http://gias.snu.ac.kr/wthong/publication/paekche/eng/paekch_e.html
This book theorizes that Korea invaded and civilized Japan, due to conquest of Korea by China.
As well, most of Japanese aristocracy including the Emperor are related to Paekche royalty who fled to Japan when combined Silla-Tang Chinese forces began to unite Korea as one.
In light of this, perhaps China is detrimental to unification of North and South Korea.
20090131
Commentary on My Internet Participation
January 31, 2009: For almost 20 years now, I tried hard to suggest peaceful solutions to local and global challenge on the Usenet newsgroups and Internet forums, usually to no avail.
When I suggested people meditate more often, the spiritually shallow accused me of being a naive hippie. When I suggested they complement their readings with a deeper reading of the Bible, Qu'ran, Buddhist scriptures, the Talmud, etc. they claimed suggesting religious sources are irrelevant to the topic at hand.
All in all, a few Internet users seem to be shallow people who react to what you write if it challenges their limited world-view and exposes the truth about their fear of change, and the endemic fear of psychosis.
Let us hope that that my conclusion proves that most online users have a deep and meaningful relationship with both themselves and others, primarily their families and friends.
Update: 20130125.1945
Since almost four years, my review of the past 20 years suggests to me that the first response to peaceful solutions will be either derision or acceptance.
However, I have been mistaken about it mostly being derision. That mistaken belief may have been due to scrutinizing the derision rather than seeking acceptance.
My suggestions about meditation didn't work because the proof that it works wasn't made part of my overall suggestion. As well, a few people are negative towards meditation due to their own prejudices.
This is due to the reasonable fear of the unknown (meditation), despite the fact that the current alternative (prayer) is also a part of the dual discipline of prayer and meditation.
For the people who are prejudiced against meditation are usually biased for prayer, considering "prayer as prayer" when in fact, a few of them have meditated when engaged in deep prayers which last longer than five minutes.
As I stated before, the current prejudice against meditation is due to fear of the unknown. It is my contention that the source of that fear is due to ignorance about meditation, including its use by Jesus and the Apostles, but especially its use by monks in solitude.
However, it is the fear of change that must be challenged. I totally support online users who have the courage to challenge their fears about meditation and especially psychosiphobia in a timely manner
For when you face the fears that arise from my suggestion to meditate early, it becomes easy to apply it to your personal toolkit for coping with change. Meditation aids in our ability to adapt to change, for it transcends prayers by going beyond bringing it to God's attention to being willing to accept God's will.
Such acceptance is achieved by first calming your mind, and secondly, being able to create the solution that works for everyone's best interests.
Indeed, prayer and meditation works when, out of humility, you focus on what's best for all of humanity.
When I suggested people meditate more often, the spiritually shallow accused me of being a naive hippie. When I suggested they complement their readings with a deeper reading of the Bible, Qu'ran, Buddhist scriptures, the Talmud, etc. they claimed suggesting religious sources are irrelevant to the topic at hand.
All in all, a few Internet users seem to be shallow people who react to what you write if it challenges their limited world-view and exposes the truth about their fear of change, and the endemic fear of psychosis.
Let us hope that that my conclusion proves that most online users have a deep and meaningful relationship with both themselves and others, primarily their families and friends.
Update: 20130125.1945
Since almost four years, my review of the past 20 years suggests to me that the first response to peaceful solutions will be either derision or acceptance.
However, I have been mistaken about it mostly being derision. That mistaken belief may have been due to scrutinizing the derision rather than seeking acceptance.
My suggestions about meditation didn't work because the proof that it works wasn't made part of my overall suggestion. As well, a few people are negative towards meditation due to their own prejudices.
This is due to the reasonable fear of the unknown (meditation), despite the fact that the current alternative (prayer) is also a part of the dual discipline of prayer and meditation.
For the people who are prejudiced against meditation are usually biased for prayer, considering "prayer as prayer" when in fact, a few of them have meditated when engaged in deep prayers which last longer than five minutes.
As I stated before, the current prejudice against meditation is due to fear of the unknown. It is my contention that the source of that fear is due to ignorance about meditation, including its use by Jesus and the Apostles, but especially its use by monks in solitude.
