(History in Focus) These photos prove that the unthinkable was once considered normal. | Historical photos
Showing posts with label zodiac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zodiac. Show all posts
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Full Moon Observance (uposatha)
Full moon in Leo portal is open! 8 things we need to know!
📃 Relevant sources 📖
- Hedges, A. (2020) — Lunar Alchemy: Everyday Moon Magic to Transform Your Life. Llewellyn Publications.
- Hardy, P. (2017) — The Book of Moon Spells: Lunar Magic to Change Your Life. Rockridge Press
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The Buddhist lunar observance: uposatha
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| Moon over sacred Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma |
Rather than the normal adherence to the Five Precepts (abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, or consuming intoxicants that lead to heedlessness), Eight Precepts are undertaken for the day. Visiting the temple or monastic complex for studying, hearing, and practicing the Dharma, the Buddha's Teachings, is done to rededicate oneself to the practice of the Path to awakening.
This is often called the "fasting day" not because one does not eat but because one fasts from noon onwards, not taking dinner or anything after the sun is directly overhead. (We often take three or more meals a day, and fast food commercials tell us to add another late night This is to preserve energy to put forth in one's kammathana or "field of endeavor," one's meditation subject or striving to establish a good habit, such as overcoming a particular obstacle or impediment to one's practice.
- Say, for example, laziness were an issue. One might undertake the dhutanga or "sane ascetic" practice of not lying down for 24 hours and instead strive diligently while sitting, standing, or walking. This should only be undertaken under the supervision of a sufficiently skillful teacher for guidance, for otherwise we might only be exacerbating our imbalances without actually addressing what needs addressing.
- If we tend to overeat, we might fast the whole day.
- If we overtalk, we might observe noble silence or complete silence to balance out our tendency.
- If we have an issue with some unskillful karmic habit, we might address it intensively on this day with help from a monk, nun, or meditation teacher.
- In my case, I might notice an issue with getting angry or annoyed or being irritable and may therefore want to practice loving-kindness (metta bhavana) for the full day.
- Others may constantly find themselves distracted or addicted to their phones and may want to strengthen their mindfulness (sati) by attending to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, or at least the first, which is "mindfulness of the body" unbroken for a whole day.
- Another may think the biggest issue is lust, greediness, or selfish behavior, in which case sharing, sacrificing for others, helping, giving, or letting go might be wise.
In ancient India, "Buddhists" (disciples of the Enlightened One, the Buddha) would come to the monastery and spend the whole day and night (24 hours) there dressed all in white. This was the custom even in modern times in Theravada Buddhist countries.
Rather than sleeping, one might meditate the whole night or take just a few hours, say maybe four, of rest before returning home and resuming normal activities and the Five Precepts.
The Buddha highly praised "keeping the Sabbath," keeping one day -- in accordance with a phase of the moon visible to everyone looking up at the sky, particularly the full moon -- sacred, holy, or for intensive effort. Most of us will not become monastics even temporarily in this life, but we can have the benefits of monastic practice and quick progress even while leading a completely worldly life if we always remember the uposatha. - Dharma Editor Seven, Wisdom Quarterly 2025
- Eye of Wisdom, Feb. 12, 2025; Sarah Hall, Feb. 9, 2025; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Welcome to the Year of the Snake
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| I designed this gif to show the thrill of celebrating the New Year (Kathryn Dydecka) |
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The lunar Year of the Snake explained
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| Why are Chinese so keen on serpents and dragons? They are viewed as good in China. |
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| Goodbye, Year of the Dragon! Welcome, Snake! |
- It's that time again for the Tet Fest of OC, except this year because OC supervisor claims disgraced predecessor spent money for Tet Festival before she took office (KTLA)
How to prepare for lunar New Year
(NBC Bay Area) How to prepare for Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year fireworks LIVE: Vietnam welcomes the Year of the Snake
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| We are all in this together. Happy 2025! |
(Island News) Lunar New Year 2025 in Oahu in Hawaii's big Chinatown
Year of the Dragon ends in smoke
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| 2025 is the Year of the Golden Snake |
- CC Liu, Crystal Quintero, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Karma of LUCK, Chinese New Year
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| Chinese dance tidbits: The dragon serpent dances of China (Fordney Foundation) |
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| Gong xi fa cai and Xin nian kuai le are both good say. - Really? Now I can speak Chinese! |
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| If the dragon is happy, we're all happy. |
Chinese New Year, perhaps the most widely celebrated holiday in the world, typically takes place in January or February, after the Gregorian New Year on January 1st.
