothing

Where is the watcher? The stranger behind my eyes? Who will stay when all has turned to dust?

i cannot imagine letting go of everything; and yet, IT seems like the only fruitful position.... nothing ever plays out as i expect, so let my expectations be left behind with the already-read books and formats of the past.... The frontier remains ahead, hovering in the distance - the experiential reality of life in the world beyond.... Forge ahead without fear, for the shades wish to drape themselves over open attentive eyes, filtering agenda and propagandizing obedient zombery.... There is naught to fear in these, for the shades' only power is in their own realm, and their illusions are without substance in this.... Naught to fear in this, and the clarity of renunciation only serves to shine through the draping shades.... Naught to fear....

Mahalo Maui!

What a wonderful couple of days! Yesterday, Willow kindly took me to the most beautiful spot i've been on this island, a hidden tourist-unknown called Woodrose Falls; out in the jungle a little ways, IT was amazingly beautiful - exactly the way i had pictured Hawai'i in my mind! Giant jungle trees wrapped in vines, with lush foliage and flowers opening up into a clearing of a large pool with a rushing waterfall pouring down from the cliff above.... In the background, the walls of a recessed grotto in the cliff wall shimmered in the sunlight coming from above the trees.... Truly a magical spot, and to be anointed with the waters from the falls after a short swim was truly an honor....

Today, Willow brought me to the powerful 'Iao Valley, with ITs lush mountains draped in mist and shrouding clouds.... a majestic area, and walking through ITs forests of guava, avocado, and mangos, river totems, grand old trees with hundreds of years of stories to tell brought an immediate connection with the 'aina.... We wrapped rocks in ti leaves, put prayers into them, and laid them at the foot of a big grandfather boulder with a sacred figure carved in the bottom.... Willow swam in the 'Iao Stream and i ate lunch on a big rock in the middle of the water....

Later, we met Julie, her mom Paulette, Willow's mom Lilli, and their friend Sukaynah down on the south shore at Po'olenalena Beach for one of the most glorious sunsets since i've been here (and there's been some great ones!).... We sang in harmonies and loved the time together....

IT has been a blessing to be here! Many thanks to Willow for the initial suggestion and the kind facilitation, to Julie Habibah for her wonderful friendship, and everyone else who has made me feel so welcome and right at home here on the Island Of Valleys.... perhaps i shall return some day, if IT be the will of the universe.... and if so, i shall return with gladness in my heart! <3

This life cannot be measured in pleasure or pain; neither too in habits, nor novelty.... To release is to give away all that is cherished, and to learn how to truly say goodbye....

Help On The Way

The following is a communication from an old student of mine, who has been studying Zen abroad for the past year or two; his assistance is timely and helpful, and i publish IT here in hopes that IT may assist others as well....

Let things achieve harmony on their own, according to their natural traits. By interfering, even in the name of "improvement", well-intentioned efforts may actually remove a phenomenon from its natural course - and ultimately cause harm. When the mind is overworked without stop, it becomes worried, and worry causes exhaustion. The existent is begotten of the non-existent. So we have the statement "what is" comes from that "which is not"; "form" comes from the "formless"; the "material" comes from the "immaterial". It is something in this way that we can find the true meaning of wu wei. It is not negative, but something positive.

It is difficult to know when to be still and when to make decisions. The best course of action no matter what, is to just not be picky or choosy. Trust in the effect of selflessness and detachment. Stop and see. There are two ways that I refer to when I say stop. One is to stop during action when needs have been met. The other is to refrain from moving away from the current moment in hurry or haste because of desire. There is a time to move on, and a time to be still. A time to take action, and a time to stop action.

IT always is known. YOU have always known IT. Our reason forgets IT. Reasoning is not necessary. We are afraid of trusting. Trusting each other, trusting the world, trusting animals even. Trust is when you give up selfishness. IT doesn't matter what happens. IT is all synchronized, all connected. You helped me when I was in school. I didn't even understand really why I was interested in IT back then. The Buddha proclaimed that the first thing he realized when he became enlightened is that everyone else is of Buddha nature/Christ consciousness as well, but we insist on our desires. We ignorantly run from pain, chasing pleasure in its stead. Renounce both and bliss remains, because IT is able to be seemingly perfectly spontaneous. We call it spontaneous because we are not consciously deciding to do it.

Shifts

i must let all thought, feeling, idea and vision of "my" place in the greater scheme of things be borne away on the winds; "my" usefulness will be revealed to me in clearly marked waypoints, and more than attention for these is not required in terms of personal effort.... As far as music is concerned, i love to play music, and if the universe wishes me to play publicly for folks, i will be happy to do so.... let IT be known