Stygian Horizons

I’ve finally gotten all of the photos from my trip online–well, the ones I’m going to be posting anyway, there are thousands of them all together! Click “Mongol-China Adventure 2007″ in the right column or the banner below to view the photos. Soon I’ll be adding some commentary and photo explanations, though the photos by themselves will have to suffice for now.

Filed by Chris 大斌 at 5:19 pm under China 中国, Mongolia, Photography, World Wanderings
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In this heart will you dwell
Forever as one—strength and fallibility
In the overflowing pool of emotions
Forever circulating—love and memory

Toward the eternal dark of night I look
Its void—the celestial majesty—seen
Into the depths of starlit oneness I venture
Your gaze-—warm yet piercing—draws me

Betrayed by its logical nature
My mind struggles to contain your mystery
Heart’s wisdom overcomes the struggle …
Humble purveyor of love and serenity

The taste of your name on my lips
Brings a sweetened quickening of breath
Your pale moon face forever in mind
Memory calls forth every groove and plane

Many fair faces have these eyes seen
Always come and go … have come and gone
Though in this night sky yours will ever be
As the full moon pales the stars with its sheen

Filed by Chris 大斌 at 11:59 am under Adventures In Poetry
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It’s official … I will be returning to China this summer!!!

I’ll be leaving either June 16th or 17th, and will be accompanied by he who is called Ross. First we’re going to hit up Beijing for several days, then head up to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, for about 12 days. After that we’ll head back into China and make for Xi’an, where I was volunteering summer, 2005. We’ll stay in Xi’an for about 15 days, for where my feelers bare out to see if I can’t land me an English teaching job. After Xi’an we’re gonna make the journey to Lhasa, in Tibet, and stay there for about a week or so.

If I don’t get a job in Xi’an, at this point we’ll both head back to Beijing from Lhasa and fly out on August 5th or 6th. If I do get a job, though, I’ll head back to Xi’an after Lhasa and see what happens.

Don’t worry, I’ll be posting some pictures and anecdotes of our shenanigans.

Filed by Chris 大斌 at 4:13 pm under General
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I’ve joined a Chinese language meetup group on the site meetup.com, and my first meetup with the group took place at the 2006 Moon Festival at Colima Hong Kong Plaza in Rowland Heights. The festival itself seemed a bit too commercial for my tastes, but all in all it was a fun experience. It was really great to connect up and be a part of some of the Chinese culture here in Southern California. I met a lot of great people in the group and look forward to meeting up with them more in the future.

The best part of the day was at the restaurant in the plaza. I don’t remember the name of the place, but it had some of the most authentic Chinese food I’ve ever eaten in the States. It actually tasted like the food in China! You can see some pictures from the Moon Festival by clicking the images below.

Filed by Chris 大斌 at 3:33 pm under General, Photography
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Incarnation in the form of Bhaisajyaguruvaidūryaprabha, or Medicine Buddha, the Supreme Healer.

Tibetan Buddhists consider the Medicine Buddha Empowerment to be the most powerful blessing for healing, dispelling sickness and for awakening the innate healing wisdom that lies within every individual.

This is the long version of the Medicine Buddha Mantra in Sanskrit:

Om Namo Bhagavate Bhaishajyaguru Vaidūryaprabharājāya Tathāgatāya Arhate Samyaksambuddhāya Tadyathā: Om Bhaishajye Bhaishajye Mahābhaishajye Bhaishajye Rāja Samudgate Svāhā

This is the short version of the Medicine Buddha Mantra, which is known as the Medicine Budddha Heart Mantra:

(Tadyathā) Om Bhaishajye Bhaishajye Mahābhaishajye Bhaishajye Rāja Samudgate Svāhā

The Medicine Buddha mantra is held to be extremely powerful for healing of physical illnesses and purification of negative karma. One form of practice based on the Medicine Buddha is done when one is striken by disease. The patient is to recite the long Medicine Buddha mantra 108 times over a glass of water. The water is now believed to be blessed by the power of the mantra and the blessing of the Medicine Buddha himself, and the patient is to drink the water. The practice should be repeated each day until the illness is cured.

Tibetan Buddhism also teaches that the Medicine Buddha mantra can be used to liberate the animals one eats. The practice involves reciting the Medicine Buddha mantra and then blowing on the meat. It is held that the dead animal, wherever it has been reborn, will be liberated from its suffering and reborn into a happy existence.

Incarnation in the form of Toshiro Mifune, legendary master of classic japanese film, whose powerful performances inspire me greatly in life.

Filed by Chris 大斌 at 3:28 am under Photography, Reflections
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