attention

Life as it is, here and now, is as good as it gets.  When something catches my attention and I want to turn toward it, I also turn away from the rest of my life.  I have to be careful with my attention!  (Zen contains a corollary message.)  When I follow the necessity of transient circumstances, my life is best, and it flows more smoothly.  By allowing myself to be receptive to the changing needs of life I become more accepting, appreciative, and compassionate.  And my thoughts and actions reflect this attitude. 

It used to be that we could only satisfy our basic needs; an ascetic lifestyle was the norm for our early ancestors.  Then, when culture and technology rapidly changed our lifestyle, we learned how to satisfy almost any need we could imagine, faster than ever before.  But we lack the native wisdom to know which desires should be satisfied and which should not, which impulses to act on and which to restrain.  This wasn't a problem before, we simply couldn't satisfy most of our creative desires, so the temptation was much less.  But now, in our instant gratification society, being careful with where we place our attention is more difficult than ever.  Perhaps the contemplative traditions like Buddhism arose to remind us that it is now up to us to impose on ourselves the control that the environment can no longer exercise over us.

The last few days I knew that my circumstances necessitated that I attend to various work and chores, but I became infected with a desire to watch episodes of the television series "Firefly." It was easier to do this than my work, so I easily caved and watched them.  While enjoyable, my work still needed to be done, only now I had even less time to do it in. 

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"To study Buddhism is to study the self.  To study the self is to forget the self.  To forget the self is to become enlightened by all things."
"When other sects speak well of Zen, the first thing that they praise is its poverty."
"If he cannot stop the mind that seeks after fame and profit, he will spend his life without finding peace."
- Dogen

"My sermons are criticized by certain audiences. They say that my sermons are hollow, not holy. I agree with them because I myself am not holy. The Buddha's teaching guides people to the place where there is nothing special... People often misunderstand faith as kind of ecstasy of intoxication... True faith is sobering up from such intoxication."
- Kodo Sawaki

"No thought, no reflection, no analysis, no cultivation, no intention; let it settle itself."
- Tilopa

tummo

Is that Denali I see?

Ice water immersion.  Yes, that's just like it sounds.  In Finnish it is avantouinti.  If I can't get a sauna, then this is what I can do this winter - cold water dousing also has the effect of elevating body temperature.  The only problem is that it is difficult to keep a large tub of water from freezing solid in the winter here.  But it's not impossible, I could insulate a large tub set in the ground, maybe even have a pump circulate it, but that's a lot of trouble to go through.  I recall hearing about Tibetan monks who do a sort of meditation call “Tummo” in which they can raise their body temperature, especially that of hands and feet, to the point where they can stay outside in the cold, even drying wet sheets draped over their bodies.  This practice is associated with the monk Naropa, Tibetan Buddhism, Tantric meditation, and Kundalini Yoga, but I think that consciously affecting thermoregulation is not a rare feat that requires special training in meditation.  I would guess ordinary folks asked to concentrate on elevating their bodily heat though a kind of biofeedback involving visualization and relaxation are probably capable of doing it.  And this is something I'd like to do, to help me keep a clear mind and good physical health as well as enjoy the outdoors.  Wrapping a thin sheet over my skin could give me some level of protection from instant frostbite. 

If I can develop an ability to generate heat and know my limits, then wearing only a fundoshi I would like to participate on Dontosai, January 14, in the annual hadaka mairi (written 裸参り in Japanese) at Takekoma Jinja in Japan.  It would be a great experience!  I believe it was in 2004, during a visit to Japan that I saw the festival at this shrine first hand.  But first I am going to make my own outdoor shower, and use it until the first frost of the year. 

My greenhouse plans had long since turned to “a plastic sheet covered metal pipe box barely five feet high”, and now my sauna plans have turned to me sitting outside baring my skin to the cold and wet.  And these are my ideas for “the backbone of recreation during the summer and winter - outdoor oriented activities, play in the snow and cold, and in the summer watch plants grow and mold  - social activities, to be shared and enjoyed in the company of others?”  Yes, they are, and now it seems I have it all.

longhouse variation

For a long time I had considered using trestle frame construction for a greenhouse, the internal framework is heavily braced owing to the numerous triangulated sections. And it is simple- a series of trestles with two rows of beams extending as long as is needed. Fundamentally, virtually all structures follow this vertical post and horizontal beam layout, only here it is reduced to its essential features. The basic unit shows a heavily braced right angled hexahedral polyhedron (a cube, more or less).



Recently I was reconsidering Roald Gunderson's log buildings (see also here), where logs are used in place of dimensional lumber. He built a greenhouse that resembles a very primitive longhouse - one beam, supported by a single row of posts, and a gabled roof with low or absent walls. Although in such a design - kingpost columns supporting a central beam - the amount of cross bracing appears low when compared to trestle frame buildings, there are three cross braced sections in different planes that support one another.  In fact any two of the sections can support each another, providing more than the minimal needed for a tripod.  The kingpost (third section) adds structural support and permits easier construction.

