Winners over the conflict June 6, 2009

My conflict arises a question: whether I want to simply to help or encourage people or I want to have a better job or reputation. The old sayings from Japanese forefathers show me the way to go forward:

     

One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace.

Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train

   

by Morihei Ueshima “The Art of Peace” (translated by John Stevens)

 

 

Who says my poems are poems?

My poems are not poems.

When you know that my poems are not poems,

Then we can discuss poetry!

 

by Ryokan “Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems” (translated by John Stevens)

   

  

When I feel that “the grass is greener on the other side,” I recite this poem;

If someone asks

My abode

I reply:

“The east edge of The Milky Way”

Like a drifting cloud,

Bound by nothing:

I just let go

Giving myself up

To the whim of the wind.

  

by Ryokan “Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems” (translated by John Stevens)

   

  

Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969): Japanese greatest martial artist – Aikido

Ryokan (1758-1831) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk.  He wrote poetry which includes a lot of wisdoms of life and the essence of  Zen life.

Meeting someone in the dream whom you are longing for April 11, 2009

I wonder if you have had the experience of having a dream as if it is real.  If so, how wonderful it is if one meets someone in the dream whom one is longing  to see  again. 

I had such a dream last night. 

In the dream, I am about eight or nine years old. I am playing with my brother who is three or four. We are playing with toys and singing together. While we are playing together, we find giant pants. Finally, we find out that these pants are our mom’s. We  are surprised how big they are!

When we burst into laughter, the dream ended. Then, I woke up.  I was not sure where I was, because the dream was so real.  My brain was still in the dream, however, what I saw was a simple room where I live at present. I felt like I’d had a trip back to the past. 

I thought: “How cute my brother was in the dream!” I felt strong nostalgia and my eyes got red.

It was a wonderful dream. I met my brother who was three… Of course, he is an adult now, happily living in Japan. Thus, I am not able to see my little brother any more, but except in my dream.

Messages from a Japanese Zen Monk (2) March 27, 2009

I found other four Ryokan’s beautiful poems.

 

      

In the empty doorway many petals are scattered;

As they fall they blend with the song of the birds.

Slowly, the bright spring sun appears in the window

And a thin line of smoke drifts from the incense burner

 

     

Today’s begging is finished;

at the crossroads I wonder by the side of Hachiman Shrine 

Talking with some children.

Last year, a foolish monk;

This year, no change!

   

    

 Standing alone beneath a solitary pine;

Quickly the time passes.

Overhead the endless sky-

Who can I call to join me on this pass?

    

    

Spring – late at night

I go for a walk.

A trace of snow lingers on the pines and cedars.

The bright moon hangs over the mountains.

I think of you, many rivers and mountains away;

Countless thoughts, but the brush does not move 

 

 

translated by John Stevens (2006). One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan . Weatherhill

Messages from a Japanese Zen monk March 8, 2009

Ryokan (1758-1831) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk.  He wrote poetry which includes a lot of wisdoms of life and the essence of  Zen life.  I would like to introduce his poems.

 

If there is beauty, there must be ugliness;

If there is right, there must be wrong,

Wisdom and ignorance are complementary,

This is an old truth, don’t think it was discovered recently

“I want this, I want that”

Is nothing but foolishness

I’ll tell you a secret

“All things are impermanent!”

 

The rain has stopped,

the clouds drifted away, and the weather is clear again.

If you heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.

Abandon the fleeting world, abandon yours,

Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way

     

 

Ryokan liked play with kids, he also left the following poem.

     

We throw a little woolen ball back and forth

I don’t want to boast of my skill, but

If someone asks me the secret of my art, I tell him,

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven

   

 

translated by John Stevens (2006). One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan . Weatherhill

 

Dear My Mom January 17, 2009

Dear my mom:

It was a great time with you during the Christmas holiday. We had not seen since you had a surgery of your heart  last January. I had been worried about you until I saw your face at the airport on the arrival day in Japan. You said that you lost weight because the medicine you were taking for your heart made it difficult for you to eat as much as you had eaten before. I did not say anything about it,  but I saw your becaming smaller and weaker. It made me so sad as I had believed that you were stronger than me, but now, it seems that I am stronger than you. It makes me realize that time changes everything.  How difficult it is to accept this fact.  However, at the same time, I also learn from you that being old is beautiful. I see your kindness and love getting stronger.  You might not know how sad it was to say again, “See you next year!” when I left Japan after the Christmas holiday.  I hope that we will see each other next year, will go to our favorite Udon (Japanese needle) restaurant together, and will make a Japanese traditional New Year’s meal for my dad.  I am deeply grateful for having you as my mother and my best friend.

