"Fake Remedy"

I've been thinking about whether to post this or not... a news clip I came across way back in June, on a flight from Chengdu to Bangkok. I guess I've decided. So here it is. It was reported by the Bangkok Post.

Don't try this at home. Don't try this ANYWHERE!

Witch doctors, space aliens and banana trunks

This is the first of a couple of newspaper clippings from the June 27th, "Bangkok Post." I was coming back from Chengdu, China to Penang, Malaysia on board of a Thai Airways flight. It's a belated posting, but still good.

Welcome to Alternate Reality

I figured while I'm at it, I might as well post this before I forget...

Looking for a different reality, a different country to be a citizen of?
Well, consider "Global Country of World Peace" where Tony Nader reigns as "the First Sovereign Ruler of the Global Country of World Peace." Nader, a.k.a "His Majesty Vishwa Prashasak Raja Nader Ram" rules "according to the Vedic Principles which have been given to us by the Holy Tradition of Vedic Masters." And in particular, the principles taught by "His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who introduced Veda — the Constitution of the Universe — the total knowledge of Natural Law, which governs the infinite diversity of the universe with perfect order." So Ralphie might have lost the elections, but Tony is certainly making the Nader ancestors proud.

Here, visit them at their website: Global Country of World Peace.

If you have some spare change (in the vicinity of half a million US$), I'm sure there will be some important work for you to do in this country - perhaps a kingship to assume, or a government ministerial position (they have over 40 departments) or even building and reigning over your own "Peace Palace."

Know why the Dow-Jones index reached a record-high of 14,022 last week?

According to John Hagelin, Ph.D., "a world-renowned quantum physicist, educator, public policy expert, and leading proponent of peace" and "Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, a leading science and technology think tank, and International Director of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace" (at Maharishi University of Management) and "Minister of Science and Technology of the Global Country of World Peace" and "President of the United States Peace Government, a knowledge-based, complementary government composed of hundreds of America’s top scientists, which advocates proven, prevention-oriented solutions to critical social problems" (You can check out his full profile at his website: Hagelin.org), the Dow-Jones index will reach a record high of 17,000 due to the release of "harmonious waves" by a group of 1800 Transcendental Meditation practitioners in Iowa.

This according to an article on MSNBC. Here, read it yourself: "Meditators predict Dow to reach 17,000 in year"

Hmm...maybe I should send them the email I got earlier inviting groups to participate in the Multifaith Holy Spirit Presentation where, "For the (sic) safety reasons, no inter-challenge of holy spirit is allowed where special permission is required when the application of unknown spirit, ghost, zombie, Dracula, vampire etc required in real site. Normally true film recording by participants with demonstration is sufficient in such cases."

Back!

So... I'm back in the US now. Well... as with any flying across time zones, not all has arrived yet - I think parts are still in-transit somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I left my parents' home in Penang, Malaysia around 6:15 AM on July 26 and got back to Cabin Hill around 1:15 AM on July 27 (which was 1:15 PM on July 27 in Malaysia). Went to bed not long after arriving and woke up about 10 hours later.

Here I am now, about 1:30 AM. I reckon I should go to bed. Hopefully all those parts will be back in a day or two. I still have a few bloggings from Asia that I will try to finish posting in the next couple of days. Until then, here are a few sunset shots taken in Penang, Malaysia.

Jesus Hill - Vung Tau

Catholics form a strong minority in Vietnam and one of the most visible manifestations of that is the Jesus statue that is perched above a hill by the shore of Vung Tau. This statue which is clearly based on the one at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil but smaller was completed in the 1970s.

Saigon Thien Hau Temple

Cantonese Vietnamese residents of Saigon built a temple dedicated to the protector-goddess of seafarers - Mazu (in Mandarin Chinese or Ma-tsu) - or known in Cantonese as Thien Hau (Tianhou in Mandarin Chinese, literally "Queen of Heaven) in the early 19th century. This temple is in the Cholon area of Saigon, Saigon's Chinatown.

(Inner courtyard of Thien Hau Temple)

Images found on the roof of the Saigon Thien Hau Temple:


Thien Hau/Mazu is a popular goddess among the Chinese living on the southeastern shore of China. She is worshiped along the Fujian and Guangdong coastline and the island of Hainan in China and also in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Temples dedicated to Mazu are also found among ethnic Chinese communities in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan. One of the oldest Chinese temples in thee US is in fact a Mazu temple built in 1852 in San Francisco by Cantonese Chinese living in that area. Los Angeles now has a very active Mazu temple built by Teochew-Vietnamese Americans a few years back.

