Japanese Islands may be sinking into the sea trench!

During a January 4, 2005 Times magazine interview. The then President of The U.S. National Academy of Science - Dr. Bruce M. Alberts solemnly pointed out:-

"After a 2004 year-end earthquake in Indonesia, the Asia-Pacific plate is becoming increasingly fragile, the earthquake and tsunami will be more and more active in future. Especially in eastern Asia, the Japanese archipelago has been subjected to a collapse in the ‘funnel’ on top."
 
“As we all know, the world’s deepest sea trench – Mariana Trench (average depth of 8,000 meters from the nearest Japanese archipelago), due to the Asian continental plate's push and the retreat of the Pacific plate, is reaching a yearly 10cm speed pushing towards the northeast, the Pacific – Japanese archipelago line expansion." 

The 311 Fukushima earthquake in 2011 reminded scientists that the trench is further accelerating at the junction of two plates, the Pacific and Asia. The Japanese archipelago, if further encounters the same one or two undersea earthquakes as in Indonesia 2004; it is likely in addition together with other southern Ryukyu Islands tremor, the Japanese Islands will then slip into a larger trench and are likely facing extinction!

Dr. Bruce Alberts had suggested the Japanese government to set up a “drowned Warning Panel” in 2005 . He also suggested the Japanese government to be "friendly" to the surrounding countries vis-a-vis China and South Korea  for contingency help-plan of any "likely disaster".

It is now even interesting when a recent 7.3 measure earthquake strike happened near the same 311 Fukushima area on December 7, 2012 turned scientists' attention to the (1977 discovery of) Oyashio Paleoland（亲潮古大陆） - a sunken landmass 30-million years ago east of Japan. Oyashio Paleoland signifies a very "flat" landmass which was once above sea level and could even be a part of the Japanese archipelago in ancient era. 
Will Japan doom ?

The high frequency of bizarre tectonic movements couple with very freakish weathers in recent years will again, make us bewildering - Ah, the winter solstice 2012 ?

Ghost Festival - An auspicious month

The Chinese Seventh lunar month begins at 17^th August till 15^th September this year depicts an important traditional event of worshipping the soulful deceased. Ghost ? If you may like to call…

In premodern China till now, the great majority of people held beliefs and observed practices related to death that they learned as members of families and villages, not as members of organized religions. Such beliefs and practices are often subsumed under the umbrella of "Chinese popular religion." Institutional forms of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditions contributed many beliefs and practices to popular religion in its local variants.

Chinese emphasized biological continuance through descendants to whom they gave the gift of life and for whom they sacrificed many of life's material pleasures. Moreover, personal sacrifice was not rooted in a belief in asceticism per se but in a belief that sacrificing for one's offspring would engender in them obligations toward elders and ancestors.

Human soul if any…

Soul ? Does human body consist of soul? Of course, it’s my/our belief since umpteen ancestral years back. Most Chinese embraced the doctrines of karma - retribution for past actions, causality and, samsara (cyclical existence) in their thinking about life and death.

In essence, the body can be viewed as a horse, while the soul is the rider. The definitive question of life is; who is leading who, and in which direction is ones life headed?

Do Westerners believe in soul ?

Traditionally for Christians, "a human becomes a person at ensoulment"（神授以魂魄，即上帝為每一个新身体创造一个灵魂）.

In both ancient Hebrew tradition and early Christian tradition, ensoulment happened when the child took his or her first breath - the soul being directly equated with the breath of life.

Modern Christian views of the ensoulment tend to equate first conception with the new soul. 

Alas, this does have some problems, however. If 'ensoulment' happens at conception what happens if the mono-zygote（受精卵)produces twins? Do identical twins have identical souls? Secondly, if ensoulment happens at conception, and science has shown that roughly 80/90% of all products of conception will either not implant or will abort within the first month of the pregnancy, isn't that a lot of wasted souls then ?

