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
When I was very young, my maternal grandfather was already 72. I thought him quite old back then. To be honest, I still think so, even though he passed away many decades ago. He had white hair and a white beard, and his skin sagged because...well, he was old. He taught me a poem that … Continue reading Grandfather and the Waterhens of Spring
Pssst. Come closer. I have something to tell you. It is scary, but it needs to be told so we can shed light on this. You ready? One of the most powerful, most evil black magic known to man is called the Bùa Thiên Linh Cái. Forget using plants and animals, or even dead fetuses. … Continue reading Black Sorcery and the Maiden Bùa Thiên Linh Cái
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
(Continued from Human Fruits, the Karmic Harvest of Nhân Quả) Some people think karma is like cash. You do good deeds, accumulate good karma for a rainy day. When you need it, then you can redeem some bad deeds and not be in the negative and have to deal with the bad fall-out of karmic … Continue reading Karma 3: Karmic Monetary Funds
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
