Xuan Zhang 2016

Xuan Zhang 2016 is not your usual “Journey to the West” movie. You won’t find flying monkeys there. Instead, you’ll find a realistic journey of an amazing Tang monk across the treacherous deserts, who spoke fluent Hindi when he was already in India and addressed the Indian monks/gurus as “Acharya” in such a respectful way. Copied to my Jianghu blog because it relates to Li Shimin (Tang Dynasty) and it gave me a thought about LOCH 2017.

I found Xuan Zhang when I was on board Singapore Airlines from Hong Kong to Singapore (part of my lag from Washington DC to Jakarta). The good thing about flying with SIA is that you’d be guaranteed to have a wide array of Asian movies to watch. This journey was not an exception. I was weighing between Xuan Zhang and another Asian movie, and in the end, boy I’m glad that I watched Xuan Zhang.

The Chinese-Indian movie was directed by Huo Jianqi, produced by Wong Kar-wai (that name I know!) and starring Huang Xiaoming as the titular character. Never seen HXM in action before, but I was very impressed with his performance as Xuan Zhang that he’s one of my favourite Mainland actors now. HXM made me thought that he was actually channelling Xuan Zhang in the movie; his serene face and wisdom were so palpable, I wondered if he actually set aside time to meditate every day before filming. Actually, I would be glad to just sit next to him, listening to him chanting the sutras...

My recent trip to Sri Lanka

In which I talked about visiting Buddhist temples, food and saree in Sri Lanka

Purple waterlilies sold outside the Dalaga Maligawa

Yesterday (19 March) was my birthday. Since I made up my mind to go to at least one place I've never been before (Star Trek really) once a year, I want to make a post on my recent trip that I really love. Last February, I had the blessings of going to Sri Lanka for a meeting. The meeting has been covered in my professional blog, so I won't cover it here. What I want to present below is instead my personal trip before and after the meeting. Sri Lanka is a truly beautiful country, and I wish I had more time to explore the island. I will definitely come again one day (hopefully for another meeting, but also with extended holiday afterwards). I fell in love with the island, and I certainly am grateful for the few friends that I knew before coming to the island (because they truly welcomed me with open arms), and also for the new friends I've made during my short one week visit in Sri Lanka.

Below are thus a series of photographs that I took during my trip. It covers my visit to the Dalaga Maligawa (Temple of Tooth Relic) in Kandy, some food fest (God, those delicious SL dishes!) and a bit of saree spree... Oh, and a bit about the traffic in Colombo, tho you can't truly "appreciate" the chaos until you set foot in Colombo. Enjoy!

A year without Dad

Taking a break from my wuxia posts (yes, this blog isn’t only about wuxia and CLH...), I’d like to take this opportunity to remember my father who passed away exactly last year. Tuesday, 25 November 2014 at around 1330 Bali time.

Has it been a year ago that my Dad passed away? It seemed so quick; almost couldn’t believe it. When I told a friend about it today, she asked me what I felt. I searched for the answer... and I found it. I was grateful. I am grateful that Dad is now in a much better state than he was one year ago. I still miss him, of course. I miss his funny comments. I don’t miss the headache he had caused me due to his ignorance... but he regretted those. And I was grateful that he had made peace with himself before he died. It was so graceful the way he left the world... and I couldn’t ask for a better ending.

Alan Tam's rendition of the Heart Sutra (Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra)

I found Alan Tam's rendition of the Heart Sutra (Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra) on YouTube after listening to "Who Can Change", his famous OST from the Fearless Duo (1984, also feat. Michael Miu and Barbara Yung). I found this rendition of the Heart Sutra very lovely, hence I put it here. The Cantonese lyrics are from Nicholas Tse's website. I found the translation from Jayarava here, complete with the Middle Chinese script and pinyin. 

