Second Autumn in Kyoto
http://picasaweb.google.com/d.karmapolice/SecondAutumnInKyoto?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-e-PLCs7TERQ&feat=directlink
Monday, 29 November 2010
Second Autumn in Kyoto
There is a season missing actually, as I still haven't uploaded the Summer in Kyoto album, but first this one as it's ready...
Second Autumn in Kyoto
http://picasaweb.google.com/d.karmapolice/SecondAutumnInKyoto?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-e-PLCs7TERQ&feat=directlink
Second Autumn in Kyoto
http://picasaweb.google.com/d.karmapolice/SecondAutumnInKyoto?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-e-PLCs7TERQ&feat=directlink
Photo Album: Takano River in Autumn
Takano river is just 2 minutes frommy apartment, and is my favourite place for a walk...With my terribly busy schedule lately I'm missing the Autumn season here, this time because despite my plan to visit many places and see them in their Autumn look, I'm afraid I cannot spare much time as I'm busy sending applications for PhD programs in USA (and UK actually, though the chances are that evenif I'm accepted there they have no sufficient funding)...
Actually I have absolutely no time to post...
Here are my photos...
Takano River in Autumn
http://picasaweb.google.com/d.karmapolice/TakanoRiverInAutumn?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrbvZHE55LwTQ&feat=directlink
Actually I have absolutely no time to post...
Here are my photos...
Takano River in Autumn
http://picasaweb.google.com/d.karmapolice/TakanoRiverInAutumn?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrbvZHE55LwTQ&feat=directlink
Honenin Temple 法然院, Kyoto
An interesting temple I visited 3 times in the past month.
Today I had scheduled another meeting with the head monk there, but I had to re-schedule it, because I'm really very busy and there is too much on my mind...
Here is a link to a web album with photos from this small, but very charming temple.
Honenin Temple
Catching Up...
It has been a long while since I stopped posting regurarly here...
I've been planning to post a Summer in Kyoto post with link to an Web album for a while now, but I still haven't finished selecting and uploading the photos...
It is actually already another season and I'm taking photos to be used in a prospective Second Autumn in Kyoto...
Meanwhile.
As those of you who know me personally, know, in September I went back home for a month. The heat in Kyoto was trully unbearable, and also I seriously needed to take a break from my not so great emotional state here. I needed to get some perspective, to think things over, to find some comfort among family and friends. I've been away from home for almost 10 years now, but this was the time when I really I felt terribly and desperately homesick.
Going back home was a good idea. Although my plans for mountain hiking, relaxation and rest mostly failed, and actually I had to deal with annoying and unpleasant things, it was still better than spending anothr month alone, lonely and depressed as I was in Kyoto.
Being home with my mom and my 20 year-old cat was simply healing.
Unfortunately at the end of my stay my grandma got sick and had to be taken to hospital. A few days after I was back already to Kyoto I learned that she passed away.
It's very hard to be away from home in a moment like this. Alone with your sadness and grief.
I loved her dearly and she will be very much missed.
My trip back home was very good, because I had a chance to see her a few times during my stay and actually in a way to say good bye.
Meanwhile, despite my intention to try to sort things out a little bit during the month back home, and to come up with some sort of decision about what to do in my life next, I didn't manage to gain much clarity.
In the first days, when I came back to Kyoto, I had made up my mind to disregard my emotional state and try to enjoy my stay in Kyoto more, instead of feeling sad and lost, as I have been feeling for a very long while now, but...the news of my grandmother's passing away simply put me back where I was, feeling lonely, downcast, sad....
Regardless of everything.
This month is really crucial to my life. I just need to pull myself together. Somehow.
I need to make an effort to find motivation and strenght, or at least organise myself to do what has to be done.
This and next month I'm applying for doctoral programs (to be starting from next year Fall 2011). As my sholarship here is until the end of Marh 2011, I need to decide what to do and where to go next.
It is a big crossroads actually.
