Zen: ordering life Taoist way (Lao Tzu)

(Flowing Void) The simple path to put our life in order again | Taoist Wisdom

Zen Comics (Ioanna Salajan)

The root of Zen "Buddhism": Taoism is a philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao 道, the way of non-interference, going with the flow.

With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, Tao has been translated as "way," "road," "path," "technique," generally understood as "natural," an enigmatic process of transformation underlying ultimate reality [2, 3].

Where Chinese came from: DNA evidence

(Asian Ancestry) Scientists compared Chinese DNA to every ancient civilization -- one matched!

Zen Comics (I. Salajan)

Taoist thought and tradition have informed the development of various practices like Zen, including forms of meditation (cultivation), astrology, qigong (moving chi), feng shui (arrangement of our environment), and internal alchemy [4].

A common goal of Taoist practice is self-cultivation, a deeper appreciation of the Tao (akin to the Vedic concept of Brahman, GOD, or Nature), and a more harmonious existence.

Taoist ethics generally emphasize virtues of effortless action (wu wei), naturalness (ziran), simplicity, and the three treasures of compassion, frugality, and humility. [It seems that most of what Western practitioners is Zen Buddhism is actually rooted in Taoism and Confucianism.] More

• Yellow River Civilization
• Yellow River, China

Chinese Buddhism is a blend of three traditions

The Yellow River Civilization (黃河文明 or Huanghe Valley Civilization): Hwan‐huou Civilization is an ancient [proto-] Chinese civilization that prospered in the middle and lower basin of the Yellow River [1]. Agriculture (particularly millet cultivation) was started in the flood plain of the Yellow River, and before long, through flood control and the irrigation of the Yellow River, cities were developed and political power found reinforcement. One of the "four major civilizations of the ancient world," it is often included in textbooks of East Asian history. But the idea of including only the Yellow River Civilization as one of the four biggest ancient civilizations has become outdated as a result of the discovery of other early cultures in China, such as the Yangtze and Liao civilizations. The area saw the Yangshao and Longshan cultures of the Neolithic era and developed into the bronze ware culture of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. More

• Meditation traditional photos - download free high-quality pictures | Magnific (formerly Freepik)

Wabi-sabi: Perfection of Imperfections

(T&H Inspiration & Motivation) What is the most skillful art? Noninterference, flowing, surfing

The art of golden joinery

More beautiful for being broken? (Etsy)

Kintsugi (Japanese 金継ぎ, lit. "golden joinery," also known as kintsukuroi, 金繕い, "golden repair" [1]) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with golden urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with actual powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

• A crack in a vessel is not a mistake, not an error, but rather a means of allowing light in.
• "NO-MIND" (Japanese mushin, Chinese 無心, wúxīn, Sanskrit acitta, acittika, acintya, nirvikalpa) is a mental state that is important in East Asian religions, Asian culture, and the arts. The idea is discussed in classic Zen (Chan) Buddhist texts, described as "the experience of an instantaneous severing of thought that occurs in the course of a thoroughgoing pursuit of a Buddhist meditative exercise" [1, 2].
• It is not necessarily a total absence of thinking, however. Instead, it can refer to an absence of clinging, conceptual proliferation (cycling through an endless hamster wheel), or being stuck in thought [1].
• Chinese Buddhist texts also link this experience with Buddhist metaphysical concepts, like Buddha-nature and Dharmakaya. The term is also found in Taoist literature, including the Zhuangzi. This idea eventually influenced other aspects of Asian culture and the arts. Thus, the effortless state of "no mind" (flow state) is one cultivated by poets, artists, craftspeople, performers, and trained martial artists, who may not even think it is associated with Buddhism or Taoism [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. More: No-mind

The method is similar to the maki-e technique [2, 3, 4]. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something to disguise [5] or hide.

History

Let's have a tea party with fine China, not wood

Kintsugi became closely associated with ceramic vessels used for chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) [3].

On the one hand, one theory is that kintsugi may have originated when Japanese shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China for repairs in the late 15th century.

When it was returned, repaired with crude metal staples, it may have prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a more aesthetically pleasing means of repair [2].

