Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Life forms, souls, on earth.

Life forms come to material world with bodies wrapped around the soul. Using bodies as a tool or vehicle to carry out earthly activities to fulfill destinies, whether to pay debts or to seek debts, life forms shed the bodies when the time is up for another journey.


Lessons learned. Souls move on.

Coming from the earth, going back to the earth. This is what it is for material world.

Jobs done. Souls move on.


These ants help the fly to decompose the left-over body which is no longer necessary. The soul, which previously took the life form as fly on earth, has moved on to another journey. The soul has her path to go. All life forms help each other to progress and to alleviate to higher regions; some, unfortunately, get lost, confused and jeopardize the process, hurting oneself and therefore others.


Quick, hurry, come back to the righteous path.

Note:
1) Photograph by John Lew. All rights on photographs reserved. More nature shots at http://www.lews.info/wallpaper/index.html
2) Click on the Photo No. 2 for a complete 1024x768 wallpaper.
3) Photo No. 3, title “Beautiful Earth – What are we doing?” by David Lewis-Baker.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Tibet, Olympic, China 2008: Things got complicated

It’s always difficult to see the truth.

There were protests against Olympic torch relay in America, France, and Britain recently. The reason behind the protest, as the protesters claimed, was to voice out complaints for recent Tibetan crackdown. The protesters believed Chinese government had cracked down on pro-independent movement of Tibet and brought about bloody incidents.

Not being an intellect in this field but with a careful and solemn attitude I would like to try to sell short and analyze the situation from a few perspectives. Below are some questions we can try to answer for a better or hopefully non-biased understanding of this issue:

Q) What really happened in Tibet? Chinese government said it’s the Tibetan riot conspirated by Dalai Lama group. Some western media said it is Chinese government inhuman crackdown on pro-independent demonstration of Tibetan. We see altered and modified photos (admitted later by some media) on newspapers and internet. We see lots of views of video shots on the net, each telling their sides of stories. What really happened? For sure it’s a complicated issue with many parties chipping in their shares.

Q) Did the Tibetan really look for independence? Tibet first became a part of China back in Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). There are actually two versions of story of how Tibet became part of China (or not). In 1950s, Dalai Lama was in charge of Tibet, the rich noblemen and religious institutions in Tibet owed almost all the wealth; local Serfs had no education. In 1951, a 17-point agreement concerning the peaceful liberation of Tibet was signed in which the 14th Dalai Lama acknowledged Tibet is part of China. Dalai Lama later fled from Tibet in 1959, partly because of pressure from the Tibetan religious institutions and a riot arrangement by CIA and MI5 (or MI6?). And there are different versions of the view too. And we do see many players involved.

Q) Which party/parties was/were responsible? Parties involved could be: 1) Some local Tibetan group or probably rioters; 2) China government and policemen; 3) Dalai Lama group; 4) Politically-motivated world leaders/figures; 5) Invisible economically-motivated big companies and etc. 1% of population of rich and powerful but evil force can squeeze the rest of 99% dry. Is this true?

Q) What were the motives? Different people have different motives: 1) Tibetan wants more freedom? 2) Dalai Lama group was manipulated by external influence? 3) Some current world powers see China as a threat and try to bring her down? Any oil in Tibet? Wonder if some parties involved really care about the welfare of Tibetan people. 4) Some media tycoons flex their manipulating power as political wings? “The motive behind Tibetan riot is an international conspiracy to destroy Beijing Olympic”, an article wrote, 5 days before March 14th riot.

Q) Why so close before Beijing Olympics? The timing is near perfect. Some parties could be taking advantage of this time to make China conform to certain requirements. So is this a threat? A weakness that some mighty powers seize as good time to stop ever developing China? Some believe one would have to be blind not to see the connection.

Q) Which parties would benefit from such acts? To answer this question, let’s take a look at countries on the prints, countries/political figures/economical companies who or which have a lot of says with Tibet or China. Tibet is a place that is lacking of many monetary and natural resources. How does this place come into the picture? So it can be safely said that China is the target. If China failed to rise up economical and politically in world map, who or which countries would benefit more? Some former colonial powers still believe in imposing their own standards and rights onto others.

Q) Any biases in reporting the issue? Biases take place in many places; especially when it’s very politically and economically motivated (This writing is biased too, simply because I’m deliberately offering a DIFFERENT view?). Since strong media are mostly controlled by the ex-colonial powers, they could work hand in hand to bring upcoming players to their knees. Can we say there have been some crude attempts at misrepresenting China? You can be your own judge. Before rushing to do so, read many prints as diverse as possible and as many languages too. Bias may take place if there are misunderstandings, misrepresented critics, or malicious attacks.

For a very complicated issue we were looking for one simple answer. Could the approach have been wrong?