I'm now in my 10 year of my "Journey to the East". I gained a lot of knowledge and insight, both academic and personal, but I also became disillusioned, disintegrated, on top of the disilusionment, I got very hurt and I don't know how to cope with all this. This 10 year self-inflicted exile, travelling to lands thousands of kilometers away, alone. No doubt that this is a spiritual journey, but I'm in the point where I feel great doubt, and confusion...
I've been planning to post a Summer in Kyoto post with link to an Web album for a while now, but I still haven't finished selecting and uploading the photos...
It is actually already another season and I'm taking photos to be used in a prospective Second Autumn in Kyoto...
Meanwhile.
As those of you who know me personally, know, in September I went back home for a month. The heat in Kyoto was trully unbearable, and also I seriously needed to take a break from my not so great emotional state here. I needed to get some perspective, to think things over, to find some comfort among family and friends. I've been away from home for almost 10 years now, but this was the time when I really I felt terribly and desperately homesick.
Going back home was a good idea. Although my plans for mountain hiking, relaxation and rest mostly failed, and actually I had to deal with annoying and unpleasant things, it was still better than spending anothr month alone, lonely and depressed as I was in Kyoto.
Being home with my mom and my 20 year-old cat was simply healing.
Unfortunately at the end of my stay my grandma got sick and had to be taken to hospital. A few days after I was back already to Kyoto I learned that she passed away.
It's very hard to be away from home in a moment like this. Alone with your sadness and grief.
I loved her dearly and she will be very much missed.
My trip back home was very good, because I had a chance to see her a few times during my stay and actually in a way to say good bye.
Meanwhile, despite my intention to try to sort things out a little bit during the month back home, and to come up with some sort of decision about what to do in my life next, I didn't manage to gain much clarity.
In the first days, when I came back to Kyoto, I had made up my mind to disregard my emotional state and try to enjoy my stay in Kyoto more, instead of feeling sad and lost, as I have been feeling for a very long while now, but...the news of my grandmother's passing away simply put me back where I was, feeling lonely, downcast, sad....
Regardless of everything.
This month is really crucial to my life. I just need to pull myself together. Somehow.
I need to make an effort to find motivation and strenght, or at least organise myself to do what has to be done.
This and next month I'm applying for doctoral programs (to be starting from next year Fall 2011). As my sholarship here is until the end of Marh 2011, I need to decide what to do and where to go next.
It is a big crossroads actually.
I'm now in my 10 year of my "Journey to the East". I gained a lot of knowledge and insight, both academic and personal, but I also became disillusioned, disintegrated, on top of the disilusionment, I got very hurt and I don't know how to cope with all this. This 10 year self-inflicted exile, travelling to lands thousands of kilometers away, alone. No doubt that this is a spiritual journey, but I'm in the point where I feel great doubt, and confusion...
Sunday, 10 October 2010
First Chinese Nobel Prize 2 - reactions
Today since morning I spent quite a few hours since reading about the impact of the news of Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize win and some very different reactions. Especially interesting were the Chinese netizens reactions to the news as seen in the blogs, comments, etc.
Among the Chinese netizens reactions 4 stood out:
1. The popular Chinese blogger Han Han after 1AM on the 9th of October posted a blog entry titled "2010.10.08", which however had no text and instead consisted only of quotation marks, i.e. " ".
(This timing of the post roughly coincides with the actual timing of the announcement of the news which because of the time difference between Norway and China.)
Han Han has a huge following and many people who are apparently subscribed to his feed were immediately alerted that he has posted something and went to see it.
Quickly this post attracted thousands of readers and hundreds of comments even though it was past 1:32AM at night. (Currently the readers are above 200 000 and comments are more than 5000!).
At first most posts were by followers who asked "What do you mean?" and apparently had no clue what he alluded to.
But soon many comments aired the opinion that the blog entry's title is very telling as it is the date of the announcement of Liu Xiaobo's choice as this year's Nobel peace Prize recipient.
Some posters wittingly observed :"Since all the words are "sensitive" (i.e. pending censorship) the only thing that's left are punctuation marks."