Your daughter (January 17, 2009)

Who is my hero? December 1, 2008

        When I was watching the program of CNN Heroes 2008, I was thinking who my hero was. 

     My hero’s name is Chiune Sugihara who saved more than 6000 Jewish people during WWII. He is well-known as “the Japanese Schindler.” His contribution taught me how important it is to help people beyond different cultures and languages.

 

     Chiune Sugihara was the first Japanese consul general in Lithuania in the early 1900’s. While he was there, the Second World War became a fierce conflict. In Germany, Hitler directed the army to kill many Jewish people. Jewish refugees tried to flee the war. The Jewish people in Lithuania tried to find a way to escape as well.

 

     One day, Chiune noticed that there were a lot of Jewish people in front of the Japanese Embassy. They were asking to be given visas for transit to Japan. However, the Japanese government did not allow him to issue visas to the Jewish people.

 

      Chiune thought how important it was for humans to save people’s lives and not to follow the Japanese government’s order. Against the Japanese government’s order, he decided to issue more than 6000 visas without taking a rest. It was in July through August, 1940.

 

     One day, Chiune received the final order from the Japanese government to return to Japan. For this reason, he was forced to stop issuing visas to them.

 

     After he returned to Japan, he was fired and lost his job as a Japanese diplomat. The Japanese government kept in secret what he did during WWII for a long time. However, the Jewish people who were saved by Chuine did not forget him and gave him a prize for humanity.

 

     What Chuine Sugihara did for the people was impressive for me and taught me what is most important for humans. Similarly, he taught me that one person has a small power, but each one can help others if we are brave.

    

CNN Heroes 2008: http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/cnn.heroes/index.html

Chune Sugihara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara

What can I do? November 29, 2008

     I am trying to recall my initial reason why I decided to study in the United States. it started with the moment that I was diagnosed with sterility because of severe stress from overwork and family concerns about ten years ago. As I was told by the doctor that I needed to take a rest, I had to quit my favorite job. Similarly, I faced having to give up my dream of getting married with someone and building my family as there is still a traditional custom in Japan that women should have babies as long as they are married.   

     I knew that that it would be easy to feel sorry for myself and to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.  However, I tried to think as to what I could do in my life and to be grateful for what I had at the present.

     A few months later after I left my previous job, I got a new job. Less responsibility, l usually left work at 5:00 p.m., and my health condition got better. 

     One day, my boss suggested that I go to an English evening school. Then my new life started. However, it had  been still hard for me to give up not having a baby. Around then, I came across a poster on the bulletin board of the English school. The poster came from a NGO which was looking for sponsors who would send money to children in the Philippines who could not go to school because of their poverty. The decision was not easy because I had to send about 40 dollars every month because my income was so small. However, I saved the money and joined this sponsorship program. Now, I have a girl in the Philippines. I began sending aid to her in 2000. At that time she was in the first grade of the elementary school and will become a junior high school student this year. I receive a card from her every Christmas and a record of her progress (such as her grades or her health condition with her picture). As I don’t have any income now, I wonder how long I will be able to keep supporting her, however, I hope that I will find a way to keep sending her the aid and that she will receive good education because she wants to be a nurse.  

     Through English learning, I meet many people and learn that there are a lot of people who are suffering from poverty, who cannot go to school, and so forth. By becoming an English teacher, I want to teach the joy of learning about the world in order to create a global network enabling people to help each other beyond different cultures, races, and religions. After graduating from school, I want to teach English  as a second language to learners from different nationalities. That is the reason why I am studying TESOL in the United States.  I might be too arrogant to want to help people, however, if possible, I want to achieve this goal. 

     Even though I will not have my own babies, I have my Filipino child. English learning allows me to communicate with her smoothly. Through meeting her, I have learned that languages and education might play an important role to build a bridge between different cultures and people. I hope that my Filipino child will realize that the world is one some day.      

The information about the NGO (Childfund Japan): http://www.childfund.or.jp/english.html

                                                  

                                                     

About a Japanese woman who was a geisha and nun November 27, 2008

I am inspired by a Junkyo Oishi, who was a writer, geisha, artist, and Buddhist nun in

early twentieth-century Japan. She was born in 1888 in Osaka. She used to be a geisha

and an actress of kabuki theater until her arms were cut off by her foster father in 1905.