On the other hand, according to Bakōhan Saōki (record of tea-bowl with a "large-locust" clamp), such "ugliness" was considered inspirational and Zen-like, as it connoted beauty in broken things.

Goryeo ewer with gold repair spout/handle (20th cent)

The bowl thus became highly valued due to the large metal staples, which looked like a locust, and the bowl was named 'bakōhan ("large-locust clamp") [6]. Collectors became so enamored of the new art that some were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with the gold seams of kintsugi.

It is also possible that a pottery piece was chosen for deformities it had acquired during production, then deliberately broken and repaired, instead of being discarded [2].

The technique of kintsugi was also applied to ceramic pieces with origins outside of Japan, including China, Vietnam, and Korea [7].

 

Wabi-sabi, philosophy of embracing flaws and imperfections

As a philosophy, kintsugi is similar to the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect [8, 9]. Japanese aesthetics values marks of wear from the use of an object.

• WABI-SABI (侘び寂び) in traditional Japanese aesthetics centers on the Buddhist acceptance of transience and imperfection [2]. It is often described as the appreciation of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" [3]. It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art [4, 5]. Wabi-sabi combines two interrelated concepts, wabi (侘) and sabi (寂). According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wabi may be translated as "subdued, austere beauty," and sabi as "rustic patina" [6]. Wabi-sabi derives from the Buddhist teaching of the Three Marks of Existence (三法印, sanbōin), which states that ALL things are impermanent (無常, mujō), unsatisfactory (苦, ku), and impersonal (or empty, shunyata, devoid of self-nature, 空, kū) [7].

Maybe tai chi exercise would be good

This can be seen as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken. It can also be understood as a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs as events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage [10].

The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage: "Waste not, want not" [11].

Kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of "no-mind" (mushin, 無心), which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life [12].

Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated...a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin....often literally translated as "no mind," but carr[ying] connotations of fully existing within the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is subject. This poignancy or aesthetic of existence has been known in Japan as mono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself.

— Christy Bartlett, Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics

Materials and types of joinery: There are a few major styles or types of kintsugi:

• "Crack" (ひび), the use of gold dust and resin or lacquer to attach broken pieces with minimal overlap or fill-in from missing pieces
• "Piece method" (欠けの金継ぎ例), if a replacement ceramic fragment is not available and the entirety of the addition is gold or gold/lacquer compound
• "Joint call" (呼び継ぎ), the use of a similarly shaped but non-matching fragment to replace a missing piece from the original vessel creating a patchwork effect [13]. More: kintsugi
• CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

White males need not apply (girl j-metal!)

(The Heaviest Show in the Universe) Metal is not dying; we've just been looking in the wrong place

(Dewo Studio) Best Japanese all-female extreme metal bands

BABYMETAL - ギミチョコ！！"Gimme Chocolate!!" (official with Kwan Yin looking on)

• Kwan Yin behind Japanese Buddhist/Shinto rocker girls?

(Metal & Rock Zone) 5 Japanese metal bands everyone needs to hear (2026)

(Bandsplaining) Egypt's War on Metal (and why it failed)

(Loudwire) Hard rock and heavy metal musicians talking about Satanism

(Rock Feed) Slayer guitarist Kerry King says singer Tom Araya isn't the same anymore...

(Rock Feed) Charlie Benante exposes the sickening plot to DESTROY heavy metal and hard rock

(Heavy Metal Philosophy) Brutal death metal bands are selling more tickets than pop stars?

The merciful fate of rebel King Diamond

(Guitar Meets Science and Satan, who was shameless Jewish moneygrubbing Gene "KISS Inc." Simmons) He got bullied out of his own face

(Rock 'N Roll True Stories) David Silveria: Why the drummer left Korn

(The Iron Cross Band)

St. Paddy's Day at Hollywood Improv (3/17)

Greg Fitzsimmons' Annual St. Patrick's Day Show featuring Sarah Silverman, Caroline Rhea, Laura Kightlinger, Doug Benson, Amber Easton, and special guests (plus a big surprise) at Hollywood Improv (14120714)

LIVE: Hollywood Florida St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2026 | Rain Delay Crowd & Parade Coverage

Naked: How to get NUDE with us (1/18)

(Chase Hughes) What it feels like to see through and inside into other people (and ourselves)

Self-help can hold us back

(Chris Williamson) The lie that keeps us insecure forever: Dr K Healthygamer

WHAT HAPPENED?