I read through several pages of comments. Some were fascinating. But the most fascinating thing was to see that despite the blocked access to the news, despite the blocked search engines, despite the "harmonized" (i.e. censored) contents, despite the "sensitive words" censorship many people have already heard of this news and felt simply happy and elated.
Many people used various ways to avoid their comments from being "harmonized" and deleted and used various abbreviations, oblique allusions, phonetically similar characters instead of "sensitive words". The Chinese netizens' language innovation prompted by fear of online censorship is indeed a very amazing phenomenon!
It's very surreal.
2. Among the comments after the above mentioned minimalist blog post at Han Han's blog one struck me as very amusing. According to a few who commented after the said post, the central news emission deliberately avoided the news about the prestigious award, and instead as it turns out one of the most important foreign news was that a panda in a zoo abroad got pregnant. Netizens ridiculed this choice of news.
The funny and ironic part (and with a potential to be interpreted symbolically) is that a Chinese rare and bordering extinction animal (behind bars) has managed to conceive a future offspring.
3. Somewhere near the 50th page of comments after Han Han blog's entry the following Question/Answer type anecdote:
Question: Has a Chinese person won the Nobel Prize?
Answer: There are a few, but they have a foreign citizenship.
Q: Has a Chinese citizen won the Nobel Prize?
A: There are, but they are the Chinese Republic citizens.
Q: Are there any New China citizens who have won the Nobel Prize?
A: There is one,but he himself doesn't admit that he is a Chinese citizen.
Q:Is there a citizen of New China who admits to be a Chinese citizen who has won the Nobel Prize?
A: Yes, there is, but we don't admit that he is a Chinese citizen.
Q: Is there a Chinese citizen who admits himself to be one, and the State also admits that he is a citizen of New China who has won the Nobel Prize?
A: There is, but he is in prison.
4. One of the strongest image statements came from artist Kuang Biao (邝飚). In this cartoon, posted by Kuang to his QQ blog, a Nobel Prize medallion is locked behind prison bars. Underneath the image, Kuang has simply written “10-8-2010,” a historic date. (seen at China Media Project's site) .
China, Angered by Peace Prize, Blocks Celebration
Among the Chinese netizens reactions 4 stood out:
1. The popular Chinese blogger Han Han after 1AM on the 9th of October posted a blog entry titled "2010.10.08", which however had no text and instead consisted only of quotation marks, i.e. " ".
(This timing of the post roughly coincides with the actual timing of the announcement of the news which because of the time difference between Norway and China.)
Han Han has a huge following and many people who are apparently subscribed to his feed were immediately alerted that he has posted something and went to see it.
Quickly this post attracted thousands of readers and hundreds of comments even though it was past 1:32AM at night. (Currently the readers are above 200 000 and comments are more than 5000!).
At first most posts were by followers who asked "What do you mean?" and apparently had no clue what he alluded to.
But soon many comments aired the opinion that the blog entry's title is very telling as it is the date of the announcement of Liu Xiaobo's choice as this year's Nobel peace Prize recipient.
Some posters wittingly observed :"Since all the words are "sensitive" (i.e. pending censorship) the only thing that's left are punctuation marks."
I read through several pages of comments. Some were fascinating. But the most fascinating thing was to see that despite the blocked access to the news, despite the blocked search engines, despite the "harmonized" (i.e. censored) contents, despite the "sensitive words" censorship many people have already heard of this news and felt simply happy and elated.
Many people used various ways to avoid their comments from being "harmonized" and deleted and used various abbreviations, oblique allusions, phonetically similar characters instead of "sensitive words". The Chinese netizens' language innovation prompted by fear of online censorship is indeed a very amazing phenomenon!
It's very surreal.
2. Among the comments after the above mentioned minimalist blog post at Han Han's blog one struck me as very amusing. According to a few who commented after the said post, the central news emission deliberately avoided the news about the prestigious award, and instead as it turns out one of the most important foreign news was that a panda in a zoo abroad got pregnant. Netizens ridiculed this choice of news.
The funny and ironic part (and with a potential to be interpreted symbolically) is that a Chinese rare and bordering extinction animal (behind bars) has managed to conceive a future offspring.