After this tragedy occured when she was seventeen, her life was a series of ups and

downs.   

 

As she did not go to schools, she could not read and write. When asking many schools

and places to teach the  characters, her request was rejected because she had no arms.

Then, she asked elementary school students to  teach on the streets. After that, she met

a Buddhist monk who understood her desire for learning and became  her tutor. 

   

Through the experience of meeting the monk, she came to want to become a Buddhist  

nun, however,  the monk recommended that she get married with someone in order to

understand humanities as a woman, a mother, and a wife. 

   

According to this advice from the monk, Junkyo got married with an artist and had two

sons, however, her marriage was not successful. After getting divorced when she was

thirty nine, she published her autobiography entitled, “Horie Story.” The story

produced a silent movie in 1931.     

 

In 1933, she became a nun and started activities to help impaired people.   

She also established an institute for impaired people in Bukkoin Temple located in

Kyoto. This is the first school to educate such people.   In 1949,  when she was sixty-one,

 she re-edited her autobiography and re-published entitled “Mute no Shiawase”.   

Beside these activities, she drew pictures, gave lectures around the Japan, and visited

other countries such as China and Germany.

   

             More information: http://www.yy007.com/ohishi/

                                                                                       Jynkyo Oishi

Handcrafts January 19, 2008

       

About a ten minute walk from my apartment, there is a handcraft shop. Products are often on sale; I find what I want at a discount of 40-50 percent. I buy cloth, threads and other stuff and make a bag, a table matt, a kitchen towel, and so on. These things make my life richer. Here are some things that I made: place mats.

 

 

 

 

 

    

Food (Recipe) January 18, 2008

     

You could cook Japanese food easily even if you are in the United Sates or in other countries!                                                                                                                                                                                                       
 

     1. Otukemono : Pickles of Nappa (Chinese cabbage)

    

Prep Time: 1 min Start to Finish: 10 minutes

Taste: hot and salty

 

5 nappa leaves

2 teaspoon of kombu (sea weed) tea powder:

2 tablespoon of hot water

1/2 of water

1 piece of dried red papers

1 slice of kombu (a 2.5 inch-square)

Some salt

 

1.  5 leaves of nappa are chopped in one-bite-size.

 

    2.  Put kombu tea powder into a bowl, pour 2 tablespoon-hot water on the powder, and stir them until the powder is melted. Then, add 1/2 water to the melted powder, and stir them again in order to make a broth of kombu.

3.  Put the chopped nappa into the broth (you made in the #2) and sprinkle some salt on the nappa.

4.  After chopping the dried red pepper, the pepper is also sprinkled on the nappa.

5.  Cut a piece of kombu into a 2.5 inch-square size and soak it in the broth.

 

6.  Mix the nappa and the broth and the kombu in a container and keep the container in the refrigerator for one night　

      

Calories: less than 10 kcal

It is tasteful with hot rice or spaghetti (angle hair spaghetti).

I recommend that you have it when you feel tired. It helps release your fatigue and protects your kidneys.

 

 

 

2. Sutamago (Vinegar Egg)

 

Prep Time: 10 mins/ Taste: a little bit sour and sweet

 

6 eggs

1/2 cup of rice vinegar

1/2 cup of soy sauce

2 or 3 teaspoon sugar

     

1.  Boil 6 eggs and peel the shells.

   

2.  In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup of rice vinegar, 1/2 cup of soy sauce, and 2 or 3 teaspoon-sugar.

    

3.  Put the 6 eggs in a container and pour the sauce that you made in step 2 on the eggs. Keep them in the refrigerator for one night.

    

 Nutrition facts:　

Calories: 80 per one egg

Percent daily value: Vitamin D (30%), B12 (19%), B2 (17%), protein (13%) and cholesterol (35％)                                                                                                                                                          

 

Health note:

Vitamin D helps calcium absorb into your bones and prevents depression. Vitamin B12 works well with vegetables or fruits. It prevents fatigue and dizziness, and improves your concentration. Vitamin B2 is essential nutrition for healthy hair, skins, and nails. In addition, this vitamin helps to metabolize in your body and to use calories such as fat and sugar smoothly. Just one egg keeps you healthy with low calories.