Human Soul and DNA…

我们常认为人的基因决定来自父母俩的基因结合已被证明是远远错误的事。其实DNA在某种情况下是可以“被改变”的。譬如怀孕母亲的饮食也有很大的影响。
同样的，一些发展中的基因需要某些细菌存在，而最令人惊讶的是，孕产妇当即的健康水平更可以决定哪些区域会“基因甲基化”– DNA methylation。因此它们“根本上的改变”是不难解释，而我们常自以为是的概念是不准确的。
现代研究表明，只有30％或更少的受精卵将继续成为胎儿，许多的这些在早期流产是由于染色体（chromosomes）数目异常。所以，“认为每一个受精卵是一个潜在的‘人’是错误的观念。”

所以嘛，即使是灵、肉也有其不同之类！好比孔老夫子用以看‘人’的名句：-“君子和而不同，小人同而不和。”

谬论吗？只是角度的问题。。。

禅宗语录 - 色即是空，空即是色。空色不二， 性相不二。

禅宗所谓的明心见性，心物一元，精神世界与物质世界同根本的心注。顿悟一心的心，实在是要彻底透过宇宙身心的根元，才能了知“三界唯心，万法唯识”的真谛。

文字上的什么唯心、唯物其实都是很幼稚可笑的。心与物本应是同时产生，同时存在的，你中有我，我中有你，如太极图中阴阳共存一样，不过是有时物质性表现的多一些，有时心性表现的多一些罢了，不可能出现单纯的心或单纯的物。

禅宗空论的论述中，已很好地处理了“有”与“无”、“心（意）”与“物（境）”的关系问题。好比量子场论(Quantum field theory)意义上的真空，不再是静止不变的空无，而是不断动态变化的能量场.

能由境灭，境逐能沉。境由能境，能由境能。欲知两段，元是一空。一空同两，齐含万象。

质量和能量是两面通。。。
譬如当我们在用力的踏辆脚车，只要持续的加力，速度会越来越快。随着时间的推移增长，它的质量也越来越大，好像载满了木材般重，跟着就像钢铁，最后更像载上了个地球。。。。
当脚车最终到达了光速时，整个宇宙好像都装在了它上面 – 它的质量也同时会变得无穷大。此时无论再施加多大的力气，它也不能动的再快一些了。

当‘物体’运动的速度接近光速时，即使不断地对‘物体’施加能量，可是‘物体’的增速却越来越难？那，施加能量去了哪？其实能量并没有消失，而是转化为质量罢了！

爱因斯坦的相对论说明了物体的质量和能量之间可以相互转化关系 - 质能方程(Mass-energy equivalence) - 能量等于质量乘以光速的平方(E=mc2)。原子弹的核裂变原理就是把部分质量变为巨大能量释放出来！
诚然，质量不再是“不能变”的属性，那么所有“现实中的物质”也就不应该被“视为实体”。

一切有为法，如梦幻泡影，如露亦如电，应作如是观。
缘聚则生，缘散则灭。知其当体即空，不生贪著，乃能不取也。

The most incomprehensible thing...

万法唯心造，一无所有也等于无奇不有。
《楞严经》：“我以妙明不灭不生合如来藏，而如来藏唯妙觉明，圆照法界。是故于中，一为无量，无量为一，小中现大，大中现小，不动道场，遍十方界，身含十方无尽虚空。于一毛端现宝王刹，坐微尘里转大法轮。”

我们称之为真实的任何东西都是由不能视为真实的东西所构成。

Emptiness is Full  
The "emptiness" of empty space is in fact not empty, but a great ocean of seething energy! 
This ocean of energy as being of the "time domain." It seems like something from the Star Trek movie but this is where "scalar electromagnetics" has come to. And where it is going may be beyond anything Star Trek could have dreamed of.

We live in a 3-dimensional world, which physics calls "3-space." But there is also space-time, or "4-space", or the "4^th dimension." Then suddenly comes this amazing new knowledge that time itself is actually compressed energy. And it is energy which is compressed by exactly the same factor by which matter is considered compressed energy: the speed-of-light-squared !

So we have a new companion to the famous E=mc². It is now paired with E=tc² (where t is actually "delta-t," or change in time). Or say:

"E equals em-cee-squared"
and
"E equals delta-tee-cee-squared"

It has a nice ring to it, like some freedom bell announcing a new era. And as the atomic bomb released the compressed energy in matter, so can we now unleash the tremendous energy that is compressed into time itself. It gives a completely new meaning to the term "time bomb."

Illusion ? Oh yes, but only in our present formation...  
"The most incomprehensible thing about the Universe is that it is comprehensible."