Here's s short entry I prepared for a mini-exhibition of Chinese deity images I put together at Pew-Ellison Library at Warren Wilson College a few months back:

Matriarch Ma (媽祖 Mazu)

Legend has it that Matriarch Ma lived in south China sometime around the 10th century. She was born as Lin Moniang (林默娘), daughter of a fishing family. According to popular folklores concerning Matriarch Ma, she was deified after meeting a tragic death while rescuing her father and brothers from drowning in the sea during one of their fishing trips. Against societal and parental expectations, Lin Moniang refused marriage and instead focused on spiritual development. The power of her spiritual practice made it possible for Lin Moniang to magically project herself to the exact location in the sea to rescue her drowning father and brothers. Although she succeeded in rescuing them, unfortunately she was so exhausted from the effort that she drowned in the sea and died. Lin Moniang’s miraculous feat and her filial dedication as a daughter (thus vindicating her earlier act of parental defiance) transformed her into a goddess. Her popularity eventually led her to being admitted into the official Daoist pantheon in the 15th century where she is formally honored as “Heavenly Empress Sagely Mother” (天后聖母 Tianhou Shengmu). In particular, her power to protect seafarers and travelers increased over the centuries and to this day she is an important deity on the southern coast of China, in Taiwan and Hong Kong and among overseas Chinese.

(The main Thien Hau/Mazu statue in the temple)

Matriarch Ma’s iconography presents her as a Chinese empress, dressed in the imperial dragon brocade robes, seated on a throne in a formal position and holding an official placard denoting her rank as empress. She in sometimes depicted with a darkened face – alluding to the legend of her drowning and how when her body was finally washed ashore, her face had turned blue-black. There are about 1500 temples in 26 countries dedicated to Matriarch Ma.

(A temple-attendant chanting evening prayers)

(Incense urns where devotees can offer sticks of incense)

(Elaborately carved wooden votive-offerings)

Whale Temple at Vung Tau

Vung Tau is about 120km away from Saigon and its one of the prime resort towns in south Vietnam. The French built many villas and bungalows in the area and many of the rich and famous of Saigon also built their holiday homes in Vung Tau (before the Vietnam War, that is). Aside from beautiful colonial period villas, Vung Tau also has its share of temples and pagodas that lean against the mountain and face the ocean. We did go to a temple in Vung Tau although it's nether built against a mountain nor facing the ocean. This is the Whale Temple (Lang Ca Ong Temple). This temple is dedicated to a sea-deity who apparently appeared in the form of a whale to save the people of Vung Tau. I found a travel website that has an interesting write-up about the "whale-cult" in Vietnam.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the Whale Temple:

Tiles from Vietnam

More tiles... this time from Vietnam.

Vietnamese Wealth and Earth Gods

The first thing that struck me with Vietnamese popular religion (many many moons ago when I befriended my first Vietnamese friend in college) is that it's very similar to Chinese. Of course, centuries of political and cultural domination by various Chinese dynasties must have its effects.

During this trip to Saigon (July 11-15) the most visible manifestation of popular religion is the shrine found in many homes and businesses - the shrine dedicated to the worship of gods of earth and wealth. The shrines are placed right on the ground - a significant location indicating their "earthly" connection since gods are generally enshrined on higher levels.


Several gods appear to be honored at these shrines. I'll start with the two gods represented in the form of two small statues. The god seen seated on the right is a grandfatherly figure. He is often called "earth god" but a more apt translation of is "god of the locale." He is the god that guards the locale, the area. He is thus the guardian of the wealth and resources rooted in the area, the specific earth in which a home or business stands. He is also a sentry of sorts - watching the comings and goings of the area, keeping negative and interfering forces from causing harm, and ensuring the general security and peacefulness of the area. In Vietnam, this deity is identified as Ong Than Tai. In China, he's Dudi Gong. The Chinese Malaysian equivalent is Tua Pek Kong (literally, "Elder Uncle Deity."). It should be pointed out that Vietnamese seem to consider Ong Than Tai as the "wealth god" and the other as the "earth god." Or perhaps he is both. After all, all wealth is generated from the earth, the soil.

Images of Ong Than Tai in Vietnam are always accompanied by another god known as Ong Dia. Some sources on the web say that he is the "earth god" of the Vietnamese. He is a portly looking guy with a distinctive mustache and holding a sack. Iconographically, he closely resembles an ancient Indian Buddhist deity that was once widely venerated in China but today is mostly known in Japan as Daitoku-ten - the chief god of a group of "Seven Gods of Wealth." In this context, he dispenses wealth from the sack in his hand.

(Note: In this picture, their sitting positions have been transposed. This is the only case I've seen on this trip.)