The "all" that is burning was like a dream.

We gathered, cleaned, offered dana and took the Five Precepts with the abbot, ate lunch, meditated, then culminated the day with a chanting of the Patthana ("Conditional Relations"), and a Q&A period with the Sayadaw explaining that all things (composites) are "empty," which is to say utterly impersonal. This, however, is only true for one who knows and sees. One can directly see all manner of physical and psychological (material and mental phenomena) particles, kalapas and cittas and see that they are not "self" just as the historical Buddha saw. But why would anyone want to see such a thing?

This is "awakening" from the illusion of the suffering we identify as we remain tenaciously attached to the Five Aggregates clung to as self. What, then, if we were to let go? Of course, we do not have the power to let go. Form will not let go of form, feelings will not give up feeling, perceptions will not stop perceiving, mental formations will not give up fabricating our reality, and consciousness will not stop processing stimuli and data from the outside world.

Alan Watts on letting go: This whole thing (samsara) is an illusion

So we can get or stay dressed?

And so long as the illusion lasts that these five heaps take all of this to be the work of a soul or self (atta, atman, jiva), the possessions of a self (I, me, and mine), just so long will suffering continue and get worse. To be done with it, to lay the burden down, we must bring about calm and focus -- sustained attention to see things as they really are. When that is seen, letting go happens by itself. A woman clutches a rope. How long will it take her to let go in horror and disgust when she realizes it is a venomous snake?

Just so, the aggregates cling to the aggregates (and all that they feel belong to this imaginary "self" or "soul" or "ego" they are constantly constructing). How long will it take to let go when they realize that all of this has been impersonal, impossible to satisfy (because things can never offer fulfillment), and radically impermanent (arising, turning, and hurtling toward destruction)? In an instant of seeing, one clings no more. Therefore, to get there, let us let the mind/heart settle into stillness, develop clear-seeing (vipassana), and awaken to direct insight of the Truth. The Truth will set us free.

EVENT: Adults getting nude in L.A.

Register: Dharma Buddhist Meditation

This Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, go to Temple or Church, preferably some place silent and contemplative. We'll be at the new Buddhist temple in the San Gabriel Valley doing "good karma," cleaning and building it up to make a lovely place for everyone to come practice the historical Buddha's authentic teachings preserved in a Southeast Asian country that honors the Pali canon while sitting next to Mahayana China.

Six-Minute X-Ray: Rapid Behavior Profiling

Pole dancing is sexy stripper training.

Author and profiler Chase Hughes (narrated by Jonam Ross) has 4.8 out of 5 stars (with 1,754 reviews) and has a #1 Best Seller in Physiological Aspects in Psychology.

With skills specifically designed for intelligence operations (intel ops), Chase Hughes releases yet another groundbreaking audiobook. In Six Minute X-Ray, learn the most powerful people-reading system in the world.

Hughes exposes and unpacks simple techniques that come together to allow anyone to see beyond the mask that people are wearing. In less than six minutes, know more about the hidden side of the person speaking than their own friends and family -- no joke.

(N.A.S.A.) "Electric Flowers" (Mario C. Remix) ft. Nina Persson, RZA

How to see behind the masks we wear:

• 

  Masks we wear may be better?

  Identify anyone's (including our own) hidden fears and insecurities in less than five minutes
• Quickly and easily get an 80 percent read of a person before meeting
• Enable people to become the most vulnerable, open, confident, and best version of themselves during the first six minutes of meeting them
• Discover hidden secrets about a person in six minutes to gain access to their most hidden beliefs and values
• Use this information to create undivided attention and cooperation
• Exactly how to tune in and adapt language to the internal language of anyone speaking

(N.A.S.A.) My grief says, "I need you to know I need you."

Alan Watts: Mind over Mind | self-improvement, grace, paradox of control

• 

  Rapid Behavior Profiling: Lying? Grief?