Minka

Composed mostly of big gorgeous pictures of minka, I read through Chuji Kawashima's 260 page “Japan's Folk Architecture: Traditional Thatched Farmhouses” in two days. It is a great book that has probably done more to help me understand these buildings than anything else. It is a well written, fairly comprehensive, and rationally organized introduction to the subject. As with any good book, I took notes as I read and ended up with a full page. One house that was interesting, to take an example, is the sao-ie style of minka in Miyazaki Prefecture (described on page 108). It literally means “clothes-drying-pole house”, but is essentially laid out in the so-called longhouse configuration (also called heiretsu-gata). Later on page 162-164 (in the Longhouse subsection of the Hipped Roof section of Part 3: Styles) an example of this style of minka is given: the Takeyoshi Migita house (Shiba-mura, Higashi Usuki-gun, Miyazaki Pref.). Figure 270 is a floorplan drawing of the house; it is elegant in its simplicity, yet it also contains all the distinctive features of minka. Why longhouses in Japan? Here they are an adaptation to building on narrow terraces cut into the slope of steep terrain that does not permit building wide houses.

If the structural layout of the Migita house could best be described as linear (and it could), then the Nohara house (a modestly porportioned gassho-zukuri minka, page 115) would be called symmetrical. The visual impact of the stout ushi-bari beam bisecting the length of the house with curved chona-bari beams perpendicularly flanking it on either side gives the impression of a rib cage (see picture). Japanese minka are fascinating for their materials, craftsmanship, and variety.

Takashi Amano

This is an image of Mr. Amano's big room aquarium during its installation.  It is a perfect example of how a love for aquariums can be incorporated into one's house.  At this point in its construction, no electrical appliances have yet been installed.  It is just a bare tank with the walls and roof surrounding it.  You can see skylight behind the tank - apparently there is some sort of window or clear skylight roof that allows natural light (southern exposure?) over the top of the tank.  This tank is enormous, but of course the larger the tank the better it is to observe the natural ecology of its inhabitants.  I chose this image because I am most interested in the way in which the tank was setup.  But to really appreciate it you have to see it full of emergent plants and schools of tropical fish (as most pictures of the tank do, just visit the links below).  It is essentially in its own alcove off the side of a large room.  In some images you will see that the wall to the right is completely open to a traditional Japanese garden. 

Sources:
http://www.akvaportal.cz/?id=31
http://viktorlantos.com/wordpress/2009/01/20/akvariumok-takashi-amano-orias-akvariuma/

Japan in '09

I took a short trip to Japan with the whole family recently; it was the first time for my children. They had their ups and downs, but overall I think it was a positive experience for them. The day we left one of them got sick and it seemed for a few hours that the whole trip was in jeopardy of being canceled. But a quick trip to the ER and some medicine in hand and we were back on schedule.

The plane flight was long, but the Airbus A300 we took across the Pacific had small monitors for each passenger to choose from among a large selection of movies and other media. After arriving in Tokyo we stayed at a nice hotel before taking the Shinkansen north to my wife's hometown. (I can't say enough good things about taking the bullet train. I'm hopeful that America develops its own high speed rail network.) The majority of the 18 days we were in Japan were spent with my wife's parents. They were awesome hosts and the food was great. I must have consumed every lifeform that naturally occurs in the ocean, usually raw, and often within hours after it was harvested. For the kids the number one food was natto. It's very good and may be worth trying to make ourselves as it is practically impossible to buy locally.

The previous two times I had visited was during the middle of winter, but this time it was harvest season in Japan and the rice fields were golden! Many of them had a harvesting machine sitting out near them, some were harvested while others were not. It was also typhoon season. But while we were there the weather was either sunny or overcast, but generally warm and pleasant. I can count at least three barbecues I ate at. The meat on the BBQ is always seafood - squid, scallops, oysters, tunicates ("hoya"), fish - with the exception of pork for yakitori, and beef tongue. Also on the barbie is a variety of veggies, like corn, kabocha squash, eggplant, and peppers. I have to mention the fresh fruit I ate. The grapes are incomparable to any I have ever eaten in America. Very soft and silky texture and a perfumey taste. Some are almost the size of small oranges! I had some of the best peaches (momo) and pears I'd ever eaten as well when we drove through Fukushima, which is known for its delicious fruit. The ever present vending machines provided new experiences too. I discovered I love grape juice with chunks of aloe vera in it, conveniently sold in a small aluminum can by minute maid.

