Month: October 2014

There has been a lot of attention turned to late Steve Jobs due to this month marking the third anniversary of his departure. Apple just came out with iPhone 6 but the man who created Apple itself is … gone…at age 56… too premature for a final exit. Just as premature as his Zen teacher, who died at age 64 while trying to save his 5 year old daughter from drowning. In front of our very own eyes, both demonstrating how fleeting and impermanent our lives can be…Realized lately how many people do not know about this fascinating book. Here’s a description from Amazon:

An illustrated depiction of Steve Jobs’ friendship with Zen Buddhist Kobun Chino Otogawa and the impact it had on Jobs’ career
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs (1955-2011) had such an enormous impact on so many people that his life often took on aspects of myth. But much of his success was due to collaboration with designers, engineers and thinkers. The Zen of Steve Jobs tells the story of Jobs’ relationship with one such person: Kobun Chino Otogawa.

Kobun was a Zen Buddhist priest who emigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the early 1970s. He was an innovator, lacked appreciation for rules and was passionate about art and design. Kobun was to Buddhism as Jobs was to the computer business: a renegade and maverick. It wasn’t long before the two became friends–a relationship that was not built to last.

This graphic book is a reimagining of that friendship. The story moves back and forward in time, from the 1970s to 2011, but centers on the period after Jobs’ exile from Apple in 1985 when he took up intensive study with Kobun. Their time together was integral to the big leaps that Apple took later on with its product design and business strategy.

Told using stripped down dialogue and bold calligraphic panels, The Zen of Steve Jobs explores how Jobs might have honed his design aesthetic via Eastern religion before choosing to identify only what he needs and leave the rest behind.

The more you sense the rareness and value of your own life, the more you realize that how you use it, how you manifest it, is all your responsibility.
We face such a big task, so naturally we sit down for a while.

― Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi

Gaze up to the night sky … and behold the wonder of the universe, then, enliven every cells of your body and mind…wherever you are on this earth, we are all witnessing the same – the sun, this earth, and the moon in alignment, and to feel the universe as one. It’s a powerful phenomenon in which the opposite gravitational pull will yield higher and lower tides … and as with waves in nature… we as beings interconnected to nature reflect that greater ebb and flow if you are sensitized to feel.

A fall meteor shower? What a treat …

Here:

& There:

“The full moon will darken and grow reddish tonight during a total lunar eclipse that may help a fall meteor shower shine.
The edge of the Earth’s shadow will begin to pass over October’s full moon, traditionally called the hunter’s moon, at 1:15 a.m. PT or 4:15 a.m. ET. It will cover the moon for a total lunar eclipse starting 3:15 a.m. PT or 6:15 a.m. ET and lasting 59 minutes.”
– CBC News Technology & Science

More on Headaches as explained by Dr. Michio Kushi. His book, The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health goes into this common ailment with great detail.

Cause: While it’s true the stress and tension may increase the pain, the cause of headaches is primarily due to excessive diet that violates the law of yin and yang. For those who are on modern macrobiotic diet, adults and children never experience such an ailment. In their regular lives, they also face pressures and challenges but not once are they driven to the point of needing aspirin or other relief. From energetic analysis, headaches can be characterized into 4 types: frontal lobe, stem of the neck radiating towards the crown of the head; side of the head/ears toward the nose, and the central pains… whenever those have tensions, contractions and blockages, pain may be triggered. If treating at home, what’s essential is to determine from the symptoms, if the pain is Yin or Yang in nature.

Headaches in the forehead/frontal region oftentimes comes from consuming foods categorized as excessively yin in nature. Over-consumption of sugar, chocolate, honey, fruits, fruit juices, peer, wine (uh-oh)and alcoholic beverages (cocktails a no? who gave me that to “fix” my jet lag, cough, cough…) of any kind, aspirin, pill… these extremely yin foods can trigger this kind of headache. These headaches can feel “pulsating, sharp, stabbing and splitting” and during hot weather, the pain is exasperated. Some tension headaches, sinus headaches that are near chronic, falls into this classification.

Headaches radiating from the back of the head, stemming from the base of neck (C7) region is usually caused by excessive intake of Yang foods such as red meat and other domesticated animal meat, eggs, salty cheese, fish, foods high in sodium, breads, cookies, crackers and other hard and dry toasted foods. This kind of headache is not pulsating but rather a dull pressure and worsens when cold. Tension headaches mostly fits into this classification.

Headaches that challenges you from the ear and temples/side of the head, inward is usually caused by excessive intake of oily foods. The intake of excessively oily foods

(in midst of translation, got to go – to be continues later – life revolves)