  Detect deception the moment it occurs, and know exactly how to deal with it
• Professionally qualify or disqualify the person or team being met within the first meeting
• Get past the social and corporate mask of people – and see them as they are
• Determine the truth behind the desires, fears, and motivations of a counterpart, even when they don’t say it
• Read a room of people like a special agent – guaranteed
• Recognize dominance, fears, and needs before speaking with the person or group
• Become aware of your own social needs and weaknesses and prevent yourself from being misled or manipulated
• Instantly identify the physical position to take when speaking with a person of interest
• Create rapport with the person instead of the mask they’re wearing
• And much more... More

Who is CHASE HUGHES? He's former intel who also wrote The Behavior Ops Manual.

• Why the world is the way it is: POWER
• Chase Hughes, amazon.com; Alan Watts; Nina Persson, RZA (N.A.S.A.); Ashley Wells, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Shauna Schwartz, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Electric guitar to improve classical music?

What does "virtuosity" look like? Can only classical musicians like Itzhak Perlman evince it?

Guitarist forgot he was human, replaced orchestra

(Davie504) Can I play these impossible guitar riffs on bass?

FIGHTING, anger, self-talk, emotions

Sir, please don't come at us in anger, please.

Never be angry: How to stay calm in every situation

(ThinkZone) Attia & Huberman. Dr. Andrew Huberman is a renowned neuroscientist and professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has made significant contributions to the field of neuroscience through his research on brain plasticity, visual system development, and the mechanisms underlying various neurological disorders. Dr. Peter Attia is a prominent figure in the fields of longevity, health, and performance optimization. He is a physician, researcher, and speaker who focuses on promoting a deeper understanding of human health and well-being.

The Monster's idol Mike Tyson

Prison homosexuality exposed by bi Tyson

Who is Naoya "The Monster" Inoue?

The Pretty Boy Floyd of the ring

Naoya Inoue (井上 尚弥), a professional boxer, was born on April 10, 1993. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes. He is one of only three male boxers in history (along with Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk) to become the undisputed champion in two weight classes in the "four-belt era," becoming the second to do so [3, 4]. Nicknamed "The Monster" (怪物 Kaibutsu), he is known for his exceptional punching power, possessing a knockout-to-win percentage of 90%. More

• Never insult Naoya Inoue or this is what happens (brutal KO)
• Bully ANGERED Naoya Inoue and regretted it badly
• Naoya Inoue vs. Gervonta Davis: most insane fight ever

"Signal To Noise (CC-BY) by Scott Buckley" is under a Creative Commons (cc-by) license. Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: • 🕰️ Mystery Music (No Copyright) - "Signal..."

Fair Use Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, the fair use doctrine allows for the limited use of copyrighted material for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. 1. This video does not have a negative impact on the integrity of the original works. 2. The primary purpose of this video is for educational and instructional use. 3. The content of this video has been transformed and recontextualized. 4. Only necessary bits and pieces of the original videos have been utilized to convey the intended message.

If any copyright owners wish to have the video removed, please reach out to us via the provided email address at: 0thinksmart0@gmail.com

• Naoya Inoue; Attia and Huberman, ThinkZone, July 1, 2024; Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

If I stop worrying, will everything go well?

I keep thinking intrusive thoughts. Well, that is, the mind itself keeps thinking thoughts on its own

When we stop worrying, everything starts to flow and go well

(Solace Fox) March 31, 2025: Worry doesn’t solve anything. — It only keeps us stuck. This video guides us on how to stop overthinking, breaking the cycle, and finally letting life flow the way it’s meant to.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• 0:00 – Why worry never helps
• 2:20 – The hidden cost of constant overthinking
• 5:33 – How worry blocks your potential
• 8:40 – Why peace feels unfamiliar at first
• 12:10 – Reconnecting with clarity
• 15:03 – When everything starts working again

Subscribe now for free ► @SolaceFox #purpose #god #selfhelp #motivational #consciousness #Oneness #spirituality #mysticism #enlightenment #awakening #awareness #life #motivation #universe #ego

Listen ETs, music on Mozart's birthday

Classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven was full of heavy metal (ZME Science)

Yes, this is good stuff. I will tell Xenon for sure.

(Virtuosity) Who's the greater musical genius, Beethoven or Mozart? The Fifth Symphony is hard to beat, dramatic as it is, but "Rondo Alla Turca" is a Mozart masterpiece that just might. Of course, it's dark apples to bright oranges.

