Yes

Momus’ first impressions from returning to Japan:

Click opera
Some adorably cute kids, a boy and a girl, are slithering on steel rollbars by the airport window, pointing at the rain flecking the window. Their mother indulges them for a while, then calls them to her kindly. They respond with a loud ‘Hai!’, an obedience which is at once utter compliance and utter delight. Trained to question and resist and sullenly defy, I feel sadly post-Protestant in my grey NON NEIN NO t-shirt. It’s as if NON NEIN and NO are what my culture has trained me to say. Saying NON NEIN and NO makes me feel big and clever. I’m spiky, I take shit from no-one! I’m the boss, I’ll sue your ass! But when I see how charmingly they say YES here, I feel suddenly very small, silly, white and grey, like the anti-social individual using a cellphone, listening to loud music on headphones, or getting drunk and doing a stupid dance in the aisle.

Note for the new year: say YES

Current Reading

I just recently finished reading a book by Stephen Batchelor: Alone With Others
I read this book during the tour, and while difficult at times it was very rewarding. The author uses modern 20th century language to write about Buddhism.

Buddha does not represent a transhuman absolute value, but stands for the optimum mode of being that man himself is capable of realizing.

And

The phrase ‘the optimum mode of being’ is a way of decontaminating the misused and misunderstood term ‘Buddha’. As we have seen, ‘Buddha’ or ‘Buddhahood’ refers to a mode of being in which all that is disruptive and distorted has been eliminated, and all that is to be actualized has been actualized.

There is a nice quote by Shantideva:

In the same way as the hands and so forth are regarded as limbs of the body, likewise why are embodied creatures not regarded as limbs of life.

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Modern Bowls

To be taken into consideration:
– Sound/noise of the utensils with the bowls
– Weight: lighter=better for travel
– Durability/Longevity
– Style/Form

Can a fork be made from bamboo or plastic? Does the knife have to be metal? Wooden spoon? How can different materials be integrated? By color? Different materials but similar texture? Different material but similar shape?

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ubushina

ubushina

We call our site ubushina, which is the birth of things that are brought into life by the creators’ hands. The ubushina site is the largest and most comprehensive network linking Japan’s great craftsmen to modern day creative professionals. The ubushina site uniquely introduces its service to artists, architects and designers,so they can utilize the remarkable materials, beauty and skill that has long been used in Japanese craftsmanship.

(Via Mo Co Loco)

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