 

得耶？失耶？取耶？舍耶？

精神病院护理长向到院巡视官员解说每位收容病人的状况。。。

有位病人手中握著一张相片一直在哭，另一边厢的一位则一边用头撞墙一边在挖自己的眼睛。

护理长说：「那一直在哭的曾深爱相片中的女人 无论是醒著或睡觉都不肯将照片放下，但那女人却嫁给别人，他因此发疯！」

官员问：「那可怜隔壁的又怎麼了？」

护理长说：「他啊，就是娶了那位女人的人 ！」

~得也罢，失也罢，本来就是没有绝对的！~

近日看到大马青少年自杀的新闻接踵而来，真可说是一个很大的震撼。当中有学业成绩优越的也更有生活富裕无忧（只为了一己情爱）的学生。是咱社会教育风气所使然？仰或是家庭父母职责的错？

目前咱华裔的青少年身受古今中外思潮的交流、撞击，思想的彷徨与矛盾，情绪的郁闷与烦躁，充分显示出这时代性的紊乱和不安，因此形成了青少年们各种的病态心理。常闻人说：-“世风日下，人心不古”，大有日暮途穷，不可一日的忧虑；其实童稚无知，怀着一颗赤子之心，来到人间，宛如一 张白纸，近之朱则赤，染之墨则黑，结果因为父母牵强的主观观念——“望子成龙或望女成凤。” 凡事都来个涂涂抹抹、吹毛求瘢，使他们成了五光十色，烂污糊涂一片，不是把他们逼成了书呆子，就是把他们养成为小太保。（其实呐，那还不是真的太保，真太保还可是创造历史的人才哩！）

所以长辈人的思想，无论是做父母的，当教师的，或者领导人的，都应该先要有一番自我教育才行。尤其是搞教育、领导文化思想的，更不能不清楚这个问题。

总之，人的思想、情绪、感觉随时会发生，郁闷、痛苦、烦恼、自卑、傲慢，各种情绪，分析起来真是太多了。所以要随时拿掉自己心里的情绪、思想、感觉，这是最高也为最基本的修养。

中西文化中的矛盾

其实中国禅宗文化所标榜的人性的问题是咱中国文化的中心，可是现在中国文化刚好把这个都给丢掉了。 得、失、取、舍在禅的文化里有更超乎其他各种文化之详尽了解。在中国文化固有的“孝”教诲更被标为百善之首。详端“孝”之中“慎终追远”所有的“大爱”更远远超越了西方人常挂于口中花言巧语的“爱”！

所有明了咱文化内大爱的“人”将不会很轻易又胡为般的“演绎自己”。

西方文化的结晶只知道爱下一代，下一代长大了，结婚了，就是夫妇。对祖上、父母、兄弟、姊妹都通通不管了。由男女变成夫妇，而家庭，而社会，而国家，横着来向世界发展，又下而爱孩子。就这样循环下去。他们自认为是十字架的文化，其实这个十字架断了，只是个“丁”字架的文化，因为没有了上半截嘛！

西方人当然是不会承认十字架文化没有上面，因为上面有万能的上帝！但却看不见，摸不着，谁相信呢？

诚然，中国传统向以非宗教的特质著称，伦理道德占据了中心地位，它没有产生严格意义上的“宗教”。传统文化虽然也有其中迷信的思想，但被迷信的“天神、地祇”介乎自然界与人格神之间，较之欧洲西方人所迷信的“上帝”，其宗教色彩要淡薄得多。

现在中年以下的人，似乎于对咱的传统文化一无所知。即使现在到大学以上的青年，根本不知道中国文化那深根蒂固，源远流长的知识宝藏。那么，孩子们啊，又何能来个又“学”又“问”呢？

Charles F. Feeney？ Who's that ?

The launch of a biography of Atlan-tic’s (a charitable foundation)founder, Charles F. Feeney. It’s unusual because Chuck Feeney has spent his whole life avoiding the spotlight, even going to the lengths of originally setting up his foundation anonymously, so none of the beneficiaries would know where the grant came from.
 