Aside from the statues of the 2 gods, behind them is a red wooden tablet engraved with Chinese words in gold. Identical tablets are enshrined in many Chinese homes in China and around the world. The tablet is dedicated to: "Dragon-deities of the Five Directions and Five Earths" (note the five cups of tea offered) and "Lords of the Earth, Wealth-deities of the Front and Back" (front and back of homes and businesses). In Malaysia, instead of reading "Lords of the Earth, Wealth-deities of the Front and Back," it says "Chinese and Malay Lords of the Earth, Wealth-deities." One can do some pretty interesting social-political readings of this change - issues of Chinese ethnic identity in a Malay-Muslim majority that is Malaysia. But that's another blog (or paper!). And for someone else to do. For sure.


Apparently, these wealth and earth lords are into garlic - bulbs of them. It'll probably make them very happy to take them to all those Garlic Fests found across the US. One way to get on their good side.

Side note: Some Buddhists believe that only ghosts and ghouls are particularly into garlic....

Tiles - Penang

I've noticed since the last few summers that often times it's only when I take people around Penang that I start to see all those things that I've looked past or taken for granted while growing up in this town. I was walking around Little India with Ryan (when he was in Penang a couple of weeks back) when I noticed how interesting some of the tiles that line the external walls and walkways of buildings built during the colonial period. Here are some photos for anyone who might be interested in such things (I also saw the same concept used in old buildings in Saigon - will have those pictures up later).

Multiculturalism, religious pluralism or simply covering all bases?

Outside a shop in Little India in Penang. I guess the Buddha was not included since he's probably seen as too nice to give anyone any grief for being left out of the tea-party.







p.s. Probably just covering all bases - Malaysians tend to be very practical in all matters and manners.

Air Itam Market

I like going to markets - particularly outdoor markets such as the Air Itam ("Black Water") market in Penang. It's located inland on the northeastern side of the island of Penang. By the way, Penang is said to resemble the shape of a turtle. In Chinese popular beliefs, the turtle is a symbol of longevity - thus a good geomantic (fengshui) feature.

I used to live around the Air Itam area but since I was 12 my folks moved to Gelugor (see map). As a kid, going to this market on the weekends was always a treat. We bought at least 2 if not 3 of our pet-dogs from this market many, many moons ago. I can only remember the names of one of them - Rex.

There's Ryan, catching me in the act and giving me the evil-eye.

Ryan's stopover in Penang gave me an excuse to walk around Air Itam market with a camera - having an "angmoh" (literally "red-haired" - used in local Hokkien dialect to denote any Westerner, in Malay, any Westerner is colloquially referred to as "Mat Salleh") around is always a good excuse for anything!



Scooters everywhere. It's a pretty efficient mode of getting around, being that roads are relatively narrower and there are no winters to reckon with in Malaysia. I'm sure the environmental impact is probably no better than cars (although, surely better than trucks and SUVs with one driver and no passengers). Penang is known for having lots of scooters and my cousins from outside of Penang have always feared driving in Penang as they are nervous about all that scooting around. Buut what you quickly learn is to drive as if they are not there - they will know to move away from you when they need to.

Mom selecting some chicken for dinner later that night. [Curious note: During our 5 days in Vietnam we were served poultry not even once. Bird flu?] Most of these open-markets or wet-markets (Ryan: "Why are they called wet-markets?" Hun: "Umm... you'll find out first-hand/foot when you get to the seafood section.") sell all kinds of all things. The usual (and unusual) meats, vegetables, fruits, daily necessities, cooked food, clothings and household items. And pets (no, we don't eat dogs in Malaysia).



























But we do eat frogs, eels and tortoises. These are considered special/fancy fare - not your everyday pork, fish and vegetables. Increasingly though, devout Buddhists have been going to markets to rescue these creatures by buying them from vendors and releasing them back into the waters.

Lost in Translation

I'm back from southern Vietnam. Before I post anything from Vietnam, I reckon I should get a few postings up on Penang, Malaysia - where I was born and grew up and where my parents and extended family are still at.

So here's an interesting pic from Penang. Doesn't she look pretty happy to be confined?

Your first guess (in good faith) is probably that it's an ad for day-care for babies and kids. Nope. Now you might be thinking, "oh my gawd... it's true... Asians think confining women and not letting them into the streets is a good thing." Maybe. Sort of. Actually, it's an ad for these care facilities for recent mothers and their babies. Chinese Malaysians generally practice a period of "confinement" (30 days? 40 days?) for recent mothers and babies where extra, special care is required for both. For the mothers, it means having all their (special diet) meals prepared and served, special baths and they are not to engage in any activities deemed to be detrimental to their health. The special diet consists of nutritious food (deemed nutritious by traditional Chinese medical system) and food/beverage that expels the "wind" women who have just given birth are believed to have an excess of. This "wind" is not quite gas... and not quite the idea of qi/chi/prana. It's something in between and neither.

