If you have been reading anything I've written so far in regards to possessions (of the spiritual kind, not of the monetary sort), it would seem as if we Asians view possession as something that is, in and of itself, just an interesting and time-tested method to communicate with folks existing in an alternate dimension. … Continue reading Lên Đồng 5: Possession of the Frightful Kind
(continued from The Demon of Thất Diệu Mountain 2) From above, she could see the old wizard carrying her body toward a flat rock, and began an incessant muttering, barely pausing just to take a breath. It sounded like a chant or a spell-binding, but she could understand his words completely. He was telling her … Continue reading The Demon of Thất Diệu Mountain 3
(Continued from The Demon of Thất Diệu Mountain) Kim Điền was taken to the court wizard, a frail old man of wizened stature, but with eyes that pierced through one's soul. She had only met him once before, but she knew who he was---the Royal High Wizard Cao Sơn. He looked at Kim Điền, and … Continue reading The Demon of Thất Diệu Mountain 2
Once upon a time, (in the year 208 BC to be exact), there was a beautiful princess named Kim Điền. One of the youngest children of Emperor Hùng Duệ Vương 18th of Vietnam, she was born to a minor concubine, but stood out amongst her siblings as a stunning beauty with high intellect. Gifted with … Continue reading The Demon of Thất Diệu Mountain
At the end of an old street named Phan Chu Trinh, in the ancient city of Hội An, there is a very old banyan tree. This banyan tree held a secret for many many years, until one day, that secret was revealed. The banyan tree had, at the foot of its trunk, a miếu (a … Continue reading Star Chart Stone Shrine of Hội An
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to own a very special instrument called the tỳ bà (琵琶) so I grabbed it with both hands. It is a stringed instrument that looks like a cross between the guitar and the harp but sounds like a very Asian lute. This instrument originated somewhere in ancient … Continue reading Echoing Strains of Tỳ Bà
In my previous post regarding the Dark Warrior, Huyền Vũ 1: The Black Tortoise, I detailed my search for this mythical hero. I bounced around from historic materials, to mythology, to star charts, and I was able to determine a couple of things concretely. 257 BCE was the initial point in time when we Viets … Continue reading Huyền Vũ 2: The King, the Dark Warrior, and the Demon of Thất Diệu Mountain
Human Fruits sounds rather strange. It conjures up images of human-shaped squashes hanging on vines, but Human Fruits, or Nhân Quả, is simply what we Viets call Karma, which is Sanskrit for Deeds. Human Fruit conjures up the idea that anything we do, we receive in kind, the ripening of our own fruits, be they sweet or […]
So. I'm not sure if I told you guys, but I do have a Chinese name. The character is thus: 美 It means beautiful in Mandarin. It also means the good ole USA, but that's just because it is a homonym for my country's name (I am a citizen of the US, so it is … Continue reading 美
(Continued from The Original Asian Zodiac 5: The Twelve Earth Branches) Ten Heavenly Stems I have to state for the record that this subject is an exhausting subject to dig into. I kept running into a few issues, and although they are not huge issues, they exhaust me. Firstly, all the words are not modern. … Continue reading The Original Asian Zodiac 6: The Ten Heavenly Stems