3. Somewhere near the 50th page of comments after Han Han blog's entry the following Question/Answer type anecdote:
新浪网友2010-10-09 12:27:27The rough translation from Chinese is:
问：有没有中国人获得诺贝尔奖？
答：有，但他们都拿着外国国籍。
问：有没有中国公民获得过诺贝尔奖？
答：有，但他们都是中华民国的公民。
问：有没有新中国的公民获得过诺贝尔奖？
答：有，但他不承认自己是中国公民。
问：有没有承认自己是中国人的新中国公民获得诺贝尔奖？
答：有，但是我们不承认他是中国公民。
问：有没有自己承认自己是中国公民，国家也承认他是中国公民的新中国公民获得诺贝尔奖？
答：有，但他在监狱里。
Question: Has a Chinese person won the Nobel Prize?
Answer: There are a few, but they have a foreign citizenship.
Q: Has a Chinese citizen won the Nobel Prize?
A: There are, but they are the Chinese Republic citizens.
Q: Are there any New China citizens who have won the Nobel Prize?
A: There is one,but he himself doesn't admit that he is a Chinese citizen.
Q:Is there a citizen of New China who admits to be a Chinese citizen who has won the Nobel Prize?
A: Yes, there is, but we don't admit that he is a Chinese citizen.
Q: Is there a Chinese citizen who admits himself to be one, and the State also admits that he is a citizen of New China who has won the Nobel Prize?
A: There is, but he is in prison.
4. One of the strongest image statements came from artist Kuang Biao (邝飚). In this cartoon, posted by Kuang to his QQ blog, a Nobel Prize medallion is locked behind prison bars. Underneath the image, Kuang has simply written “10-8-2010,” a historic date. (seen at China Media Project's site) .
In addition, two links to interesting articles from the New York Times:
China's Unwanted Nobel Prize http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/10/08/when-dissidents-win-the-nobel-peace-prize?ref=asia
China, Angered by Peace Prize, Blocks Celebration
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/world/asia/10china.html?_r=2
First Chinese Nobel Prize
Yesterday morning I saw with great relief that the Norwegian government did not cave in to Chinese pressure and was not intimidated by the threat from last week and gave this year's Nobel Peace award to a Chinese political prisoner.
The award is undoubtedly indeed really very significant and meaningful.
A historing turning-point.
China's Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100801502.html?wprss=rss_world/asia
Nobel Prize Is Seen as Rebuke to China
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/world/asia/09beijing.html?_r=1&ref=china
Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101008/ts_afp/nobelpeacechina_20101008202250
Chinese dissident Liu wins Nobel Peace Prize
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101008/ap_on_re_us/nobel_peace_prize
Obama urges China to free Nobel successor
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101008/pl_afp/nobelpeacechinausobamarights_20101008201304
The award is undoubtedly indeed really very significant and meaningful.
A historing turning-point.
China's Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100801502.html?wprss=rss_world/asia
Nobel Prize Is Seen as Rebuke to China
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/world/asia/09beijing.html?_r=1&ref=china
Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101008/ts_afp/nobelpeacechina_20101008202250
Chinese dissident Liu wins Nobel Peace Prize
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101008/ap_on_re_us/nobel_peace_prize
Obama urges China to free Nobel successor
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101008/pl_afp/nobelpeacechinausobamarights_20101008201304
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
back home for a month
Back home for a month... To rest, recharge, rethink...see things from a different angle... try to find some balance...
Especially the past few months in Kyoto, I felt suffocated, unable to make even the smallest movement out of the routine, nothing new happened, at least nothing new of importance, I felt stuck, unable to think, that's why after some musing I made the decision to go back home for a month (going back to Kyoto on the 5th of October)...
I need to rethink things very seriously, I need to drag myself out of the standstill, recharge, somehow see ahead...
Especially the past few months in Kyoto, I felt suffocated, unable to make even the smallest movement out of the routine, nothing new happened, at least nothing new of importance, I felt stuck, unable to think, that's why after some musing I made the decision to go back home for a month (going back to Kyoto on the 5th of October)...