The Billionaire Who Wasn’t, written by the celebrated Irish journalist Conor O’ Clery  tells the story of a man from a working class family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, who attended Cornell University on the G.I. Bill after four years in the Air Force in Japan. With a knack for making money that started with selling Christmas cards door-to-door as a ten-year old, Chuck Feeney and his partners founded Duty Free Shoppers, the largest duty-free retail chain in the world. By 1988 the Forbes 400 listed him as the 23rd richest American.
But he wasn’t. By the time he mistakenly appeared on the coveted list, Feeney had quietly transferred the bulk of his vast wealth to a charitable foundation – the origins of The Atlantic Philanthropies – and his net worth was only a few million dollars. Living modestly ever since in rented apartments, owning no car, flying economy, sporting a five-dollar watch, and toting his things around in a shopping bag, Chuck Feeney is not your average billionaire. Or former one, that is. Atlantic over the years has moved into the open, striving to be as transparent as any of our colleague institutions, but Chuck Feeney has remained behind the scenes, rarely giving interviews and never accepting honors or recognition.
So why did he permit Conor O’Clery to tell the story of his remarkable life? It’s because Chuck Feeney believes strongly in a philosophy he calls “giving while living.” O’ Clery quotes a rare note from Feeney to the Atlantic Trustees when the foundation’s future was being discussed: “I believe that people of substantial wealth potentially create problems for future generations unless they themselves accept responsibility to use their wealth during their lifetime to help worthwhile causes.”
Virtually all of the countries in which Atlantic works have deep social challenges and at the same time many leverage points for change. Those challenges that are addressed now, like opportunities for youth or access to treatment for those with HIV, are much less likely to become larger, more entrenched and more expensive challenges down the line.
The Billionaire Who Wasn’t is full of great stories that illuminate the man whose generosity made possible one of the world’s largest foundations. A commitment to philanthropy was bred in the young Chuck’s household. His father, Leo, was a member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization that gave financial aid to members and their families in need. His mother, Madaline, was a nurse who did constant favors for neighbors without anyone knowing.
Chuck Feeney’s approach to philanthropy relies on common sense and intuition, particularly when it comes to leadership and performance. Take Viet-Nam, a country that Feeney believes has gotten a “bad deal”. Fifteen years ago, while waiting for a flight in San Francisco airport, he read a San Francisco Chronicle story about a small humanitarian organization, East Meets West, that was helping Viet-Nam’s poor to promote self-sufficiency by building schools and providing safe drinking water. Feeney arranged to meet the organization’s director, offered him a grant of $100,000 and said “see what you can do with that.” He visited Viet-Nam for the first of many times the next year, and tens of millions of dollars later, East Meets West is a key Atlantic partner in rebuilding the country’s health infrastructure.
In Limerick, Ireland, Feeney found a man with a plan in Ed Walsh, who was in Dublin petitioning for full university status for the Limerick Institute of Higher Education. “I could see very quickly they could absorb an awful lot of money,” Feeney told O’Clery. “ The university was on a magnificent site, but buildings were in rough condition. I recognized here was a school on the uptake and a charismatic leader. You need both things to support an organization.” And as with Viet-Nam, Feeney with Limerick and other higher education grants was attracted to potential waiting to be liberated by resources – votes of confidence that in turn attracted substantial support from government and other donors.
This entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy was modeled by the staff Feeney attracted to Atlantic. Ray Handlan, a former Cornell official who came on in 1982 as Atlantic’s first President, approached City Year founder Michael Brown after hearing him give a speech, and ended up assisting the fledgling organization to expand to 14 cities. City Year became the model for President Clinton’s AmeriCorps program. To this day, in whichever ways Atlantic has grown, It strives to continue that entrepreneurial tradition and honor the belief that philanthropy is best not when it steers the grantees’ ship, but helps put the wind in their sails.
O’Clery’s biography is “an epic tale that would make a great movie if its morale did not counteract so powerfully the grand narrative of our money-grubbing times… he does full justice to Feeney's own realization that wealth, even when you make it from flogging booze and smokes at airports, is not duty-free.”


曾听人说：——
“取是一种本事，舍则是一门学问。没有能力的人取不足；没有领悟的人舍不得。”


舍之前，总要取，才有所舍，取多之后，常得舍弃，才能再取。所以“取”、“舍”虽是反义，却是以物的两面，更能显出那各人平凡中的不平凡。