For the first time in human history, human consciousness is connected on the web, whose flow on the open web brings the life on the planet earth to a level that is never imagined before. The flow first manifested itself in the building of its very own infrastructure–the open source movement. Then after accumulating enough [...]
Archive for August, 2008
Grassroots Web
Posted in Grassroots on August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Collective vs. Individual
Posted in Cross Culture Communication, Grassroots on August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
See the article Harmony and the Dream by David Brook.
He did touch on a deep distinction although I don’t quite agree with the way he phrased it. A short response is that I want BOTH ( Collective and Individual), and you should too. But I need offer more specifics.
First of all, collective values have been [...]
Two ways to help China
Posted in Chinese, Cross Culture Communication on August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So for people in the west who do care about people in China, here are two ways to help.
One is as mentioned in Chinese Renaissance, the bottom level cultural communication and engagement.
The other way is to stop the empire (quoting Blessed Unrest) right here in America. See the post On American Foreign Policy. Also [...]
The Chinese Renaissance
Posted in Chinese, Cross Culture Communication on August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This article is written for people in America who really care about situations in China. With this article, I hope it can give a basic stretch of the cultural thread that China is coming from, e.g. China’s growth path, and thus might help Americans understand the real needs of China.
Every culture has its own growth [...]
See with your whole body
Posted in Chan/Zen on August 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We tend to take a wrong body as our true body. We think our eyes, ears, nose and so on are our body. But Buddhism tells us they are not our true body. Taking them as our true body is like (in a Chinese saying) taking a thief as your father. Or we say it [...]
It is all about space
Posted in Chan/Zen on August 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This is a simple answer to all questions, including multitasking in the previous post.
Multitasking
Posted in Chan/Zen on August 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »
One important function of the brain is memory. For the purpose of learning, we have to use memory to relate the experience of past, present, and future. However, to have a true authentic experience, we have to be fully present. Buddhism says there is no past, because the past is already gone. There is no [...]
Watching the Olympics opening
Posted in Chinese, Cross Culture Communication on August 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As I said, I didn’t pay much attention to Olympics. So until I started watching it, did some questions come up to me. Now China is before the eyes of the world. This is the chance for China to express herself. How will China express it? For me, I am always looking for individual expression. [...]
The myth of Chinese population
Posted in Chinese, Cross Culture Communication on August 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This came up a lot at last night Olympics watching party. I feel there is some misconception here. People wonder why China and India have so many people.
Actually if you combine all the people in Europe, North America, South America and Australia together, you count all the European descents, the number might be about the [...]
Human world Inside Biosphere 2
Posted in Cross Culture Communication on August 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I went to a talk by Jane Poynter, a crewmember of first Biosphere 2 enclosure. As this talk was given at a Buddhism gathering, interestingly most questions were drawn to the conflicts the crewmembers had living inside biosphere 2. Although the crewmembers knew each other very well (many of them were even good friends before [...]
Development and Environment
Posted in Chinese, Cross Culture Communication on August 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
This is the third installment based on a conversation with a friend today regarding China.
As in the previous post, I said the stories in China are following a different thread than the ones in the west. The same is the issue of environment protection.
If we treat a country or a culture as one person. For [...]
A brief rundown of Chinese modern history
Posted in Chinese, Cross Culture Communication on August 6, 2008 | 4 Comments »
This is to continue the last post, which is actually a conversation with a friend.
The stories in China have a completely different thread than those in the west. To understand China and things happening there, you have to have some knowledge of this thread. Here is a brief rundown of Chinese recent history. (I don’t [...]
Olympics and China
Posted in Cross Culture Communication on August 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A lot of conversations related to Olympics and China came up recently among friends. I didn’t really pay much attention to Olympics. I wasn’t really excited about it. (However, I was very excited about China’s entry into WTO, and I could hardly sleep for the whole night because of the excitement. I deemed it an [...]