Waehrend den vorgangenen 200 Jahren hat mann ueberall die absolute Vorherrschaft der griechisch-roemischen Kultur gesehen. Plus tard, les medias, ils sont arrives. 特に映画だ。その中に沢山の美しいブロンドある。Un mot: Hollywood!
Une copine de l'ecole, elle m'a dit, quand un Asiantique sort avec un(e) Blanc(he), c'est "dating up". ほんと? =) Es gibt viele asiatische Maedchen, die nur kaukasische Maenner suchen, peut-etre, comme les filles qui cherchent des types avec "a house in the Hamptons". 白人の恋人がほしかったり、金がほしかったり、亜細亜の女が大好きだったり、違わないね, n'est-ce pas? =) Un mot: -diggers!
Mir klingen alle weibliche Stimmen sexy, auf deutsch, 日本語で, en francais, 中国語で, et cetera. どんな訛りか、il n'y a pas de difference. Warum hat der asiatische Akzent einen starken Klang des "fobbiness", aber l'accent francais, sexy? Un accent, c'est une fausse prononciation. 人によって、フランス語がセクシかどうか、違うよ。Quatre mots: just say it right!
Moi, だれ? Un mot: fobulous!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Yellow Fever, Accents, and Fobbiness
Friday, October 27, 2006
What's Being Chinese?
Being Chinese is:
1) knowing Chinese culture
2) understanding Chinese culture
3) accepting all or the majority of Chinese culture.
and/or
4) being an ethnic Han Chinese person.
Culture is the philosophical essence of an ethnic group. It evolves constantly, so is the definition of Chinese. I am not knowledgeable enough to generalize what the philosophical essence of Han Chinese is. If I am forced to, the various philosophical schools from 475 to 221 BC (commonly known in Chinese as 诸子百家), especially Confucianism, and Taoism, plus the later imported Buddhism are the foundations of Chinese culture.
Some just know Chinese history without fully understanding it; some do understand Chinese philosophies but reject them outright for various reasons, while others practice Chinese traditions without even knowing its heritage or origin.
You can be partially Chinese (philosophically, of course), and the majority of us are in this highly globalized and diversified world, which is a good thing.
1) knowing Chinese culture
2) understanding Chinese culture
3) accepting all or the majority of Chinese culture.
and/or
4) being an ethnic Han Chinese person.
Culture is the philosophical essence of an ethnic group. It evolves constantly, so is the definition of Chinese. I am not knowledgeable enough to generalize what the philosophical essence of Han Chinese is. If I am forced to, the various philosophical schools from 475 to 221 BC (commonly known in Chinese as 诸子百家), especially Confucianism, and Taoism, plus the later imported Buddhism are the foundations of Chinese culture.
Some just know Chinese history without fully understanding it; some do understand Chinese philosophies but reject them outright for various reasons, while others practice Chinese traditions without even knowing its heritage or origin.
You can be partially Chinese (philosophically, of course), and the majority of us are in this highly globalized and diversified world, which is a good thing.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
First Cause
The establishment of First Cause is critical to judaeo-christian concepts and Hinduism. However, according to Buddhism, the time and space is limitless. So first cause seems unnecessary.
In time, there is no beginning or end. In space, there is no limits or boundaries.
The universe is, some would say, finite yet expanding. If it is, what's outside the candy wraps? What's "nothingness"? To me, we are like holding a flashlight in an infinitely large dark room. The area where the light reaches is defined as the known universe or the knowable universe. However, and the universe expands, there is no qualitative difference between the unknowable "nothingness" and the barely knowable edge of the universe. The "nothingness" is simply the potentially knowable universe. Together, the space, which includes the knowable and unknowable universe, is infinite.
Time will go on. There is no "end of the time". Although infinity is a concept difficult for a human mind to fathom or visualize, we accept its existence, as in math where there is no the biggest or the smallest number. So it's reasonable to accept that there is no beginning of the time or space.
Hence, the first cause is irrelevant. In other words, God is irrelevant.
In time, there is no beginning or end. In space, there is no limits or boundaries.
The universe is, some would say, finite yet expanding. If it is, what's outside the candy wraps? What's "nothingness"? To me, we are like holding a flashlight in an infinitely large dark room. The area where the light reaches is defined as the known universe or the knowable universe. However, and the universe expands, there is no qualitative difference between the unknowable "nothingness" and the barely knowable edge of the universe. The "nothingness" is simply the potentially knowable universe. Together, the space, which includes the knowable and unknowable universe, is infinite.
Time will go on. There is no "end of the time". Although infinity is a concept difficult for a human mind to fathom or visualize, we accept its existence, as in math where there is no the biggest or the smallest number. So it's reasonable to accept that there is no beginning of the time or space.
Hence, the first cause is irrelevant. In other words, God is irrelevant.
Why Evil?
Interesting question. Simple answers:
1) no God at all.
2) God died or is taking a very long vacation in a galaxy far far away.
3) a naughty God.
Thanks, but no thanks.
