Yuan Ming

I notice that some people read these for upwards of 10 seconds. This is brain retardation caused by over-stimulation. The brain is wired...oh! There you go! I lost one. And another! You see, off to the next image. The brain of many now has this pattern of constantly moving from one image to the next, to the next, to the next. It isn't even conscious. You go online so that your brain can get its fix, from this email to that to this site to the next image to the next train of info, flipping the pages before its content is fully taken in. (many will leave before this next paragraph) I suggest: conscious use of the internet. (understanding that required thinking, another 3 gone) Pick and choose what you read and look at. Let your ... read more

These eyes of the storm, the storm of the earth, are so precious. The storm keeps us swirling within its borders, but the eye, like the eye within ourselves, beckons us to its calm. To be still in the presence of life. To observe its grand beauty, and to be content as a part of its being. I am in societies storm right now, and the associated storm of mind. Can we truly separate our stormy minds from the tempestuous collectives in which we dwell? Surely we can rise above the influences, as a great boat is less moved by high waves. But even if that boat lives long at sea, it begins to wear away. So I need to return to dock, away from storms. This little blog is a chance for me to bask ... read more

After having lunch with a beautiful woman a young man entered a taxi in the center of downtown Shanghai. The taxi driver asked where to and the man told him so. The taxi driver, in a gentle and sincere voice, complimented the man's Chinese. The man did not respond to the compliment, seeking to be effected by neither praise nor contempt. He gets out his cell phone and makes a few needed calls. They drive through the city and arrive at the man's destination: an apartment complex where he has an audition. As he gets out the taxi to remove his excess baggage (an umbrella, jacket, laptop and backpack) he looks at the kindly taxi driver and tells him, "Your demeanor is very polite." The taxi driver accepts the compliment and the two part. The man ... read more

I was reminded this morning of what it was like to be back in Henan...there was a peasant on the dorm bed next to me...before sleeping he offered me a cigarette and proceeded to nonchalantly light up in the 'non-smoking' room. And this morning I was awakened by the charming act of spitting on the floor (many weeks later, the stain is still there on the wood floor...I know, gross!). This of course primed my habit of 'correcting' the customary habits of people from the countryside, as I had made the unneeded habit of doing when I lived in China before. But the story of my relations with Chinese people will be the subject of another blog. Suffice it to say, it would be better for me, to simply learn total acceptance, just to allow people ... read more

Rolling through the livid green Sichuan river valleys, heading into the mountainous heart of this ancient province. The valley expands and opens up, unfolding as a flower, becomes a wide view of low lands beside river, scene all plastered green with mountains looming in the background. And small home-shaped, blue tents in the foreground. We came into this small village/town amongst this gorgeous scenery, which is yet located near the epicenter of the devastating Sichuan earthquake. We met the generous leaders of the local school, saw the crumbled and cracked structures, too dangerous or too destroyed to be used any longer. We heard the amazing and relieving news that no students, not one, lost their mortal life at this school, the teachers got them all out in time. I thought the place fortunate, for other places ... read more

"My ego is like this giant tumor, with lots of... veins, spreading out from it." ~Sheng Shi We were sitting in that room again, light flowing through the open windows and the opened minds. Bright were those days in the temple, literally and figuratively; so bright it is that anything hidden within, any dark tumor that causes inner rot and turmoil, can not long go undetected. At least if one is willing and able to observe their self and mind. This vision that Sheng Shi gave me, among another of our great Dharma talks, came clear to my mind. I imagined this ugly, hairy tumor, with thick, juicy branches jutting out, like old gnarled trees that have grown for long and cold years. Sound disgusting? Then I drew it. And as I drew it, I poured ... read more

Five platform mountain is a ring of mountains, long and sloping, bare, that rise up over the northern Chinese lands, which spread away dry and dusty as plains below and beyond. The mountains here form a kind of wide ring above the earth, you can imagine, with gentle ridges that connect five natural platforms: the tallest looms up in the north at about 3000 m; ride that ridge east and south a few miles and it rises again to another flat space at about 2700 m. From here head south down the slopes, you'll come to a central area, a lowland valley that rests amidst these ridges and soft, treeless slopes. From there go south and another mountain rises to a sort of platform, but this one is far off, maybe 10 or 12 miles from ... read more