Many incidents are blinded or manipulated in the history of human beings. For many we’ll never know the truth. For those that matter to us we’ll have to relearn the lessons.

We always have to ask ourselves these questions: Am I doing the right things? Is this really for the benefits of mankind? For the healthy growth of a dignified and conscientious being?

More often than not, we know the answers are mostly “No” in our hearts, which is the reason why it’s always difficult to see the truth.

Link: www.beijing2008.cn

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Premature Ovarian Failure (POF) vs. Menopause, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine

[POF vs. Menopause] To begin with, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) looks at Premature Ovarian Failure (POF) from the point of view of amenorrhea, infertility and its related symptoms. Many symptoms of POF are like premature menopause, amid an abnormal one. These symptoms are hot flashes, night sweats, energy loss, vaginal dryness, low sex drive, sleeping problems, loose bladder control and etc.

[The role of Kidney-Qi] From TCM theories, kidney system is the one responsible most for POF. If the kidney-qi (energy) is strong, the Chong and Ren channels (of which acupuncture is based on) will be full of energy and menstruation will come on time every month. POF, with its absence of menstruation, therefore falls into the category. According to modern research, Chinese herbs that boost kidney-qi, by regulating kidney system, remarkably raise estrogen level, and doing so without the side effects of HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). Modern research and traditional efficacy seem to blend in well in this case. (Pic: Visualization of qi of internal organs & systems)

[Other syndromes] Warming the kidney-qi is suitable for those who are (1) lacking of kidney-qi or warming energy. There are other syndromes manifested by patients of POF. Among them are: (2) Deficiency of kidney-yin, (3) Blood stagnation due to qi-exhaustion, (4) Stagnated liver-qi and deficiency of kidneys, (5) Accumulation of phlegm and wetness, and (6) Deficiency of blood and kidneys.

So there are at least 6 syndromes of POF. The question is: which one does a particular patient belong to?

[What type am I?] Sometimes it can be a combination of two or three syndromes in one body. It depends on which syndrome is more prominent than the others. In fact, every individual is unique. And therefore manifestation of diseases on different bodies can have different symptoms. This is a very important concept of TCM. Another woman may have POF but display quite different signs and symptoms; because of different body types and syndromes.

It's therefore important to have the correct diagnosis, both from conventional medicine and TCM diagnosis.

[TCM diagnosis of syndrome] Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), nonetheless, doesn't work by just knowing diagnosis (the name of the disease) of conventional medicine. She will need to go to a TCM physician for a complete TCM diagnosis based on methods of, among them, pulse taking, tongue reading, symptoms profile, and histology and so on. By combining all these information then only can a TCM physician diagnose your SYNDROME, a phrase describing your body and constituent and its relationship with the illnesses. After knowing the syndrome of her illness, an herbal or acupuncture (choice of acupoints and manipulation methods) prescription can then be formulated. An herbal prescription can have from 8 to 16 herbs (or more or less, depending on individual needs), ranging in different amounts. Prescription of Chinese herbs can hardly be one or two herbs. It’s the interoperability of these many herbs that works in a more complete care for the body.

[Acupuncture treatment in accordance with syndrome] The above are herbal treatments. Another treatment method worth considering is acupuncture. The kidney essence is everything before an ovulation is possible. Deficiency of kidney and its essence is thus one of the most prominent syndromes of POF. By tracking both of DU channel and kidney channel, a few acupoints such as Guan Yuan, Zhong Ji, Da He, and Zi Gong, Shen Shu, Yong Quan can be taken for acupuncture treatment. All these have been proven to be effective for symptoms related to POF. (Pic: Ren channel)

Consultation with a qualified TCM physician is for sure necessary for proper diagnosis of syndrome and the subsequent herbal or acupuncture treatment methods.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. - Jimi Hendrix

I got to know Jimi Hendrix when I was studying in America. It was the time of ignorance for me and his music, I suppose, had some positive influence on me. Positive in the sense it opened up more rooms of contemplation.

I remember I had roughly four CDs of his. They were the re-mastered version of Are You Experienced?, Bold As Love and so on. Not all the four compilation titles I can recall. This tells how ‘ignorant’ I was with the surroundings. I’ve probably left some in Taiwan or China when I brought them along with me. What’s gone doesn’t matter (especially in the material sense); what matters can no longer be found in the physical forms, but in the mind.

Read a little about him too. I think his story can be one of the inspiring stories for us to learn something from. Not saying I know I lot about him – probably I will or I should – his going against many odds in life in the then racially unjust society with love of music must have something great for all of us.

And he died young – not that long life matters either – and he died young. Many of us live through vain and till we become Alzheimer’s disease bound without knowing what we’ve given and learnt in life. When are we human beings going to learn time and space don’t matter?

So what matters? Love and compassion. To all of us, be compassionate, for we are all one.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. - Jimi Hendrix

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