However, it is the fear of change that must be challenged. I totally support online users who have the courage to challenge their fears about meditation and especially psychosiphobia in a timely manner
For when you face the fears that arise from my suggestion to meditate early, it becomes easy to apply it to your personal toolkit for coping with change. Meditation aids in our ability to adapt to change, for it transcends prayers by going beyond bringing it to God's attention to being willing to accept God's will.
Such acceptance is achieved by first calming your mind, and secondly, being able to create the solution that works for everyone's best interests.
Indeed, prayer and meditation works when, out of humility, you focus on what's best for all of humanity.
Adbusters: Lest We Forget - the Speech That Never Was
Monday, December 10, 2001 11:11 - Gandhara Op-Ed
Adbusters implies that, by declaring war against terrorism, America confirmed being a victim to terrorism. Rather than being inspired to promote peace, the GW Bush government chose instead the forever war that has been the legacy of terrorism.
Yet the State now sees its country and the world through the myopic lens of a post-911 future where fear of terrorism has led to racial profiling, illegal body searches and x-ray technology that violates privacy.
Here is a part of the Adbuster article:
What Could Have Been: The speech that was never made, lest we forget
Fellow Americans, citizens of the world: Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
We cannot see inside the head of a terrorist, and yet today we understand clearly what it is he demands. A terrorist demands hate. He demands fear. Above all else, a terrorist demands war.
But a free people does not bend to the demands of terror.
Our friends and family members have died in the thousands, their bright lights of life made suddenly, brutally dark. To the world tonight I say that not one more innocent person will die in the name of this terrorist act. Not one more mother's son in America. Not one more beloved father in Afghanistan. Not one more infant child in Israel or in Palestine.
To the men and women in uniform I say: We all must hope that your soldiering days are done. Today you are our officers of law and our keepers of precious peace. You have been challenged by a terrible crime and make no mistake, this nation's hunger for justice is as strong as its love of peace. We look to you, to our police forces and our troops, to the elected representatives of our citizens, and to our friends and allies in the international community, to bring the full weight of law and of human dignity against the wrongdoers and criminals.
America is ever prepared to act, and to act alone if we must...
Original post: December 10, 2001 11:11H
Previous update: January 31, 2009 1857
Update posted: March 8, 2013 1355H
Adbusters: What Could Have Been: http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
Adbusters implies that, by declaring war against terrorism, America confirmed being a victim to terrorism. Rather than being inspired to promote peace, the GW Bush government chose instead the forever war that has been the legacy of terrorism.
Yet the State now sees its country and the world through the myopic lens of a post-911 future where fear of terrorism has led to racial profiling, illegal body searches and x-ray technology that violates privacy.
Here is a part of the Adbuster article:
What Could Have Been: The speech that was never made, lest we forget
Fellow Americans, citizens of the world: Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
We cannot see inside the head of a terrorist, and yet today we understand clearly what it is he demands. A terrorist demands hate. He demands fear. Above all else, a terrorist demands war.
But a free people does not bend to the demands of terror.
Our friends and family members have died in the thousands, their bright lights of life made suddenly, brutally dark. To the world tonight I say that not one more innocent person will die in the name of this terrorist act. Not one more mother's son in America. Not one more beloved father in Afghanistan. Not one more infant child in Israel or in Palestine.
To the men and women in uniform I say: We all must hope that your soldiering days are done. Today you are our officers of law and our keepers of precious peace. You have been challenged by a terrible crime and make no mistake, this nation's hunger for justice is as strong as its love of peace. We look to you, to our police forces and our troops, to the elected representatives of our citizens, and to our friends and allies in the international community, to bring the full weight of law and of human dignity against the wrongdoers and criminals.
America is ever prepared to act, and to act alone if we must...
Original post: December 10, 2001 11:11H
Previous update: January 31, 2009 1857
Update posted: March 8, 2013 1355H
Adbusters: What Could Have Been: http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
War on Terror Not Religious
Regardless of anything to the contrary, the American-led "war on terrorism" isn't really a religious war at all.
Rather, this is the legacy of 6000 years of androcratic devolution of human
civilization.
Even so-called primitive tribals of India are being forced into Hinduism
just because they are more equalitarian than Hindus by not practising the
degenerate practice of child marriage.
This is proof that the so-called primitives are more civilized than the
so-called civilized Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.
