Something to mark

Apple's iPhone stirs frenzy in United States

Have a thought about how this may be the turning point from linear typography hybridized with electricity towards a new frontier of non-linear/tactile orality.

Viva Bolivia!

I haven't even set foot on this country and I'm already in love with it.

La Paz, Bolivia (1943)

Part I


Part II

Books I'm reading

Wikinomics, (I would really like to get in touch with Don Tapscott).

I find the subject of social networks fascinating, and I really enjoy using  Facebook.

I wanted to post links to Amazon for these books I'm recommending but found this instead: About tagging books.

Other books I've been dipping into since Jan. 2007:

The Rise of the Creative Class

The World is Flat

San Ignacio de Moxos

My itinerary in Bolivia will be Santa Cruz, Tirinidad, and San Ignacio de Moxos. Here's a google map of where I'm going:
Google map.`
San Ignacio was founded by the Jesuits in 1689 who were then expelled from South America in 1767. A famous film that tells the story of the Jesuits was The Mission(1986).

My trip to San Ignacio de Moxos is one month too early and I will miss their famous festival, "Fiesta del Santa Patrono de Moxos" which would include a procession of macheteros.
Since I was going to a place named for the founding member of the Jesuit Society, I decided to read The World of Ignatius of Loyola before I left.

Going to Bolivia

Getting on a plane to Bolivia in about 8 days. Never dreamed that it would be a country I would visit in my lifetime, but then again neither were Lebanon, South Africa, and Netherlands, or even Canada.

The more I read about Bolivia, the more I feel it was my destiny to go there, and I have this strange feeling that I will be going quite a few times more.

I'm collecting the links of useful pages I found about Bolivia, most of which will be about the Jesuit missions in Bolivia which is part of the subject of the documentary I am working on.

Highly recommend, beautifully done website: "La Gran Chiquitania". Bolivia Blog
A page on "culture of Bolivia" with About.com
Moxos Indians
A return to San Ignacio
A Brief History of the Colonial Mission of Eastern Bolivia
Of course, don't forget to check out wikipedia!

I was quite happily surprised that there is this level of information about a remote country which wouldn't cross people's tracks that much. Some additional sources are podcasts:

Travelpod
podcastvillage.com

Palm Treo vdos

When we went to Hierve el Agua, Oaxaca it was quite an effort to reach that place of beauty shown in my previous post. We took a route recommended to us by a tour guide, and after a lot of winding road that gradually became smaller and smaller. We ended up in a narrow dirt road that was dug out to prevent cars passing. We had to leave our car and trek for about half an hour up the mountain. We learnt that the three villages (San Bartolo, San Isidro Roagui, and San Lorenzo Albarradas) surrounding this unique place quarrelled about rights to collect entrance fee, hence the dug out road.



We also visited Mitla, an archeological site dating back to 500 BC. What was most impressive were these geometric mozaic that still retains its beauty to this day.

Then I went to Mexico

Petrified water on top of paradise.



Part of the Villamar clan.


Spectacular Monte Alban, Mitla, in the state of Oaxaca.



You've got to admire the tenacity of a cactus to grow in this arid land.

Thailand trip 2006

Above was a view looking out of the central museum in Ayudhya. A group of Navy trainees were on a visit familiarizing themselves with their ancient heritage from 700 years ago.


Taking a minivan from a market centrally located in Ayudhya brought me back to the heart of Bangkok in a surprisingly short time.







Inspiring Buddha images at Wat Chaimongkol, Ayudhya. I attempted the 9 temples visit in a day, but managed only 3 due to the heat.





My nepews have grown since the last time I saw them.





The bugenvilla were blooming in my garden at Khao Yai.



This water buffala, my zodiac sign is a pet at His Grace Farm Resort. She was grazing beside my house. I couldn't resist her but she didn't want me to get too close to her. She had a calf that ran away into the bushes.

New Year 2007

I was in Thailand since November, and am now in Mexico, have a lot to write about but no time.

Just to mark the new year, I would like to post the following text by
Mettanando Bhikku sent to me by an old friend I met in Bangkok. Happy New Year to all!

THE YEAR AHEAD: Buddha's blessings for the 'double James Bond year 2-007'

Nothing in the world takes place without meaning; and there are always reasonsbehind every event. This belief is shared by most religious traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and others. Hinduism, in particular, deeply holds that names and numbers are holders of the elements intrinsic to particular persons and events. Therefore, names are very important.

