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Essays

Mu…It’s Mine!

“The storyteller’s claim, I believe, is that life has meaning—that the things that happen to people happen not just by accident like leaves being blown off a tree by the wind but that there is order and purpose deep down behind them or inside them and that they are leading us not just anywhere but somewhere. The power of stories is that they are telling us that life adds up somehow, that life itself is like a story… it makes us listen to the storyteller with great intensity because in this way all his stories are about us and because it is always possible that he may give us some clue as to what the meaning of our lives is.” Frederick Buechner

Yao Xiang Shakya helps us see in the film, Never Forever a spiritual awakening in modern garb.

Hagakure (#8)

Homoerotic activity was practiced in many ancient militaristic cultures, especially the Samurai. I helped to balance the exclusive effeminate maternal upbringing a boy knew before he was sent to military school. It substituted strong, life-saving warriors for the bunnies and foxes of childhood folklore. It taught him self-reliance and teamwork, and established the man-to-man communication that was lacked in herertosexual relationships

Surgery or No Surgery

Lasik or Cochlear implants, people are now offered corrections to old disabilities. Some do not want to avail themselves of these new solutions. Grandmaster Yao Xin reveals how he reached his own decision, a valuable guide to others who are considering such procedures.

Hagakure (#7)

We all know the dry mouth that comes with fear. We have only to stand up before a group to give a speech in order to find our mouths go dry and our lips stick to our teeth. But fear means more than a dry mouth to a Samurai. There is a secret in spit to the seasoned warrior.

The Journey Home

At the suggestion of the Ven. Yao Xiang, Ming Zhen watched the YouTube conversation in which an orthodox Catholic priest traces his life from drugs and motorcycles to his present ministry. His recommendations are somewhat different from the Zen prescription, which Ming Zhen responds to in her essay.

The Sale of the House

Common sense promises made with the knowledge of our diminishing volition are safeguards against the irrational deals we make when we are higher than a kite…especially when we’ve been plucked from the jaws of death-by-drowning. An important lesson on the recognition of our limits

Hagakure (#6)

It is never too late to adopt the Samurai Way of Life, to abandon old selfish ways, to embrace new principles, and to devote one’s life to being loyal to those principles. Especially after a surviving a critical challenge to one’s existence, we experience a great need to find a better way of living, a code to live by that will impart indomitability to us. We are done with being weak. In her review of Jim Jarmusch’s film Ghost Dog, Ming Zhen Shakya shows one man’s conversion to the discipline of righteous beliefs.

Cowspiracy and The Cancer Detectives of Xian

Along with “Cowspiracy” (on Netflix) comes this recent announcement by the WHO about the dangers of foods we frequently eat. Processed meat (and some red meat too such as hamburgers) are put on the top of the “carcinogen” danger list along with alcohol, asbestos, arsenic, and cigarettes.

Hagakure (#5)

Firearms and Christianity brought new problems to Shogun Ieyasu which he solved by separation and division. When he died the Shogunate fell to his son and then eight years later to his grandson, the tyrannical Iemitsu. Forbidden to earn money and to spend months at court, languishing in boredom, most of the once-proud Samurai became poets, gamblers, fashionistas, gourmets, actors, gossipers, and womanizing drunks. Some, including Tsunetomo, who composed the Hagakure.

A Father’s Birth (#6)

In this final section of his paternal experience, Da Shi Yao Xin changes a diaper for the first time and finds in the experience a happy connection to Zen’s ancient monastic practice of using the Shit Stick.

Hagakure (#3)

Japan’s first “Separation of Church and State” long cherished by Americans was accomplished by its first Shogun, (“the barbarian suppressing Commander in Chief”) Yoritomo Minamoto who let the Emperor preside over religious matters in Kyoto while he moved the government, the first meritocracy, to Kamakura where he set the stage for the flourishing of Zen and the Martial Arts.