Likewise for similar "civilized" practices of Judaism, including biting off
parts of a male infant's foreskin during cricumcision, and equating
anti-Americanism with anti-Semitism (thus pretending to "own" America).
And ditto for similar practices of Christianity such as obstructing traffic
in Vancouver on a busy street so that some protestors get run over
by buses, condemning abortion killers yet not being vocal in decrying such
violent acts which are equally heinous to abortion, Protestants endorsing US
foreign policy, Catholic clergy playing politics in 3rd world nations but
leaving their flock to face trumped up charges when genocide occurs,
continuing the war on drugs whilst turning a blind eye to alcoholism,
cigarette smoking and abuse of legal drugs, etc.
The same goes for other organized religions, including Theravada in Sri
Lanka, where a Buddhist who pretended to be a monk assassinated the head of
state and subsequently converted to Catholicism, thus proving a link between
the See and radicalism in Sri Lankan politics. This is also evident in
Dali, East Timor since the rebellion there was supported by the Indonesian
Bishop.
All of this does not prove that a religious war is in progress.
Instead it shows that Mr. Gandhi was correct in assessing the role of
religion in politics when he declared that those who believe that religion
has nothing to do with politics, do not know religion at all.
Indeed, religion is where politics originated.
Thus it's all power politics in the name of Allah, God, Yahweh, or the other
997 names of God.
It's also a legacy of 6000 years of the decline of "civilization."
For it's all because of men subjugating women and using God to excuse such
misogyny, just because androcratic men in power fear the prospect of
equalitarian partnerships with women!
I suggest people look up "gylanic+androcratic" and see how many hits you
get, and research this matter thoroughly.
Better yet, search for "Riane Eisler" and read her books.
Eisler Riane Tennenhaus
1 The Chalice And The Blade : Our History, Our Future / Riane Eisler.
c1987.
2 The Partnership Way / Riane Eisler, David Loye. c1990.
3 Sacred Pleasure : Sex, Myth, And The Politics Of The Body / Riane Eisler.
c1995.
4 Tomorrow's Children : A Blueprint For Partnership Education In The 21st
Century / Riane Eisler. 2000.
Our Common Enemy (for the Buddhist Activist)
Our common enemy is not governments, transnational corporations, or even quasi-world governmental bodies such as the World Trade Organization. No, the root cause of the delusion that they are our enemies is the one true enemy.
Yet this enemy is not an external foe, but an inner one. For our enemy is found deep within each of us.
When we blindly crave power, be it derived from fame or fortune, that craving becomes our true enemy. When we become selfish, unwilling to share the joys of life, that selfishness becomes our true enemy. When we fear overcoming our ignorance, that fear becomes our true enemy. When we become angry for any reason, that anger becomes our true enemy. When we let our passions rule our lives, our passions become our true enemy.
Once our true enemy is unleashed, we become deluded about who our enemy is, blaming others when it is unwarranted and looking for an external foe to shift responsibility from ourselves.
In doing so, we become utterly powerless, the self-made victim, self-martyred.
Thus, it becomes so easy to find an enemy in someone else than to own up to the root cause of our own suffering.
In suffering this delusion of self-as-enemy, our natural reaction then is to play the eternal, all-suffering victim and to find an external enemy to fit the dominator role.
Difficult is it to control our passions and to rule over them, and become our only true friend. One can have an advisor to give advice and a mentor to guide us, but few of us can find one to control our passions and to rule over them except each of us alone. Yet, try as we may, alone it may be difficult to discipline oneself so that we do not victimize ourselves.
"How can I be my own enemy?" asks the incredulous fool. "I am but a friend to myself. It is others who seek to destroy me who are my enemies."
Sadly mistaken, the fool is he who believes others seek to destroy him.
"I am my best friend!" declares the enlightened one. "Everyone is also friend to me. Because I do not destroy my self, no enemy do I seek to destroy, for all are my friends."
Happily, the person thus awakened believes others seek to nurture him. In this way, the lie of others as one's enemy is exposed.
So, why is it so convenient to see others as the enemy?
It is due to anger, fear, ignorance, and selfishness — namely, our very passions unchecked lead to the delusion of others as enemies.
How do we control our passions so that we may become our true friends, and see others as friends also?
It is through contemplative meditation that we control our passions, and thus learn to become our own friends, overcoming the delusion of others as enemies.