Following this line of thought, the upcoming year of 2007 can, indeed, be very adventurous, as it does not only mean the 2007th Year of Our Lord, but also the double James Bond Year.

As the curtain on the Year of the Dog 2006 draws to a close, it leaves many items of unfinished business; some will be neglected and forgotten while others will escalate into crises to threaten the world.

As the momentum of the Year of the Dog is being transferred to the Year of the Pig, certain factors will determine the course of life of millions on the rollercoaster's rails of public conspiracy, concealment, surprises and adventures. 2007 will be a golden year for those who believe in the Chaos Theory, wherein humankind is moving closer. On the bright side, 2007 will be a good year of creativity, heroism and bold international operations.

In spite of the upcoming uncertainties and adventures, the teachings of the Lord Buddha will be the refuge and security of mind for millions. Since the Buddha said explicitly that the mind is the leader of all things, when the mind is beautiful, life is also beautiful. Beauty of life depends on the beauty of mind. Having said that, it does not mean that problems are to be seen as a part of the beauty. When problems are solved we add more beauty to our lives. The more beauty we add to our lives, the more beauty we add to the whole world.

The key to success in life is wisdom; that paves the way to proper approaches to problems, the so-called dukkha in Buddhism. The word is often mistranslated in English as ''suffering'' or ''pain''. This leads to a pessimistic interpretation of Buddhism as a whole. In practice, Buddhists tend to have a dread of dukkha and are inclined to let go of dukkha as they feel that it is the only way possible. Etymologically, dukkha has nothing to do with pain or suffering. It actually means ''a bad space'', which is a technical term employed by craftsmen to describe a phenomenon when two objects which are supposed to fit in with each other fail to do so. The idiom, ''To put a square peg into a round hole'', appropriately describes
the original meaning of the word dukkha.

Therefore, dukkha should neither be seen as something frightening or worrisome. Rather, the Buddha told us that dukkha is a challenge that we all should strive to overcome. The way to achieve this potential is neither through fate nor arbitrary means, but via a systematically approached set of principles called the Four Noble Truths. These Truths mandate the detection of dukkha and its root cause(s), which then permits their eradication based on the practical protocol it suggests: the Fourth Truth, which is the Eight-Fold Noble Path.

Dukkha if left unattended becomes a catalyst for decadence of all kinds: mental, personal and social. The best way to deal with dukkha is by protection: identify its future trends and nip it in the bud before it can trigger further decay.

Through the lens of the Four Noble Truths, reality is a dynamic network of causality, a complex chain of cause and effect. Nothing came to existence without cause and when an effect is produced, it simultaneously affects other phenomena to rise.

2006 has seen many unfinished dukkhas, both at the global and national levels.

Regarding environmental issues, governments of many countries, especially the European Union, are aware of the looming disaster of global warming. The trend of climatic change is clear, and it is getting worse every year. While EU countries are trying to impose a ''green tax'' on their people to curb the continuous rise of greenhouse gases, the United States has remained quiet even though its energyconsumption is proportionally triple that of other developed countries.

Terrorism and the crisis in Iraq still remain unresolved issues of the world, not to mention the building up of nuclear capabilities of North Korea and Iran, which can easily tip the military balance of the world forever.

Domestically, more social unrest is looms for Thailand. Drafting of the new constitution can easily spark off another political crisis, whereas the investigations into corruption cases by the government is hardly leading to any clear conclusion. The influence of the deposed prime minister lingers on in many institutions and can cause further instability for the government at any time.

Consider the meaning of 007: a licence to kill. But the licence to kill also implies the opposite: the licence to preserve and enhance future life.

So, as we approach the ''double James Bond year'' when all uncertainties are possible, Buddhists can have no greater blessing than the Dharma. With ''Life is Beauty'' well established in our hearts, all dukkha can be systematically solved with hope, courage and creativity. It is a good time to renew our way of thinking for the good of our health and beauty in our heart. Always look to the bright side of life!

Mettanando Bhikkhu is a Thai Buddhist monk and a former physician. He studied at Chulalongkorn University, Oxford and Harvard, and received a PhD from Hamburg. He is special adviser on Buddhist affairs to the secretary-general of the World Conference of Religions for Peace.