Strangely enough, Jayarava's post was dated 15 May 2015, that was just a day after the 30th commemoration of Barbara Yung's death. I recently have been feeling that I haven't totally mourn her passing, hence, I dedicate this song and lyrics for Babs, the lovely girl who coloured my childhood with wonderful series. Wherever you are Barbara, may you be in peace. If you are already reborn, may your current life and the lives afterwards be beautiful and peaceful.




Heart Sutra

When Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva practiced the deep perfection of wisdom,

He saw the five aggregates as completely empty, and overcame all states of suffering.

Śāriputra, form is not different emptiness, emptiness is not different form

Form is empty, emptiness is form.

Vedanā, saṃjñā, saṃskāra, & vijñāna, are the same

Eulogy for Dad

I dreamt of my dad two nights ago, or perhaps yesterday morning. Dreams, after all, at times come at the end of our sleep, so that must have been yesterday dawn time...

In my dream, he was at a small warung at Benoa, so happened to be where we scattered his ashes last December. He was smiling at me. He said hi, and his voice was clear to me; it was indeed his voice. His humble voice after understanding his mistakes, after learning more about spirituality. He looked sad, as if he was sad to say goodbye, but he knew he needed to go. He had to go to the other dimension for his growth.

And why did Dad have to go to another dimension? Because he passed away late last year, 25 November 2014 at about 15:30 Queensland time. Yes, it was a difficult time for me... but it was relieving as well, knowing that he is now free from pain. Knowing that he is now in peace, albeit a bit sad to leave me, my sister etc. behind.

I’ve thought about posting a eulogy for him after the cremation, which was conducted in Bali on 3 December 2014. I had planned to read the eulogy to the audience during the cremation. But it never happened; it was not in the Balinese tradition to read a eulogy. Too bad, cos I think it would add a layer of personality to the whole tradition.  Since then, I had been meaning to post my eulogy in my blog. I just never made time. The dream tho, seems to suggest that I really should.

The Lover's Passion ~ Desire (Jalaluddin Rumi)

The Lover's Passion - Desire
by Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi


(original title from Deepak Chopra's CD: 'The Lover's Passion')


A lover knows only humility, he has no choice.
He steals into your alley at night, he has no choice.
He longs to kiss every lock of your hair
Don't fret,
he has no choice.
In his frenzied love for you, 
he longs to break the chains of his imprisonment,
he has no choice.

Looking for Your Face (Rumi)

The Dawn by Mahmoud Farshchian

Looking for Your Face

by Mevlana Jallaludin Rumi


From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

Year End and New Year contemplation

Sunrise in Lovina (pic by myself)

Year 2012 is ending soon, in a little more than 12 hours at our place in Australia. I’ve been pondering how 2012 has been to me, and I think, in all honesty, despite its ups and downs, 2012 has been good to me. It started rough; I had lots of tears and – thus – resolutions this year so that I won’t have to go through those painful experiences anymore. I truly hope 2013 will be better, happier, richer, healthier and sweeter for me – and for us all. 

 

Year 2012 also has many sweet things for me. In addition to realising that I do want to live my life with my partner in Australia, I also sharpened the art of making cupcakes (including the icing), immersed myself in Japanese language through J-doramas, and fell in love with some gorgeous Japanese actors (Okada Masaki! Ikuta Toma! Osamu Mukai!). I made some new friends and rekindled my friendship with my old friends. My dad was ill, and because of that, I somehow got closer to my aunt and also my dear maid who has been helping me so far.  I created my professional cetacean blog and had some good news on the cetacean side of my work. 

I do have some hopes that are not realised yet, hopefully mainly because it is not the time yet. I hope that those dreams of mine will come to fruition before mid 2013. I do have my worries, for those dreams are related to my job and how I can live my life in AU (everything here is more expensive than in Bali!). But just as I was getting worried, I found a passage in a book my friend lent me. The book is titled ‘Ocean of Dharma’ by Chogyam Trungpa. Here, I quote the entire passage for you and me (p 164), in the hope that we will always dare to dream and work to make our dreams come true.