Thus empowered by overcoming our delusions, we can go on to confront governments, transnational corporations and even world government organizations, and help them overcome their own delusions, accordingly.
However, if we choose instead to live our delusions, then we will suffer the consequences.
Therefore it makes much more sense to overcome our delusions, so that we can help out our deluded friends in government and in corporations realize the truth.
20090130
The First Truth of Buddhism (poem)
Suffering and sorrow is
all this floating world knows.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow,
we have no concept of Now.
In our delusion, we think
we are free, caught up
in strife, ignorant of history.
No one knows what, when,
where, who, why, or how.
Yet there is a Light boundless
from across the Ocean of Peace,
a bright and shining beacon,
where both gods and men confess:
"Boundless Life is He."
With open arms does He beckons,
offering compassion and mercy to all.
All we need to do, all we need to say
to attain birth in the Pure Land, is:
"Namu amida butsu."
Then truly are we assured,
and all our worries cured,
that Nirvana is our path.
Suffering and sorrow is
all this floating world knows.
Forget yesterday and tomorrow!
Live for here and now!
Cut through delusion, and become free.
Take a hold of your life, and abandon misery.
For there is a cure to
suffering, and here is how:
All we need to do, all we need to say,
to join the land of Bliss, is:
"Namu amida butsu."
Then truly are we assured,
and all our worries cured,
that Nirvana is our path.
all this floating world knows.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow,
we have no concept of Now.
In our delusion, we think
we are free, caught up
in strife, ignorant of history.
No one knows what, when,
where, who, why, or how.
Yet there is a Light boundless
from across the Ocean of Peace,
a bright and shining beacon,
where both gods and men confess:
"Boundless Life is He."
With open arms does He beckons,
offering compassion and mercy to all.
All we need to do, all we need to say
to attain birth in the Pure Land, is:
"Namu amida butsu."
Then truly are we assured,
and all our worries cured,
that Nirvana is our path.
Suffering and sorrow is
all this floating world knows.
Forget yesterday and tomorrow!
Live for here and now!
Cut through delusion, and become free.
Take a hold of your life, and abandon misery.
For there is a cure to
suffering, and here is how:
All we need to do, all we need to say,
to join the land of Bliss, is:
"Namu amida butsu."
Then truly are we assured,
and all our worries cured,
that Nirvana is our path.
Birth-Death-Life (poem)
World of life, floating gently
amidst the mire,
awash with falling raindrops,
bathed in warm sunshine --
How brief is life as it is!
Yet life comes and goes,
with death a welcome respite.
Indeed, birth-life-death
is one endless cycle of
change, the enduring constant.
After death, we all return
to the Other Side,
before we are called again
to this world of life
to help others learn of Life.
Notes:
"Other Side" implies rebirth in the Pure Land or in the Six Realms of the hells, hungry ghost, animal, human, demigods and gods, as well as the numerous Buddhist heavens.
amidst the mire,
awash with falling raindrops,
bathed in warm sunshine --
How brief is life as it is!
Yet life comes and goes,
with death a welcome respite.
Indeed, birth-life-death
is one endless cycle of
change, the enduring constant.
After death, we all return
to the Other Side,
before we are called again
to this world of life
to help others learn of Life.
Notes:
"Other Side" implies rebirth in the Pure Land or in the Six Realms of the hells, hungry ghost, animal, human, demigods and gods, as well as the numerous Buddhist heavens.
Benevolence and Prosperity (poem)
Benevolence itself is
compassion, doing
to others what one would want
done to her, never
expecting compensation.
Based on the right thought
that aiding others shares with
them much suffering.
Prosperity is fortune
that comes unbidden,
out of the same compassion,
without expecting
even renumeration.
Right livelihood is
the basis for good fortune,
and benefits all.
Thus benevolence
and prosperity are both
the way to long life.
compassion, doing
to others what one would want
done to her, never
expecting compensation.
Based on the right thought
that aiding others shares with
them much suffering.
Prosperity is fortune
that comes unbidden,
out of the same compassion,
without expecting
even renumeration.
Right livelihood is
the basis for good fortune,
and benefits all.
Thus benevolence
and prosperity are both
the way to long life.
Tortured (poem)
A tortured soul knows pain all too well
And yearns to be free of it.
