Friday, October 30, 2015 at 11:46AM 
My thoughts are turning to northern Myanmar in anticipation of my upcoming trip. Shown above, still another image from the Mohnyin Thambuddhei Paya in Monyin (see Thambuddhei Paya, Thambuddhei Paya II, Thambuddhei Paya III, and Tiger Balm). Buddhas and pagodas, and more Buddhas and pagodas, and glorious blue skies. Can't wait.
Thursday, October 29, 2015 at 9:33AM 
Fascinating article in the N.Y. Times about a group of scientists collecting data on the rate at which the Greenland ice sheet, one of the biggest and fasting-melting blocks of ice on Earth, will drive up sea levels in the coming decades. Really well written and super interesting; the drone footage is spectacular. [NOTE: Image by Josh Harner, NY Times].
Greenland ice sheet, climate change in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 10:11AM 
Lovely, thoughtful words of botanical wisdom:
"The seed is the tree's thought. The seed
is the speech of the tree. The seed is the tree
thinking and speaking its knowledge of trees."
– Robert Bringhurst
Uddālaka, Selected Poems
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 10:01AM 
Image shows Otomi woman using strips of jonote (Trema micrantha (L.) Blume) bark to make a sheet of paper (see Papel Amate) in San Pablito, Puebla. Note softened bark fibers hanging in the background, and the rectangular, flattened stone, or muito, used for pounding the bark fibers together. This picture was taken in 1984, was scanned from a slide and grayscaled, and it will be used as a verso page header for Chapter 2 of Managing the Wild (see Sigh of Relief).
Monday, October 26, 2015 at 9:59AM 
Took a hike at Turkey Mountain on Saturday. Beautiful fall day, a bit overcast, and the leaf colors were amazing. Image above is the view from the summit. Image below shows a lovely cairn along the blue trail.
Friday, October 23, 2015 at 10:26AM 
Hurricane Patricia, the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded, is racing toward the Pacific Coast of Mexico with sustained windspeeds of over 200 mph. It is expected to make landfall in Jalisco this evening. The popular coastal resorts, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanilla, as well as Mexico's second largest city, Guadalajara, are all in the projected path of the hurricane. Storm surges, hurricane force winds, flashfloods, mudslides, power outages – this looks really bad. Gulp.
Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 10:13AM Lovely video by tofu media about Scott Mangis, a former U.S. Marine who now lives as a Zen monk in Japan. Lot of great smiles. Love the exchange with his teacher (Jinen-san at Anon-ji Temple outside of Tokyo) at 6:00.
"The me before my mother and father met". A beautiful nine minutes.
Annonji Temple, Jinen-san, Scott Mangis in Dharma | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 10:27AM 
Am heading back to Nam Sabi in Sagaing Region in two weeks to continue working on the Village Management Area and start putting together the application for a Community Forestry Certificate. Very much looking forward to this trip. More so, because son Luke will also be going along. [NOTE: Image shows U Aung Kyi from Nam Sabi holding the rope so that a crew member can measure the height of that tree].
Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 10:08AM 
Interesting recent paper about the domestication of dogs. Using a semicustom 185,805-marker genotyping array, a large-scale survey of autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y chromosome diversity was conducted in 4,676 purebred dogs from 161 breeds and 549 village dogs from 38 countries [NOTE: I took this from their Methods section; don't ask me about autosomal diversity or genetic markers, please].
Dogs are the first domesticated species, originating at least 15,000 years ago from Eurasian grey wolves (shown above). What the authors of this paper discovered is that the first domestication event occurred in Central Asia, probably near present-day Nepal and Mongolia. Good to know the next time you pet your dog.
Monday, October 19, 2015 at 10:10AM 
We held two important ceremonies yesterday at the Empty Hand Zen Center (EHZC). First, a Stepping Down ceremony for Myozan Dennis Keegan (shown above), Head Priest and Teacher at EHZC, who skillfully guided the center after the passing of Jion Susan Postal (see Jion Susan Postal) in February 2014. And then a Stepping Up ceremony for our new Guiding Teacher in Residence, Konin Melissa Cardenas (shown below). And then a delicious lunch (thx, Frank et al). I saw a lot of old friends and am pleased/encouraged/challenged by the possibilities of having a new Zen teacher in New Rochelle. [NOTE: The big chair next to the altar in the top photo was used by the teacher in each ceremony. Script read "teacher takes seat in fancy chair". We spent a lot of time trying to find such a thing].