The Secret of the Nagas

Cover to the Secret of the Nagas

Last July, I wrote this post and this post about my fascination to Amish Tripathi’s first book of the Shiva Trilogy: Immortals of Meluha. I was so impressed by it that i showed the book to one of my best friends (before reading the whole lot, actually), and I got another Amish fan. We decided to purchase the second instalment, The Secret of the Naga off eBay or Amazon. Unfortunately, the only available copies are in India, and they don’t ship overseas. Why oh why, that is the big question here.

Anyway, after bugging and begging my Indian friend, she sent me two packs of Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas from Flipkart.com. Two Nagas for myself, one Meluha for my friend, another one for her friend who wants to read it too. The books arrived last Monday. I delivered my friend’s share immediately that evening, and started reading that night. I finished the whole book in three nights, on Wednesday night (actually, half an hour after midnight of Thursday). 

Below is my review and spoilers for ‘The Secret of the Nagas’. It contains heavy spoilers, so you better stop reading if you plan to read the book without spoilers. By the way, Naga here refers to people with deformities, hence outcast by both the Suryavanshi (Meluha) and Chandravanshi (Swadweep). Naga here doesn’t mean ‘the dragon’, as is in the Indonesian language.

I’m waiting for this book...

Ramesh Menon’s Shiva Purana Retold. I’ve always wanted to read Shiva Purana, but I can’t bear the thickness of the book. Not to mention it must be expensive and laced with difficult prose. What’s the use of purchasing an expensive book without understanding its meaning? So when I found that Amazon UK offered this book for a significantly cheaper price than Amazon US, I bought it instantly from the UK site. But since the book won’t arrive until late this week (if I’m lucky), I often clicked around the ‘Look Inside’ to read the ‘Surprise Me!’ link. I found this beautiful passage that I cannot but share with you:

More reasons to love ‘Immortals of Meluha’

‘There is no “your god” or “my god”. All godliness comes from the same source. It’s just the manifestations that are different.’ ~ the Pandit of the Brahma temple.

Shiva stared at [Sati] like a parched piece of earth mesmerised by a passing rain cloud.

Sati      : Thank you for your help, foreigner. I owe you my life and you will not find me ungrateful. If you ever need my help, do call on me.

Shiva   : Can I call on you even if I don’t need your help?

(Sati: !!!

me: Laugh out loud!!!)

The Immortals of Meluha: totally recommended!

For quite some time now, I been searching for and collecting books on Shiva. I have Kramsrisch's 'The Presence of Shiva', Suzanne Fisher Staples' 'Shiva's Fire', Mohapatra's 'The Book of Shiva'... I like those books, tho Mohapatra's depiction of Shiva was the closest one to my liking. But something was lacking in that book of Shiva in the comic format. Shiva wasn't really smiling. Too serious. He was romantic alright, just the way I pictured Him to be. But he wasn't so cheerful. At least, please give him a bit smile. Shiva isn't Krishna, but at least some smiles would not hurt.

The Immortals of Meluha, the first book of The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi, gave me the Shiva I identified with the most. He did swear too much to my taste (tho I don't mind a bit of swearing, I think it’s natural for a tribal chief), but since the premise was human-turned-to-god anyway, it's not a big deal for me. Other than the swearing, I really like this Shiva. He was so humane and approachable. He made mistakes and learned from them. He became humble because of them, and rose above them. He seriously defended humanity, but he still enjoyed life and made jokes around as well, while he could. He had his demons in the past... and I hope he eventually made peace with them.

The Shiva Trilogy: Immortals of Meluha

I browsed YouTube last Saturday and found this beautiful trailer of a novel about Lord Shiva.



The book is titled The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi and was a big hit in India last year. I have ordered it yesterday, pronto, and the book is being shipped to me now. Yay! I have pre-ordered thesecond book (The Secret of the Nagas), but it won't be shipped until early August! Bummer, grumble, brumble... Oh well, at least I will receive the first book soon enough. Will make a post about it when I have finished reading it.