I need to rethink things very seriously, I need to drag myself out of the standstill, recharge, somehow see ahead...
explanation about the changed blog alias
I assume some explanation is needed (and somewhat belated) as to my changed alias, i.e. the name I currently use to sign my posts "Chodrol", which in case someone has noticed is different from my previous blog alias "Jataka" which I decided to change.
Actually I have posted previously about the name Chödröl in my post about my last July trip to Tibet, here.
As I explained there the name was given to me by two Tibetan Buddhist nuns in the remote Tibetan town of Sakya. For the past 9 years I have very much existed with a different than my given name, most notably during my 8 year stay in China, when only a handful of people even asked me what my real name was and for whom I will perhaps always remain remembered with my Chinese name.
As I am trying to "move on" with my life and cut the ties with China as much as possible, or at least gain some healthy distance, I think that the latest name/alias given to me by the two nuns in Sakya last year is not too bad to take a step towards distancing myself from the 8 "Chinese years"...
Of course, the name/alias is merely coincidental. I have no claim to posses any divine knowledge or wisdom. The only resemblance to the White Tara is my very pale skin and my interest in the Buddhist teaching. I guess that (mainly the skin) caused the nuns (unprompted) to come up with this name...?! Any other resemblance is merely circumstantial. I "claim" this alias merely because it was gratiously given to me. I gratefully accept it. And as i already said I hope it can turn the wheel for me and change the road-block I find myself in.
I'm very far from possessing any of the qualities of the Bodhisattva or the Buddha. Perhaps the only similarity is that I am awakened enough to know that there is much to be learned and to question and doubt the existing explanations?! And I travel looking, looking breathlessly...
Actually I have posted previously about the name Chödröl in my post about my last July trip to Tibet, here.
As I explained there the name was given to me by two Tibetan Buddhist nuns in the remote Tibetan town of Sakya. For the past 9 years I have very much existed with a different than my given name, most notably during my 8 year stay in China, when only a handful of people even asked me what my real name was and for whom I will perhaps always remain remembered with my Chinese name.
As I am trying to "move on" with my life and cut the ties with China as much as possible, or at least gain some healthy distance, I think that the latest name/alias given to me by the two nuns in Sakya last year is not too bad to take a step towards distancing myself from the 8 "Chinese years"...
Of course, the name/alias is merely coincidental. I have no claim to posses any divine knowledge or wisdom. The only resemblance to the White Tara is my very pale skin and my interest in the Buddhist teaching. I guess that (mainly the skin) caused the nuns (unprompted) to come up with this name...?! Any other resemblance is merely circumstantial. I "claim" this alias merely because it was gratiously given to me. I gratefully accept it. And as i already said I hope it can turn the wheel for me and change the road-block I find myself in.
I'm very far from possessing any of the qualities of the Bodhisattva or the Buddha. Perhaps the only similarity is that I am awakened enough to know that there is much to be learned and to question and doubt the existing explanations?! And I travel looking, looking breathlessly...
photo is from the big pagoda in Gyantse, Tibet
Friday, 3 September 2010
Kyoto in Spring 2
It has again been months since my last post. A season has changed actually and it is Summer now. I've been meaning to post and give a link to a second Spring in Kyoto album with photos, but I have failed to do so until now. I am meanwhile compiling and uploading a Summer in Kyoto album which hopefully I will post not after months but sooner, although frankly I haven't done much visiting of temples and taking pictures for the past 3 or so months...I had plans to visit (and re-visit) gardens and temples but I didn't make it happen...The weather has been horrid actually, first a rainy season in July, followed by stiffling heat in August...I completely failed to see the gardens with the July blooming hydrangea, wisteria and irises. I meant to, even planned it, but for many reasons failed to make it happen...So unfortunatelly part of the seasonal beauty of Kyoto in Summer has not been "documented" in pictures...
So until I compile the album of the current season (i.e. Summer), meanwhile here is a link to a somewhat belated Spring in Kyoto continued web album...
