Every culture around the world has a Great Deluge or Great Flood tale. For the Europeans, it was Noah's Flood and for the Hindus, it was the manvantara-sandhya. The Mesopotamians have their own flood stories that are very similar to the Native Americans in North America's recounting of a Great Flood. There is also the … Continue reading The Great Flood of 9,700 BC
I have a very ancient multi-millennial ancestral grandpa. His name is Khương Thạch Niên (姜石年). Most folks know him as the farmer god. Yes. THAT farmer god known as Thần Nông (aka Shennong), the same one who gave us tea (among other things). Now, I don't like people who falsely claim famous relatives just to … Continue reading Ancient Việt 13: My Ancient Ancestral Grandpa
(Continued from Au Revoir, Kitchen God) So, it's after midnight and my work with the Kitchen god is done, even though the rain never let up. I was going to edit the previous post to show photos of the preparations that I made, but I decided to create a second post because there was so … Continue reading Au Revoir, Kitchen God 2
We all know what constitutes Beauty in our present-day world. The artificially constructed image created by the trillion-dollar beauty industry informs us in no uncertain terms, what is necessary to have in order to be considered Beautiful. The images show up everywhere we look to influence our lifestyle and to sell us things that we … Continue reading Ten Conditions for Beauty in Ancient Vietnam 1
(Continued from Hexagram 18 - Poisonous Dark Sorcery) Cổ Trùng In the ancient world, the word Cổ Trùng include poisonous toads, frogs, snakes, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, as well as various other types of animals we would not normally consider poisonous. This also includes certain types of ticks and butterflies, and even bacteria and viruses. Please … Continue reading Cổ Trùng – Dark Sorcery 1
(...continued from The Trưng Sisters (Part 3)) The Beauty During the three-year reign of Trắc and Nhị Trưng, people saw them everywhere. They never stayed in one place for long---always on their elephants and always on the road. Their swords were never sheathed, they were constantly keeping the troops trained and motivated, maintaining connections with … Continue reading The Trưng Sisters (Part 4)
(...continued from The Trauma of Being Different) Back in 2007, I went back to Việt Nam to visit the northern areas and to see the sights. During my three-week sojourn, I wandered through more temples and ancient structures and caves than I can remember off the top of my head, but I do remember wandering through … Continue reading The Temple of an Immortal
(...continued from Damn Stubborn Water Buffalo) This is my firm conviction. We Vietnamese should not claim folks as our people if they refuse the claim, meaning if they insist that they are not Vietnamese, we should not place that honorific on them...even if it's true. I remember when I was younger, much younger, I dyed … Continue reading The Trauma of Being Different
I feel like a child who has inadvertently wandered into an old dilapidated castle where nothing but shadows of ghosts still haunt. The glorious grandeur of the place is still evident---the large halls and high ceilings adorned still, with the remains of what must have been magnificent furnishings and fixtures, their colors faded and aged … Continue reading Enigma of Lao Tzu
(...continued fromThe Trưng Sisters Part 2) And so it was, hidden in the mists of the jungles, within the dark dank caves of the mountainous region of Mê Linh that Trưng Trắc and her sister, Trưng Nhị, along with an entire regiment of rebels began their year-long preparation to go up against General Tô Định. To understand the scope of … Continue reading The Trưng Sisters (Part 3)
Thoughts of a Taoist Babe 