By the way, The Immortals of Meluha will be made into a movie, I guess this year (?) by Director Karan Johar. Lord Shiva will be played by Hritik Roshan, and Lady Sati by Vidya Balan. I am excited! See the trailers above (which is for the book, actually, not the movie) and decide for yourself!

Ame ni mo Makezu (Strong in the rain)

For the people in Japan, Japanese and non Japanese alike, we all love and pray for you...

Ame ni mo Makezu (Strong in the Rain), original poem by Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), recited by actor Ken Watanabe a year ago:



Ame ni mo Makezu (Strong in the Rain) sang by Asian artists (including Andy Lau and Jackie Chan) a year ago:



Original poem by Kenji Miyazawa:

Strong in the rain
Strong in the wind
Strong against the summer heat and snow
He is healthy and robust
Free from all desire
He never loses his generous spirit
Nor the quiet smile on his lips

He eats four “go” of unpolished rice
Miso and a few vegetables a day
He does not consider himself
In whatever occurs … his understanding
Comes from observation and experience
And he never loses sight of things

He lives in a little thatched-roof hut
In a field in the shadows of a pine tree grove
If there is a sick child in the east
He goes there to nurse the child

If there’s a tired mother in the west
He goes to her and carries her sheaves
If someone is near death in the south
He goes and says, “Don’t be afraid”

If there are strife and lawsuits in the north
He demands that the people put an end to their pettiness
He weeps at the time of drought
He plods about at a loss during the cold summer

Everybody calls him “Blockhead”
No one sings his praises
Or takes him to heart

That is the kind of person
I want to be


See also:

http://geepan.tumblr.com/post/6262399399/ken-watanabe-reads-one-of-japans-most-famous

The truth about looking within

I found a very good article online on Hubpages that I just can't resist to share with myself and you!

The Truth about Looking Within

By Enigmatic Me

In response to a fellow hubber regarding tv versus personal development :

In some people's minds the realities are that we live busy lives that are demanding on so many levels. My philosophy is a little different. Growing personally takes time, effort and demands that we look inward before looking outward. By thinking of locus of control (who/what in our lives make our lives the way they are) people become scared to admit to themselves they can be better or different. The old addage of "Do onto others as we would have them do unto you" is probably one of the toughest things to do. Not because we don't all want to be treated with respect, feel heard and listened to, have a sense of belonging (beyond our families), feel worthy and have some self esteem. No, its because we feel on times (no matter who you are and what you do in life) that someone owes us. Don't tell me you never thought "I'd let that guy get into this lane had it not been for the idiot who cut me off back there". We see the world as 'dog eat dog' instead of one long continuum of events that we have total control over. We like to give 'others' (boss, wife, husband, mother, father, brother, sister, power company, tax man) power over us as a means to blame and shirk responsibility for our own actions. That way we can justify our actions to ourselves. It makes things more palatable when things go wrong... moreso not go our way than wrong in some instances.

All of this plodding and scheming leads to a life that is comfortable, where things 'just don't go my way', where 'people are to blame', and that 'can never turn around'. For if we were to take control back from 'others' then we would have no one to blame,nothing but ourselves to fall back on. We become accountable for our way of living, our way of dealing with others, and our short comings. And really, who wants all that responsibility?? I'd rather watch CSI:NY, that way I'll see others living more crappy lives than mine, getting what they deserve because they didn't take control of who they were/what they did. We choose to live blinded by guilt, shame, disappointment, envy, greed. And it is all because we are afraid of what that accountability will mean for us in the long run, but also what that accountability will mean for situations in the past.... We were at fault. we could have done differently, we could have chosen a different path, but we were too selfish to go that path. So we chose the lazy path... one that is comfortable and easy, one that we've been living for a long time. We have little motivation to consider alternatives to our thoughts, philosophies, our beliefs, because we believe no one else is doing it... why should 'I' be the one to change... 'they' should take a good look at themselves not me.