Again the photos are taken with my mobile phone's camera (I'm doing more or less the same pictures with my film camera of course, and one day they may also see the light in a future photo exhibition perhaps...), so the image quality is not good and the limitations of the very simple camera of the phone (no zoom or anything actually...) are not giving much more than an idea...
But that's what these photos are meant as really, ideas, feelings, angles as I see them...
Hopefully they can still carry a bit of the feeling I have of Kyoto.
So here is the link:
Spring in Kyoto 2
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/SpringInKyoto2?authkey=Gv1sRgCOru1aT4iu3xlQE&feat=directlink#
As always comments and feedback are most welcome...
So until I compile the album of the current season (i.e. Summer), meanwhile here is a link to a somewhat belated Spring in Kyoto continued web album...
Again the photos are taken with my mobile phone's camera (I'm doing more or less the same pictures with my film camera of course, and one day they may also see the light in a future photo exhibition perhaps...), so the image quality is not good and the limitations of the very simple camera of the phone (no zoom or anything actually...) are not giving much more than an idea...
But that's what these photos are meant as really, ideas, feelings, angles as I see them...
Hopefully they can still carry a bit of the feeling I have of Kyoto.
So here is the link:
Spring in Kyoto 2
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/SpringInKyoto2?authkey=Gv1sRgCOru1aT4iu3xlQE&feat=directlink#
As always comments and feedback are most welcome...
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Kyoto in Spring
It has been almost 5 months since my last post here...
I have been really discouraged to post which is the main reason for not maintaining this blog and for personal reasons I was unable to write or share in this rather anonymous way that in effect lacks any feedback...The lack of feedback in my life lately has been too much anyway to add the additional lack of feedback here, hence my long silence...
I made a web album with some spring scenery here in Kyoto, that hopefully is a good opportunity to break the silence...
(As with the previous Kyoto in Autumn web album, the photos in this one are made
with my mobile phone camera, hence quality of images is poor, but hopefully my "angle" of seeing of things can still be felt even despite image quality deficiencies...)
Here is the link:
Spring in Kyoto
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/SpringInKyoto?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbh3ezJkorBtAE#
At the end of March I moved-in into a new place, a one-room apartment, very close to Demachiyanagi station 9i.e. very conveniently close to Kyoto University where my classes are...) which I picked, apart from it being convenient, for its great location and beautiful view...
It took me the whole of January of apartment seeking and incredible nervous exhaustion to find this place and the moving itself was incredibly exhausting experience, but a full month into this new place I must say it was worth it...
Here is the link to a web album with photos of my room and the view and the nearby area...
A Room With a View
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/ARoomWithAView?authkey=Gv1sRgCOHi6avD1vnQlAE#
Hm, hopefully someone will leave a comment...some sort of feedback...
I have been really discouraged to post which is the main reason for not maintaining this blog and for personal reasons I was unable to write or share in this rather anonymous way that in effect lacks any feedback...The lack of feedback in my life lately has been too much anyway to add the additional lack of feedback here, hence my long silence...
I made a web album with some spring scenery here in Kyoto, that hopefully is a good opportunity to break the silence...
(As with the previous Kyoto in Autumn web album, the photos in this one are made
with my mobile phone camera, hence quality of images is poor, but hopefully my "angle" of seeing of things can still be felt even despite image quality deficiencies...)Here is the link:
Spring in Kyoto
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/SpringInKyoto?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbh3ezJkorBtAE#
At the end of March I moved-in into a new place, a one-room apartment, very close to Demachiyanagi station 9i.e. very conveniently close to Kyoto University where my classes are...) which I picked, apart from it being convenient, for its great location and beautiful view...
It took me the whole of January of apartment seeking and incredible nervous exhaustion to find this place and the moving itself was incredibly exhausting experience, but a full month into this new place I must say it was worth it...
Here is the link to a web album with photos of my room and the view and the nearby area...
A Room With a View
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/ARoomWithAView?authkey=Gv1sRgCOHi6avD1vnQlAE#
Hm, hopefully someone will leave a comment...some sort of feedback...
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