Cairn

Hiking through the lava flows at Hawai'i Vocanoes National Park, it's hard to know which way to go. There's no trail per se, just hard rock, and very few natural landmarks to oriente you. In response, the Parks Department built large piles of lava rock, i.e. cairns, every hundred meters or so. You walk from one pile of rock to the next as you move through this incredible landscape. I love it, because you never have to really pay attention to where you are going. Just enjoy the scenery. [NOTE: See Habitats in Hawai'i and Amy,  Luke, and the Lava Flow for more on this wonderful trip].

Interruptions

We miss much of the beauty and richness of our everyday life by viewing things as interruptions. Powerful teaching here. [NOTE: Animation by Tom Long].

Happy Birthday, Sulak Sivaraksa

Buddhist activist and founder of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), Sulak Sivaraksa is 80 years old today. From a wonderful recent article in the Kyoto Journal:

"Sulak reinterprets the five classis Buddhist precepts for the modern day. Individuals may not be killing outright, but they must examine how their actions might support wars, racial conflict, or the breeding of animals for human consumption. Considering the second precept of abstaining from stealing, Sulak questions the moral implications of capitalism. Stopping exploitation of women is a natural exprtension of the third precept of abstaining from sexual misconduct. And vowing to abstain from false speech would naturally bring into question how mass media and education promote a biased view of the world. Finally, the fifth precept to avoid intoxicants deals with international peace and justice because Third World farmers grow heroin, coca, coffee, and tobacco because the economic system makes it impossible for them to support themselves growing rice and vegetables."

Glad that someone is voicing these concerns. Happy birthday, Sulak. Gassho.

Canes in Cambodia

Pile of rattan cane laying outside of the little rattan factory at Veal Rinh commune in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia (see Rattan Splitter).  I think the cane is Calamus viminalis Willd., or "phdau krek" (see Field Herbarium). [NOTE: I am very ready to go back to Cambodia and continue the rattan work. Am also curious about the status of my Fulbright application to teach in Phnom Penh next year]. 

Subphylum: Medusozoa

A short clip of a jellyfish performing at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Connecticut. The subphylum name was coined by Linnaeus to describe the non-polyp life stage of this creature which is a large, pulsating gelatinous bell with long trailing tentacles. [NOTE: Music by Hildur Gudnadottir (see Leyfdu Ljosinu)]. 

Colby

Monday morning, and I feel a bit like the image of Colby, one of our cats, shown above. We got Colby a couple of years ago at the New Rochelle Humane Society. He's a great cat, loves to sneak out the basement window and play outside, and even gets along well with Nikki (see Nikki). [NOTE: Assume I'll pull it together after I finish my morning tea. I have to drive to New Haven to teach in a few hours. And they are predicting snow].

Tala Clandestina

During the early 1980's, I lived in the San Bruno district of Xalapa, Veracruz. At certain times of the year, you would walk out to the street and see vendors selling boards that had been harvested without permits, i.e. "tala clandestina", from the pine forests around the Cofre de Perote. Dragging them down from the mountain with burros shaved several inches off the back of the board. [NOTE: Hope I can find more images from Xalapa. This was a wonderful place and a wonderful time in my life].

Drink Tea, Stop War (From the Archive)

[NOTE: Originally posted on Tuesday, MAY 31, 2011 at 10:06AM].

A somewhat oblique continuation of yesterday's Memorial Day post. Paul Reps (1895-1990) was one of the first haiku poets in the U.S., and, together with Nyogen Senzaki, was the editor of the wonderful collection of dharma stories, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (1957). This was the first zen book I ever read.

James Ishmael Ford offered this beautiful story about Paul Reps yesterday on the Sweeping Zen site:

"At one point Reps had traveled to Japan, with plans to visit a respected Zen master in Korea. He went to the passport office in Japan to apply for his visa and was politely informed that his request was denied due to the war that had just broken out in Korea.

Reps sat down in the waiting area. He had come thousands of miles with the plan to study with this master in Korea. He was frustrated and disappointed. What did he do? He practiced what he preached. Reaching into his bag, he mindfully pulled out his thermos and poured himself a cup of tea. With a calm and focused mind, he watched the steam rising and dissolving into the air. He smelled its fragrance, tasted its tasty bitter flavor, and enjoyed its warmth and wetness. Finishing his tea, he put his cup back on his thermos, put his thermos in his bag, and pulled out a pen and paper upon which he wrote a Haiku poem.

Mindfully, he walked back to the clerk behind the counter, bowed, and presented him with his poem, and his passport. The clerk read it and looked deeply into the quiet strength in Rep’s eyes. The clerk smiled, bowed with respect, picked up Rep’s visa and stamped it for passage to Korea. The Haiku read:

Drinking a cup of tea, 
I stopped the war."

[NOTE: I have spent a lot of time in visa offices around the world, and am thoroughly humbled by the patience and creativity exhibited by Mr. Reps]

Orchid Show 2013

It's that time of the year again (see Orchids, Orchids, and More Orchids and Walls of Orchids). The New York Botanical Garden  has just opened it's 11th annual orchid show. This year the show was designed by Fran Coelho, NYBG Vice President for Glasshouses and Exhibitions, and it shows. The designer clearly knows the space and her plants.

Of the thousands of species of orchids on display, my favorite has to be the Paphiopedilum, or lady slipper orchid, shown below. The pink signage that accompanies the specimen explains: "The shoe-shaped lip of Paphiopedilum earned this orchid its name, derived from the Greek Paphos, an Aegean island with a temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and pedilon (sandal). Legend has it that one day Aphrodite lost her golden slipper. When a mortal found it, the slipper was transformed into an exquisite orchid". This is a wonderful show and well worth a visit to NYBG. 

Cellphone in Uganda

Standing on the main street of Kabale in southwestern Uganda (about 10 km from the border with Rwanda) talking to Elysa on Tony Cunningham's cell phone. The year is 2001, we had just finished a resource management workshop  for park staff at the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (see Bwindi Impenetrable Forest), and this was the first time that I had ever made an international call by cellphone. I was accustomed to standing in line at public phone offices and suffering through bad connections, language difficulties, and tiny, stuffy phone booths to call home. Thought cellphone technology was close to magic. [NOTE: Picture, and workshop logistics, by Tony Cunningham (thx, Tony)].