Kingdom Kaohsiung

... etta Manilassa kuulemma tulvii ja pari miljoonaa ihmista on menettanyt kotinsa (Presidentin linnasta oli onneksi jaettu perunalastupusseja kotinsa menettaneille) mutta nyt Taiwanin etelaosia on lahestymassa jokin jota esim. CNN:lla kutsuttiin "Supertornadoksi". Suunnitelmissamme onkin nyt paeta huomenissa takaisin Taipeihin josta tarkoituksena lentaa (mikali mahdollista) Filippiinien sisasaaristoon..

Puun ja kuoren valissa.

-I-

The formal, class-oriented portion of my time here has ended, and today is my last day here at Fo Guang Shan. Today, though we were granted a free day for packing (still haven't done it), we were still required to wake up for morning TaiJi and meditation. Some of us were hoping to go into Gaoxiong today to pick up some more appropriate cultural tour clothes, but Yifa shut us down. As such, we are still required to go to ...

... br>Activity class: A nun came to teach us about Dharma instruments, brought a bunch of other singing venerables, performed a bunch of chants. It was very awesome, she taught us drumming patterns and gave us two free CDs. Afterward, we had personal project time [if I haven't mentioned it before, my personal project is about the monastery "zoo" and how animals fit in to Buddhist ethics]. Our third group member is sick, so Jean and I made the journey to the zoo alone. We had to ...

[Note: this entry may largely be incomplete. It's been quite hard to keep up writing, especially during the first few days. Please refer to www.woodenfish.org to view my daily schedule.]

Today was both pleasant and painful, at least by my standards. Where to begin? This day seems to have lasted a week. I have to open the manual just to figure it out. We awoke at 5:30am, dressed and lined up for ...

... We stop for a coffee at Donutes - that is correct. Donutes. As we are sitting there, a lady walks by and does a double take of me. Looking at me really closely. That was hilarious as well. We take a cab back to the metro and head back to the house. Tonight for dinner, we are meeting kafe JoJo (coffee uncle), his wife, and his daughter and husband for pork hot pot. We arrive. I am the only foreigner in the place ...

... man ate very much of the contents of his lunch box. The rest of our talks go well, and we actually finish on time. There were many fewer questions than we answered in Taipei, which certainly helped our time schedule. Nearly all the questions were from professors, and it appeared that the student were too shy to ask questions, or maybe thought they would embarrass themselves. Either way, I have no doubt that when questions were asked by the audience ...

... in. The pasta descriptions were like "spaghetti with milk and chicken" or "spaghetti with pork". Shuying talked Patrick into taking her in the back to see the kitchen and off they went. Melinda and I noticed a table near by us had a basket of what looked like french fries. Ok, at least we have a fall back choice. Patrick and Shuying returned about 5 mins later saying that the milk sauce for the chicken is really butter, and that there is definitely not a spaghetti marinara. There ...

... taiwanesisch reden. Es gibt ausserdem sehr viele auslaendische Missionare hier, die immer im doppelpack mit weissem Hemd und blauer Hose durch die Gegend radeln und Leute anquatschen. Auch ich wurde schon oft fuer einen Missionar gehlaten...einfach weil ich Auslaender bin. Allgemein habe ich das Gefuehl, dass wenn die Leute hier christlich sind, dass sie es dann auch leben, d.h. in die Kirche gehen, die Biebel lesen und an Gott glauben, denn noch ...

... zum Abend tot. Am Abend trifft sich dann moeglichst ganze Familie, bei manchen Bekannten sind das an die 20 Leute, zum gemeinsamen "NianYeFan" (Nejahrs-Vorabend-Essen). Da gibt es auch unbedingt Fisch und die Gaben von dem Goettertisch. Es wird sehr viel aufgetischt und es geht heiter und gesellig zu ... es muss aber auf jeden Fall etwas uebrig bleiben, als Zeichen dafuer, dass man's hat. Nach dem Essen wuenscht man sich "Gong xi, gong xi, fa ...

... your very essence, and it is immediately accessible to you as the feeling of your own presence, the realization I am ..." 12/13 [Descartes: 'I think therefore I am'] "He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identity with thinking. ..." "Thinking has become a disease. ... It is not so much that you use your mind wrongly - you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. ..." "I don't quite agree. It ...