There IS an omni-this, omni-that, and omni-again God. Well, things become not so simple.
Why us? Why our existence? God was bored. We are his private picture show. So evil in this world is just maya, not real. But apparently entertaining. So He is at least sadistic.
What if evil is real?
Then "evil" is not "evil", but an incomprehensible event. If that's true, how can we comprehend "goodness"? When "good" things happen, it's Him. When "bad" things happen, well...we don't know what really happened. Well, that's not really "bad" per se. If so, was that really "good" per se? No good or bad, no heaven or hell. Sweet like a song.
Well, there is a Plan. "bad things" might have happened, but it's the Plan. We are not equipped to understand the grand scheme, so just suck it up! Quite convincing, isn't it? So far, la grande schema hasn't really unfolded itself for the last 2,000 years. I wish I could just live a little longer to see it happen.
Three strikes.
How about another simple answer: God designs, builds, but meddles not. Just ask George, Thomas and Benjamin.
1) no God at all.
2) God died or is taking a very long vacation in a galaxy far far away.
3) a naughty God.
Thanks, but no thanks.
There IS an omni-this, omni-that, and omni-again God. Well, things become not so simple.
Why us? Why our existence? God was bored. We are his private picture show. So evil in this world is just maya, not real. But apparently entertaining. So He is at least sadistic.
What if evil is real?
Then "evil" is not "evil", but an incomprehensible event. If that's true, how can we comprehend "goodness"? When "good" things happen, it's Him. When "bad" things happen, well...we don't know what really happened. Well, that's not really "bad" per se. If so, was that really "good" per se? No good or bad, no heaven or hell. Sweet like a song.
Well, there is a Plan. "bad things" might have happened, but it's the Plan. We are not equipped to understand the grand scheme, so just suck it up! Quite convincing, isn't it? So far, la grande schema hasn't really unfolded itself for the last 2,000 years. I wish I could just live a little longer to see it happen.
Three strikes.
How about another simple answer: God designs, builds, but meddles not. Just ask George, Thomas and Benjamin.
God must exist in Buddhism
The biggest challenge any God-worshipping religion faces is the existence of evil. What Buddhism attracts me is its doctrine that there exists no God.
Buddha is no God, but an enlightened human, and any human has the potential of enlightenment and becoming a Buddha. Everything in this world, or any previous worlds and upcoming ones, is determined by causality. Good deeds lead to good karma, and bad deeds, bad karma. All the karma will settle up eventually, with no exceptions. This is essentially what Buddhism is to me.
All is good and dandy, except for three things.
One, who has decided what's good and what's bad? With the moral absolutism here, there must be a supreme lawgiver who has already laid out all the ground rules: murdering is bad but donating is good, and such. So that good karma can be rewarded, and bad one, punished.
Two, who is making sure the karma will be dealt with, eventually? Causality doesn't mean that life is predetermined. It means that things happen for a reason. Your greed for money makes you kill a breadwinner for money, whose family may fall into mishap because of the incident. However, there is another level of causality here. Your evil deed creates a bad karma which will determine your future punishment, which could happen in this life or many lives later. Now, who is keeping track of it? Since it's not a direct physical, psychological or physiological effect, there got to be some super Pentium X somewhere recording it.
However, that's only half of the task. We want to make sure the due punishment (or reward) will be delivered someday. So a very good accountant is not enough. The super Pentium X also needs to meddle in so that certain conditions suffice for the punishment/reward to materialize. That's a tough gig. Third thing, that it.
So, for Buddhism to work, we need someone to set the rules of the games, keep tallies, and do a lot of meddling. That's a toughie for any human being...
Buddha is no God, but an enlightened human, and any human has the potential of enlightenment and becoming a Buddha. Everything in this world, or any previous worlds and upcoming ones, is determined by causality. Good deeds lead to good karma, and bad deeds, bad karma. All the karma will settle up eventually, with no exceptions. This is essentially what Buddhism is to me.
All is good and dandy, except for three things.
One, who has decided what's good and what's bad? With the moral absolutism here, there must be a supreme lawgiver who has already laid out all the ground rules: murdering is bad but donating is good, and such. So that good karma can be rewarded, and bad one, punished.
Two, who is making sure the karma will be dealt with, eventually? Causality doesn't mean that life is predetermined. It means that things happen for a reason. Your greed for money makes you kill a breadwinner for money, whose family may fall into mishap because of the incident. However, there is another level of causality here. Your evil deed creates a bad karma which will determine your future punishment, which could happen in this life or many lives later. Now, who is keeping track of it? Since it's not a direct physical, psychological or physiological effect, there got to be some super Pentium X somewhere recording it.
However, that's only half of the task. We want to make sure the due punishment (or reward) will be delivered someday. So a very good accountant is not enough. The super Pentium X also needs to meddle in so that certain conditions suffice for the punishment/reward to materialize. That's a tough gig. Third thing, that it.
So, for Buddhism to work, we need someone to set the rules of the games, keep tallies, and do a lot of meddling. That's a toughie for any human being...
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