reachingtokyo

As you may have noticed there are some banners on my blog now. Raising support for what we do here has proved , what word should I use?, difficult is a good word. This is the new stategy. People can support our ministry by purchasing things they normally would but clicking through to those sites through ours. All the ads will be from vendors i believe in and/ or have used in the past. Happy shopping hope you find some good deals!

Ok i have found what i consider the best website for learning real Japanese. Everyday spoken Japanese. They allow you to listen on an Ipod or other mp3 player and their are many resources to reinforce what you have learned. Try it out . The MP3 s are free but i recommend getting the upgraded features for practice. They include line by line audio- a very needed tool for repetition.


you can click on the banner to the left or this one above

Labels: best, ipod, Japan, Japanese, learn, mp3, nihongo, resource

Below is a post i wrote some time ago. I just wanted to adda small note. The quote states "...the conclusion, that it is ultimately undefinable" He believes this because the definitions are based on other definitions and these definitions are from our mind. This is his argument . What wew think is subjective. I agree. That is true. But because of his world view he does not consider there could be an objective definition- a source of measurement that never changes. The God of the Bible is said to be the same yesterday, today, and forever. We need something concrete in our lives. A reference point. Spiritually. People want to be a part of something. Anything really. Some people try to research their family history and find meaning in their race or nationality. But this world is shifting rapidly. Am i American? Am i a Scottish/ Portuguese American? Countries are measured by political borders and nations by ethnic borders. What happens as these borders blur with changing borders and shifting bloodlines?

We need a final reference point. In our Postmodern attitudes we are playing with ideas as if they had no consequences. We are loosing our sense of self.

Buddhism and emptiness
I was sitting in a coffee shop today and thinking about why Japanese society seemed so empty. I immediately thought of materialism because in any developed country I often feel a similar feeling. But this sense was different. Lack of content or meaning. the two words Buddhism and emptiness immediately came to mind and I wrote it down in my journal. I came home and looked it up on the web- I am not sure where I will go with this but I will put some of what I find on this blog. I found this today on a web site"To Kadampa Buddhists all things are totally empty of any defining essence. Consequently all things have no fixed identity ('inherent existence') and are in a state of impermanence - change and flux - constantly becoming and decaying. Not only are all things constantly changing, but if we analyse any phenomenon in enough detail we come to the conclusion that it is ultimately unfindable, and exists purely by definitions in terms of other things - and one of those other things is always the mind which generates those definitions." http://www.geocities.com/scimah/sunyata.htmI noticed the phrase undefinable- immediately postmodernism comes to mind- and I wonder and know somewhat that Buddhism has been responsible for the idea or flexible truth or truth based on individual belief rather than absolute truth. It is my belief that Buddhist and eastern philosophy was popularized in the US in the 60's through popular musicians and entertainers.

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