Each tug on her heart is a trip to hell
But each day she grows a bit
Tired of the life she lives.
So unwilling to let go of her pain,
She cries in the night alone,
Deaf to the quiet voice in her brain
Asking for heart where now is stone--
Alas! the tortured soul is gone.
At her funeral her closest friends gather
And speak of her courage
To surmount all odds, to weather
The storm and to wear the badge
So proudly despite the pain.
A word to all then is this: Be glad
To graciously accept your lot;
Be thankful for everything, good and bad;
And always have a kind thought,
Even when life gets tough.
Originally written 4/27/94 15:51
Changed stanza 4, line 3 from "or" to "and" 1/23/98 10:04
And yearns to be free of it.
Each tug on her heart is a trip to hell
But each day she grows a bit
Tired of the life she lives.
So unwilling to let go of her pain,
She cries in the night alone,
Deaf to the quiet voice in her brain
Asking for heart where now is stone--
Alas! the tortured soul is gone.
At her funeral her closest friends gather
And speak of her courage
To surmount all odds, to weather
The storm and to wear the badge
So proudly despite the pain.
A word to all then is this: Be glad
To graciously accept your lot;
Be thankful for everything, good and bad;
And always have a kind thought,
Even when life gets tough.
Originally written 4/27/94 15:51
Changed stanza 4, line 3 from "or" to "and" 1/23/98 10:04
20090107
God's Call (poem)
With a start I awoke,
as a nascent wish
earlier played itself out
within a dream
where inner danger
met its mirror,
and inner hope lay
in wait to be
fulfilled one day.
Within this startling dream,
I fought my shadow
in many ways, losing out
yet winning too,
until I conquered
fear itself, and
caught myself again
wishing to be
free from the pain.
Without this pain, I have
nothing but a wish
to undo choices, to mourn
the loss of friends
to the change called death,
and to find hope
in things I can change,
when hope is fresh,
for things I can change.
With this thought in mind,
though I forgot it,
that dream that startled me,
all that I have
is that hope within,
to change without
causing harm to all
while doing good,
for this is God's Call.
as a nascent wish
earlier played itself out
within a dream
where inner danger
met its mirror,
and inner hope lay
in wait to be
fulfilled one day.
Within this startling dream,
I fought my shadow
in many ways, losing out
yet winning too,
until I conquered
fear itself, and
caught myself again
wishing to be
free from the pain.
Without this pain, I have
nothing but a wish
to undo choices, to mourn
the loss of friends
to the change called death,
and to find hope
in things I can change,
when hope is fresh,
for things I can change.
With this thought in mind,
though I forgot it,
that dream that startled me,
all that I have
is that hope within,
to change without
causing harm to all
while doing good,
for this is God's Call.
20090106
Review: Last Samurai
I've seen the trailers at http://lastsamurai.warnerbros.com/home.php and watched the movie.
Not a pretty thought to realize the roots of Pearl Harbor originated in Meiji Japan.
But if a Civil War veteran aided samurais from a certain coup over 100 years ago, then Japan would still be a Third World country and have been invaded by Europeans, a vassal state of say, Nazi Germany.
The Satsuma Rebellion was instigated by lesser daimyo who resented the high handedness of the Americans and their European buddies -- the barbarians at the gates were carousing, annoying the people, and preying on the citizens, enticing them into what the Japanese at the time considered immoral, especially mixed marriage, trying to get the same perks the Japanese get because they are Japanese etc. Hm... does this remind you of modern Tokyo when the tourists from Oz come and visit??
I myself believe that if my ancestors tried to retain feudal values rather than the distorted American ideals that haunt the Asians to this day in "traditional" - read old-fashioned Western values common in the mid-19th Century - the world would be a dystopia filled with dark visions of violence and bloodshed worse than the aftermath of 9/11.
So I am thankful for that Civil War vet being the adventurer he was for helping to train both sides of the conflict that almost made Japan another vassal state of America like the Philippines, which was conquered after the Spanish American War much to the disgust of Filipinos — after the rebellion in Japan failed.
Coincidence? No, rather it was destiny.
So cheer up and watch this movie if you are a Tom Cruise fan.
originally posted on 12/08/2003 at 11:48:00 PM
reposted on 1/6/2009 at 11:48 AM
edited and posted on 20130124.1239
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)