Odd thing is that if everyone were to take a moment and rectify a wrong they had committed (no matter how big or small) then people would start thinking "hey it's okay to be accountable".... "that guy is a stand up guy"... and not only would you be changing yourself, but you'd change other peoples understanding and perception of us. Sounds like a win-win to me.

And a Youtube video by Luka Bloom that covers it very well:

Don't Be Afraid of the Light that Shines Within You



Out of the cold, dark winter space
We come together, looking for Brigids grace
We dip our open hands deep into the well
Where our rivers run to, who can tell, who can tell

We warm our hearts and faces in the heat of the burning flame
Something about our spirit never stays the same

Dont be afraid of the light that shines within you
Dont be afraid of the light that shines within you
Dont be afraid of the light that shines within you
Within you

So many lives in shadows, with so much to give away
Brilliant dreams in waiting, to see the light of day
We step up to the well at the dawn of spring time
When we go our way, we let the light shine, let your light shine

Dont be afraid of the light that shines within you
Dont be afraid of the light that shines within you
Dont be afraid of the light that shines within you
Let the light protect you
Let the light direct you
Dont be afraid
Dont be afraid
The light that shines within you.

Love and peace, everyone!

Thank you Obama for meeting His Holiness!

Okay, the meeting was done in a very private, low profile setting yesterday (Thursday, 18 Feb 2010), but it's still a good sign that Tibetan voice is being heard.

Complete story can be found in Dalai Lama's official page. I can only say... thank you Obama for meeting His Holiness Dalai Lama, and also the Universe for making this happen!

Picture from Dalai Lama.com

Metanoia

I owe my dearest friend 'Cabe' for introducing me a new term today. Something that I've been experiencing and I am very aware of, but never knew the term until now. Metanoia.


From Wikipedia:

Metanoia (from the Greek μετάνοια, metanoia, changing one's mind) in the psychological theory of Carl Jung denotes a process of reforming the psyche as a form of self healing, a proposed explanation for the phenomenon of psychotic breakdown. Here, metanoia is viewed as a potentially productive process, and therefore patients' psychotic episodes are not necessarily always to be thwarted, which may restabilize the patients but without resolving the underlying issues causing their psychopathology.

Peace, My Heart...

I dedicate these two Rabindranath Tagore poems for my friend 'Hafiz' who is currently into his 'little India' journey. May Allah ya Jamil be with you, dearest friend... Ishq Allah ya Jamil, Insya Allah we shall meet again...

There Is Room for You

There is room for you. You are alone with your few sheaves of rice.
My boat is crowded, it is heavily laden, but how can I turn you
away? Your young body is slim and swaying; there is a twinkling
smile in the edge of your eyes, and your robe is coloured like the
rain cloud.

The travelers will land for different roads and homes. You
will sit for a while on the prow of my boat, and at the journey's
end none will keep you back.

Where do you go, and to what home, to garner your sheaves? I
will not question you, but when I fold my sails and moor my boat
I shall sit and wonder in the evening, -Where do you go, and to
what home, to garner your sheaves?

~ Rabindranath Tagore, 'Lover's Gifts VIII'


Peace, My Heart

Peace, my heart, let the time for
the parting be sweet.

Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.

Let the flight through the sky end
in the folding of the wings over the nest.

Let the last touch of your hands be
gentle like the flower of the night.

Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a
moment, and say your last words in silence.

I bow to you and hold up my lamp
to light you on your way.

~ Rabindranath Tagore, 'The Gardener LXI'

Pic: 'Traveller' by Anastasiya Markovich, Wikipedia

The Spiritual Kiss

I still have the Kiss shared by Batman and Wonder Woman in Blackest Night Wonder Woman #2 (now officially a holy book for Batwondy fans!) lingering in my mind, despite it took place in a virtual reality created by Lady Aphrodite to contain a rampaging Black Lantern WW (see the previous post to make sense of it). Hence, this post.

And I promise you that this post will still be confusing for non DC comic readers or JL Animated cartoon watchers. Heck, it’s likely to confuse my fellow Batwondy fans, even! But I need to address this. I need to share with you why I see the kiss as beyond physical. Why I see it as reaching a spiritual level as well.