Whether spending it in Chinatown or in China, knowing how to wish people a happy new year in the local tongue is a nice touch. Feliz ano nuevo is the way it is said in Los Angeles, where Latin Americans surround Chinatown in all directions.
Come the big day, families and friends will be feasting, partaking in centuries-old superstitions, and spending time together to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year (the Spring Festival).
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| Orange County Supervisor Nguyen blasts Do |
About Chinese New Year
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| Asian look is in: Chinese. Japanese, Singaporean |
Although the first few days are the most observed, Chinese New Year actually runs for 15 consecutive days and ends with the Lantern Festival. Preparations take place for weeks in advance to ensure that this period is filled with luck and prosperity (two things the Chinese value immensely).
Karma, not chance, causes luck?
What is the cause of "luck," Buddha? - It is karma as the great arbitrator and distributor of what is wished for, welcome, and experienced as pleasant. - But which karma (deeds, intentional actions)? - Keeping the Five Precepts and engaging in the Ten Courses of Wholesome Conduct. - And what is the cause of doing these skillful actions? - It is confidence (faith, saddha) or right view or direct knowledge of things. (We may not have right view, but we can go for guidance (not refuge like everyone mistranslates it) to Three Resources that do: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the (Noble) Sangha. - Is there more to being lucky? - Giving (dana), sharing, letting go, benefitting others, these things do a person great good. - How much good, Buddha? - If beings knew, as I know, the power of giving, they would not eat a meal without first sharing if there were anyone with whom to share it. Such is the power of giving and benefitting others.
Hello, venerable sir, I'm a lucky dragon.
I said to the monks at the Sri Lankan Buddhist temple, "I need good karma. What is the best way of making skillful karma?" They acted like they had never heard this question before but finally answered with two slogans, dana, sila, bhavana ("generosity, virtue, meditation") for laypeople and sila, samadhi, panna ("virtue, stillness, and wisdom") for more serious and intensive practitioners willing to do it. Notice that both share sila or virtue in common as a vital ingredient.
Start with just these three things.
This is a time for family and lots of food. Firecrackers are thrown in abundance to frighten away unlucky spirits, and red is worn, even red underwear, because of its symbolic meaning.
Children receive small gifts and money in red envelopes called lai see, and various historical figures are honored.
- "Chinese" is not really a language because there is official Mandarin and the older Cantonese, which is closer to Japanese than it is to Chinese, our Chinese professor astounded us by revealing. Could it be true? If someone is speaking Cantonese or Japanese, they will soon get a sense of what the other is saying, but the Mandarin speaker remains in the dark.
"Happy New Year" in Mandarin
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| Prosperity breeds prosperity, so get lucky. |
With such vast variations in Chinese culture and ethnic groups around the world, there are many ways to say "happy new year" in Chinese. Most of them are rooted in luck and financial success.
- Gong xi fa cai is pronounced "gong zee fah tsai," where gong xi means "congratulations" and is also a way to wish one joy. Fa cai is "to become rich or make money." In essence, one is wishing one joy and prosperity to another for the new year. Business owners and workmates use gong xi fa cai as the usual way to say "happy new year" in Chinese.
- Xin nian kuai le is pronounced "sheen neean kwai luh," kuai le means "happy" or "joyous," and xin nian means "new year." Xin nian kuai le is a great way to say happy new year in Chinese to friends without referencing money.
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| Are good and bad luck mere superstitions? |
- The Cantonese "happy new year" greeting differs slightly from the Mandarin version, even though both are actually written the same way.
- Gong hey fat choy is the Cantonese pronunciation of Mandarin's gong xi fa cai, simply meaning "congratulations and prosperity."
- Greg Rodgers, thoughtco.com, How to Say Happy New Year in Chinese; CC Liu, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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