We played at the beach, and visited two public aquariums and a zoo. I saw a pineapple sea cucumber, but no giant isopod. I had the very pleasant experience of having my hand nibbled on by dozens of "Doctor Fish" (Garra rufa). I took notice of the local wildlife. Spiders were everywhere, some were very large and their webs could span meters. The sheer numbers of them were amazing. I also saw a dead snake and praying mantis, several frog species, tadpoles, and other invertebrates. Pomegranate trees bearing fruit were a common sight. Though unremarkable to most people, I took notice (and photos) of these smaller wonders. At one Shinto shrine we visited (Shiogama Jinja) there was a flock of pigeons. We bought some food to feed them and as I held it the birds landed on my hand, arms, and shoulders and ate directly from my hand. As beautiful as the shrine I had just walked through was, this experience of complete trust and docility shown to me by the birds made it all pale in comparison. Occasionally, at the sight or sound of something the birds would startle and the whole flock flew off, circle round in the air, then return to seek more food. I could feel a gust of wind from the combined flapping of so many wings. The kids loved chasing the pigeons. But this is not to say that Shiogama Jinja and other shrines (like Takekoma Jinja) and Buddhist temples were not breathtaking in their own right. Walking on the grounds one is constantly aware of the great age of the place evident in the sculptures, buildings, stairs, and especially the giant and weathered trees.

While walking to the post office once we stopped at a daycare that allowed other children to visit and play. The kids there approached me, and asked "nanijin?", or "what nationality are you?" and they wanted to know the English translation to simple Japanese words. These little kids aged two to four swarmed around me and the high pitch and volume of their combined voices made their individual requests nearly impossible for me to understand. Rarely ever have I been honored with so much eager attention.

We took the ferry to Hokkaido and stayed there two nights to visit extended family. The first day the kids went butterfly (chocho) catching. The family in Hokkaido is warm, funny, and knows how to have a good time. There were nine little kids there all under the age of five (including mine among them), so one night we set off fireworks and sparklers. Another day we went to a hot springs, and another we made soba noodles from scratch. (In years past we made mochi from scratch.) There was even a karate demonstration with participation by the kids encouraged. What a beautiful setting they live at too - the equivalent of an American farm or homestead. We drove to the top of a high grassy hill where wild grapes grew and a warm breeze blew, and took in the view of the surrounding area. It was a happy reunion. There are countless horse farms in the area. We often walked to a nearby farm and called "Po po po po!" and the horses came to greet us for a soft pet and some offered grass. They are healthy and fast. A friend there showed me some beetles (kabutomushi) he caught that are almost the size my palm. My avid interest in wildlife is well known.

My wife celebrated her birthday with a shopping spree, great dinner, and fruit covered cake. We bought a fancy rice cooker that senses the moisture content and cooks under pressure. (I think it is nearly an equal to my laptop in computing power and may even be self-aware.) I must mention the automobiles in Japan, and the most noticeable among them are the "Kei" cars and trucks. These are the smallest vehicles; I think they are so cool looking. At one of numerous stops we made at the convenience stores that dot the landscape I saw a Suzuki "Twin". This is the smallest Kei car I saw. Of course, I snapped a picture. On the way to another hot springs we stayed overnight at, we stopped at Shiroishi castle. Massive timber construction, huge boulder foundation, very cool. On the way back we visited a park filled with traditional old style Japanese buildings. Many of them had thatched roofs supported by lashed poles used as rafters. My desire has been to emulate these methods and so I took careful notice of the details. The location among the trees and bamboo stands was very beautiful.

My wife saw old and new friends, and the kids played with their cousins whom they met for the first time. During breaks between activities, I studied Japanese. I am trying unorthodox methods to improve my language skill, approaching from as many angles as possible. I think reading some manga like Yotsuba-to! by Kiyohiko Azuma, or maybe Doraemon, Chibi Mariko-chan, Sazae-san, Otoko Oidon, or Omusubi Kororin might be useful. At least so I've heard. When I came back home I learned how to hack the DVD player to see Hayao Miyazaki anime since it doesn't support DVDs from Japan. Tonight the choice between watching Nausicaa or Mononoke Hime was difficult.

On the flight back across the Pacific I watched "My Sister's Keeper" and reflected that I sometimes don't see reality, maybe because it isn't always pretty, but it is the only reality we have. I guess what I'm saying is that I often catch myself trying to operate "up here" on some detached cerebral level, when I need to operate "down here" where dissatisfaction is a common part of life. Is that what the phrase "keeping it real" means? Self reflection was another pleasure I enjoyed while on vacation. I fondly recall a conversation with my father in law that began when he asked me the ultimately unanswerable question "What is most important to you?" Whatever that answer may be, he sought to convey it through art, to stimulate the experience of this in the people who behold his art. The last 18 days provided me with many good experiences I will reflect on for a long time.