Care of the babies also include teaching mothers baby care. In the past, families employ "confinement ladies" to come to their homes and stay there for the entire period, taking care of the mother and child. My mom had one when I was born. These days, many people opt for the "confinement centers" as it has become too expensive to hire private care-providers. As the ad indicates, it costs somewhere in the MY$2000 (US$1 = MY$ 3.40) range to be at a confinement center whereas hiring a private care-provider can cost upwards MY$8000.

"Multifaith Holy Spirit Presentation"

I have been thinking about what I should post on this blog before I leave for Vietnam for a short vacation with my folks. And then this popped up. I kid you not but I did receive an email today that caused me to do a quick double-take to see if it's suddenly, somehow, April 1 [I'm pretty sure it is NOT].

I've deleted the name of the organization etc. but I am sure if you are curious enough you will be able to Google it or something. But here is the text of the email:

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Multifaith Holy Spirit Presentation New Proposal
From: [email address deleted]
Date: Tue, July 10, 2007 1:10 am
To: [email address deleted]
Cc: [email address deleted]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attachment : Artist Expression of Interest Setter, Support Setter for Festival Australia Program

Subject : Multifaith Holy Spirit Presentation – New Proposal

Currently [city name deleted] Buddhist Society [acronym deleted] is in the process of proposing and organizing Multifaith Spirit Presentation for interested staffs and students of the universities, with the application of scientific methods in the evaluation and quantification of supernatural holy spirit. This is part of the scientific research projects in partnerships with various religious organizations, in concurrent to the Festival Australia Program for 2008 among Multifaith Festival Committees in, expected to be eligible to be participated by all university faith groups in Australia.

The objectives and purposes of the presentation are:
(a) encouraging the exchange of ideas of various religious philosophies via physical observation of nature
(b) promoting friendships and multicultural via holy magical presentations with religious inclination
(c) inculcating the application of scientific techniques to verify various religious-relevant events of supernatural types

Those who are interested to contribute more ideas to enable such religious magical shows from small to big scale to be presented in the future Multifaith Centre are welcome to contact me. These will include the potential new areas of scientific research in religious practises:

(a) Presentation and practical in the quantification of holiness via physical instrumentation for prophets, Ghostbusters etc
(b) Determination of religious faithfulness using quantitative approach by measuring the blood pressure and nerve impulse during investigation
(c) Further exploration of the truth of karma and reincarnation via sixth senses under meditative state using true-false confirmation, back to the past and future and biological time machine (Doraemon-mimic)
(d) How to measure “qi”, “ying-yang” in Taichi among Taoist using modern instrument
(e) Validation of geomancy with modern techniques in Vatshu-sastra (Indian) and Feng-Shui (Chinese)
(f) Influence of holy songs and music on the growth and movement of animals and plants in zoology and botany, for example effects of holy music on snakes in India and Sri Lanka
(g) Formulation of protective fibre in making Arabic flying carpet and headscarf for woman with radio messages from angels
(h) Simulation on the modern formulation of mummy preservation in mysterious pyramid strategically located in ancient Egypt with curse in the time of Moses
(i) Communicate with spirit using specialized voice and hearing instruments in Indo-China
(j) Detailed evaluation in the applicability of Aboriginal and other Australian native religions in well-defined scripts for memory and study skills improvement
(k) Exhibition of functional Aladdin lamp, crystal balls etc for the comparison of the accuracy of fortune-telling via statistical approach
(l) Performance of yoga fire and floating meditation for religious physical self-defence
(m) Practising Jesuit methods of walking on water as one of the emergency escape methods in dangerous situation on marine or water areas based on force balance


For the safety reasons, no inter-challenge of holy spirit is allowed where special permission is required when the application of unknown spirit, ghost, zombie, Dracula, vampire etc required in real site. Normally true film recording by participants with demonstration is sufficient in such cases. Preparation and set-up of instrumentation for specific purposes have to be listed by the participants for verification and preparation. Participants should ensure the safety of performance of individuals, preferably accompanied by high level priests or spiritual masters as preventive measures if necessary.


Please fill in the Expression of Interest Form and Program Support Letter as attached and return to me by 15 July 2007. Website for reference:
- Forms available. The output of the program will depend on the feedback on alternative Multifaith presentations for [name of city deleted].

[name & contact info or sender deleted]

"Stupas Everywhere" - parting shot of Namtso

With a blue line of mountains north of the wall,
And east of the city a white curve of water,
Here you must leave me and drift away
Like a loosened water-plant hundreds of miles....
I shall think of you in a floating cloud;
So in the sunset think of me.
...We wave our hands to say good-bye,
And my horse is neighing again and again.
- Li Bai

Or another translation (by Sam Hamill)

Green mountains rise to the north;
white water rolls past the eastern city.

Once it has been uprooted,
the tumbleweed travels forever.

Drifting clouds like a wanderer's mind;
sunset, like the heart of your old friend.

We turn, pause, look back and wave,
Even our ponies look back and whine.