Was it a huMAN invention or an EThereal inspiration? It's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthday today, Dec. 17th, and we are listening to the exquisite Turkish March.

Wolf-Am-Mo was a classical musician and composer who had no need of shooting wolves as he could tame any savage beast with just his music. His piano compositions are breathtaking. otherworldly, too good for just this planet. The whole solar system should be able to hear him.

In fact, he is so good that this planet takes him for granted and might forget him. Not so Los Angeles, which has KUSC.org (91.5 FM) to remind us on the air and online, thanks to the generous support of special philanthropists and ordinary donors to the radio station.

• Mozart via Rob Radley, March 28, 2022; text and birthday wishes from Wisdom Quarterly

Siccas Guitars (sicccasguitar.com/ohguitar.com)

Fazıl Say: Turkish March (Türk Marşı)

(Fazıl Say) Nov. 11, 2015: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 in A-Major, K.331 III. Alla Turca – Allegretto. The last movement, Alla Turca, popularly known as the "Turkish March," is often heard on its own and is one of Mozart's best-known piano pieces.

Mozart himself titled the rondo "Alla Turca." It imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary bands, the music of which was much in vogue at that time.

Various other works of the time imitate this Turkish style, including Mozart's own opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail.

In Mozart's time, the last movement was sometimes performed on pianos built with a "Turkish stop," allowing it to be embellished with extra percussion effects.

The form of the rondo is A-B-C-D-E-C-A-B-C-coda, with each section (except the coda) being repeated twice.

• Recorded during rehearsal at Enka Kültür Sanat. Video by Mustafa Toygun Özdemir

Composing is always a form of improvisation -- with ideas, with musical particles, with imaginary shapes -- and it is in this sense that the artistic itinerary and the worldview of the Turkish composer and pianist Fazıl Say should be understood.

For it was from the free form with which he became familiar in the course of his piano lessons with the Cortot pupil Mithat Fenmen that he developed an aesthetic outlook that constitutes the core of his self-conception as a composer.

Fazıl Say has been touching audiences and critics alike for more than 25 years in a way that has become rare in the increasingly materialistic and elaborately organized classical music world. Concerts with this artist are something else. They are more direct, more open, more exciting. In short, they go straight to the heart because the same may be said of his compositions.

(But the real question is, Will the extraterrestrials like it? It might not make a bit of the difference to them, so we'd better stick with playing an analog (rather than digital) version of the original for them or as close as we humanly come to it, which will almost certainly mean finding some young Asian prodigy, preferably a child who just has a knack for the song and no understanding of the context.)

Mysteries of monastic practice (video)

Mysterious monks around the Himalayas – practicing since the Ice Age?

The Buddha was an Indo-Scythian living close to the Himalayan range his whole life.

.

Siddhartha failing at asceticism

(FactFile) Sept. 20, 2024: Just as every culture holds its religion dear and follows unique practices, monks and nuns dedicate their lives to a spiritual practice. These monastics are deeply committed to their Doctrine (dharma), their belief system or faith, immersing themselves in meditation and rituals.

• 

  The Buddha ("Awakened One") finds success

  The Buddha avoided extremes of hedonism and self-mortification, teaching the Middle Way that avoids extremes. He did, however, teach 13 sane ascetic practices (dhutangas) for the overcoming of certain defilements, hindrances, and obstacles to practice to be able to breakthrough to calm and insight (samadhi and vipassana, where samadhi is shamatha and defined as the first four meditative absorptions and insight-practice takes these temporarily purified states and applies them to systematic practice of the satipatthanas or foundations of mindfulness to breakthrough to liberating wisdom, enlightenment, and release from samsara).

Their devotion is a profound expression of their beliefs and play a crucial role in preserving and passing on their spiritual traditions. Through their disciplined practice, they seek to connect with higher truths and guide others on their spiritual journeys.

Let's take a detailed look at some of the world's most mysterious and oldest-known monks. #factfile [This sensationalistic video was originally published under the very misleading clickbait title "Mysterious Monks Found in the Himalayas – And They’ve Been Living Since the Last Ice Age"]

• FactFile, Sept. 20, 2024; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly