Quincy Mai Mo

Well here is some pretty good video of Noah doing Lion dance and forms. I guess I can watch it with him later and we can talk about what was good and what was not so good. Mostly, I learned that I have to do a better job of clearing a space for him for his Kung Fu. For some reason the lion dance had the perfect amount of space and also a good crowd.

Nian Hua pictures

Here are the finished Nian Hua pcitures

Here's a close up of Noah's

Maybe I should have him go over the pencil lines with ink. 

Nian Hua

I got some construction paper and looked up some images on line for ideas and put the kids to work on their Chinese New Year paintings. 

Smocks, paint..

Pencil to start out. 

It ends up being a lot cheaper than buying the stuff. Plus at least they sort of learn something right?

Finished products to come later. 

Ip Man 3

I'm pretty excited to watch this new Ip Man movie. Mike Tyson is in it ( though I suspect he does not have that many lines. And that's supposed to be Bruce Lee in that last clip. This is going to be the movie where Ip Man and Bruce Lee really cross over into legend and mythology. Well actually Ip Man already has, but I mean to the extent that Wong Fei Hung did. It look like they are going to be on the same level as Baman and Superman with masked crime fighting heroes. Etc. Too Bad Mike Tyson has to be  bad guy. I hope to see him in more Kung Fu movies, and doing more kung Fu type stuff (retreats at WuDang mountain and Shaolin Temple, that sort of thing. I think it will be good for him.

I honestly think that the fact that he looke sort of like a bad guy in this movie has nothing to do with his personality. It is veiled racism. Mike Tyson, in interviews talked about his excitement in learning new thing sbeing in a martial arts film, and this is his first one.



But I think he really could be a bridge between these two genres. Let's see him starring in a Chinese movie as the protagonist. If you think about his real life, he is the quintessential Kung Fu master that becomes say a Lo Han monk, after having a really rough and violent life as a bandit or a general... or a professional fighter... and after seeking peace in meditation, creates a new Form. Whether it's Iron fist, or a new stick form.. .whatever. I'm just saying Mike Tyson's boxing career is pretty much over. But his career as older experienced and wise Kung Fu Master with philosophy and meditation... that has a whole lot of potential. Plus it will keep him away from the dirty things in life.



Basically he could totally do the Dalai Lama type circuit. He sort of already is doing it. But with that added Tai Chi internal meditative type practice, it can become what he is remembered for... and people will look back and say.. "Oh by the way did you know Mike Tyson ALSO used to box? He was pretty good. He was actually a champion."



Some nods to other movies I noticed was that they were fighting in an Umbrella store. A 14 year old Bruce Lee was actually in some movie about selling umbrellas. He was teaching Cha Cha to someone and then the dialogue went into how an inch of time buys and inch of gold... but one inch of gold can never buy an inch of time. I mean I think that's why the umbrellas are in there.



I'm definitely going to watch this movie but I also suspect, that I will be disappointed. But a Chinese movie with Mike Tyson? gotta watch it man.

Pictures from Jamaica Pond

An icy beach

A dead tree clawing the ice

A lonely log

A tree spirit blocks the way

or meets you along the path.

A speck of green

The Jamaica Pond Bald Eagle

This weekend I had gone out to look for the Jamaica Pond Bald Eagle. It was sort of going o be an exploratory adventure with Noah, But then he didn't want to come. I was unsuccessful in finding the eagle and taking a picture. But I took other pictures and talked to someone who said they had been in he local legislature and had been part of the reintroduction of Bald eagles into the Quabbin and that they had had a hatchery there.

So that's why we have bald eagles here I guess.


When I was a kid I used to watch Wild America, and the American Eagle might as well have been like the Nian (the chinese lion) or a dragon.) It was a symbol of National pride, but in a legendary sense. Because as a child dates and time, are not like compartmentalized history listed out. Time is much more like what relativity tells us it is as a child. It flows  and warps itself. And the stories and reality blend. So the American Eagle, was more than something we picked to be put on a flag. It was a message from the Great Spirit and the gods going back before prehistory and existing in an alternate reality.


This morning after dropping off the kids I was doing my practice. My Mein lei jum and basics.. my morning routine. I was doing my happiness meditation and trying to keep it slow... and the bald eagle flies over. It was easy to spot. There were a bunch of seagulls scrambling around and then the eagle, so clearly visible because it had a white head and some white tails, flies over.

I thought, "Money cannot buy this moment."

I mean I have all these dreams about opening up my own Kung Fu school, having my own space.. etc. But If I had that I would not come to the park o practice.

But here I am comfortably doing my Kung Fu, i's not ungodly early by the way, I don't start practicing until 8:30am. There's the moon still out, the trees, fresh air, plenty of space for me to do my thing... and then an American Eagle, it's like a painting, a fantasy, except it's real.
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The Little Mahayana Vehicle that could

I've talked a lot about the benefits of idolatry, poetic idolatry, and using stuff to help your meditation or work out. But this one popped into my head and I think it is genius because it is crazy. It can be used o work out, but it actually has very little to do with Kung Fu.

The idea popped into my head through that Gospel of Thomas legend where a child Jesus turns clay into live birds, and I thought about how children often take a car or a train and make it come to life. I imagined doing this as an adult, and then I imagined doing it in a serious adult manner. I mean using the full extent of your adult body, and full concentration of your adult mind.

It would be easier than parkour, because it would be the car that would flipping off of things, or flying through the air like a spaceship. You really would look crazy though. so you might have to do this with kids... just for cover. Haha!

Maybe I should make a video of myself doing this.

In any case, that's the idea, that you are meditating through creative play, with the car/vehicle and so it is the vehicle that a meditation aid... much like bells, or beads, or statues, or incense.


Maybe I got the idea because I bought that Nepalese singing bowl for Noah and have put it on our family altar. I have been using it as a bell, the way Thich Naht Hanh says to. I forge exactly what he suggested, but we are ringing it three times. And each time we are supposed to think of the love and happiness and harmony of our family. I realized that this is just easier than saying an our father together, less limiting, simpler, and sort of non denominational as well.

Plus then we try to make the singing sound with the bowl.

I let the kids touch the altar. It is not a traditional Chinese altar in that sense. The Goddess on it is Nike (Victoria, or Our Lady of Victories in later cultures). There is a dragon and a rock too. But I want it to be sacred. So it's not so much "Don't touch" it's more like "Touch with reverence respect and mindfulness."

It would be cool to have a little vehicle too. But it might get too crowded. We could use any toy car I guess. But if you made your own, even if it was out of cardboard.. mor maybe the boats Noah keeps making, that is more special  isn't it?