To do so, I need to make some disclaimers:

1. I don’t see anything wrong with seeing the kiss as very sexy. God, it IS very sexy. Alluring. Seducing. Nicola Scott really knows how to draw a sexy yet poetic kiss. I’m glad she’s with DC now.

2. Some references I shall make here will confuse many readers, particularly those unaccustomed with Vedic tradition, a very generic tradition I’m about to source. It’s not that these examples can only be found in Vedic books; I am certain that other traditions have some similar examples as well. I shall try my best to explain with my understanding that stems out of love.

3. As I will use these references in love, I shall disagree with fellow Vedic followers who might think of this post as a sacrilege or blasphemy, for trying to link human love with divine love. For… ah… where is the line, actually? Our true, pure, unconditional human love is basically a divine love as well, and a divine love can only be understood if we humans have experienced human love.

Enough of confusing you, now let’s start.

I See You (A commentary of Avatar)

I’d been wanting to watch Avatar since the trailers hit cinemas in town, but in all honesty, I thought it was a violent movie about the natives versus the Almighty Americans (no offense my dearest American friends)… until I read Stephen Simon’s entry about Avatar in Holistic Asia, and realized that it was actually a spiritual movie.

Hence, I painted my eyes with glittering soft blue eye shadow, and onwards went to the local cinema here in Yogyakarta, making my way through the snaking queue of people in want of watching either Avatar, Sherlock Holmes (so not elementary, Watson!), and The Princess and the Frog (have to watch that one too!). I didn’t regret I spent almost half an hour in the queue.

James Cameron’s Avatar was a treat.

True, I sobbed a lot during the movie (guess which scenes?), ooh-ed and aah-ed during the beautiful panoramic views, shed silent tears when our hero and heroine made love under the sacred tree of love, and take my proverbial hat off at the fall of the Brave Trudy.

Avatar reminds me to see something as it is, instead of with my preconditions and perceptions. Paraphrasing Mo'at, Neytiri's mother and spiritual leader of the clan: “The Sky People do not want to learn from us. They came with the glass full.” Snicker. It reminds me of the old Zen tale whereby a disciple keep asking his Master about stuffs, and his master keeps pouring down the tea until it overflows and wet the disciple’s expensive robe.


“Master! Why keep pouring the tea? My cup is already full; it overflows!”

“Why keep asking me questions then?” replied the Master. “You already have your answers in your head.”

But more than that, Avatar made me realize that I was, am still, on the right path. The Path of Mother Earth. I’m one of her daughters, and it’s my duty and privilege to protect her, even from ourselves, her own children.


“You know where I came from,” Jake Sully said to the Soul Tree. “There’s nothing beautiful there. They killed their own mother.”

For the love of my life, Jake… I truly hope no Earthlings will ever need to say it. I truly hope we have not killed Mother Earth, Mother Gaia, Prativi Ma.

No, I am not blinded by all that happens in this planet. I am not blinded by the massive deforestations and ocean acidity, nor the rapid removal of many species. I am not deaf to the silent cry of Mother Earth. I weep with her. I weep and work for her.

But I still have hope that one day, if we are ever going to meet the Omaticaya of Pandora, we are going to greet them like this:

“Greetings, Brothers and Sisters. I See You. I come from another world, much like your own. And though we almost destroyed our own Mother, we managed to save her from ourselves. She is still alive and breathing joyfully, much like Eywa, much like your Great Mother. And I thank the Universe for that.”

I am not blinded by what happens in our planet; by what we have been doing to our Mother. But I still dare to hope for our chance.

Now, does Avatar still play in Sydney? I want to see it in 3D…

PS 15 February 2010:
See also Amy C's article for Top Five Spiritual Lessons from the Avatar movie.

Pic 1: Avatar movie poster, Wikipedia
Pic 2: Zen master and his tea, from here
Pic 3: Seeds of the Soul Tree, by Phantasy Star Deviantart