red bean soup

Wow in this cold weather in Chicago I'd love to have some hot steaming sweet red bean soup. Here's a useful recipe that I experimented myself.

Slow cooker: 1 cup red bean with 2-3 cups of water.
Measure about 600-700 ml water, boil with brown sugar and ginger, then add the cooked red bean. Bring to boil again.

From New York Times...a good article for thinking about time

January 1, 2010

Editorial

New Year

We’ve been getting and sending a lot of holiday greetings, but one we have yet to hear is: “Have a Very New Year!” Perhaps it sounds too ambiguous for a real felicitation; safer to wish upon each other happiness rather than newness. But what if the newness of the new year was more than a calendrical trope? What if we rolled into January as if we were rolling into undiscovered country — ties cut, wagons loaded, oxen hitched?

For all of the toasts and vows, it is easy to dismiss the new year as an artificial made-for-Champagne-purveyors boundary. If we move past it — and our limited resolutions — quickly it is because life has a profound continuity that has little reference to the calendar’s pages. For most of us, time falls into different, and largely private, patterns. It’s more natural to measure time by how long you’ve lived in the same apartment or worked at a job, how long a relationship has endured and how old the children have grown, how large the trees you planted years ago have gotten.

That’s one thing the new year always offers: a look back across the plains into the past before we move onward into the future. It is a holiday that insists upon our temporality and reminds us that time is, in fact, the strangest thing. No one ever sat you down, when you were young, and explained the workings of time the way the safe way to cross a street was explained. You just grew into it, into the way we trail the past behind us while the future comes rushing forward.

It also offers possibility. We’re all surging forward — some with more impetus than others. And now we have 2010 before us, a year that seemed unimaginable until we were right at its border.

Travel tips from the New York Times

To travel cheaply while having fun is a good skill to have. This NY Times article details many websites that I think will be of interest to many people.

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/research-the-travelers-best-friend/

Have fun surfing!

The difference between the USA and Europe

Here's a wonderful article written by an American living in Amsterdam. He talks about how social-welfare and free-market can blend together in the Netherlands, and how USA can learn from the best of the system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03european-t.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all.

I think I totally agree with the author. Children in Europe are definitely happier, and I believe the society in which they live has a lot to do with it.

the world is flat?

Just about 10 years ago I would never imagine that I would be spend so much of my life in the western hemisphere. At that time even the thought of having a vacation abroad and taking a plane was exhilarating; but just this year, I traveled at least 10 times by plane and crossed the Atlantic Ocean 5 times; I've visited Belgium, Netherlands, and Austria during the weekends when I didn't work in the lab. Education-wise, I went to Yale, a wonderful place that I would like to call it my second-home in the last four years. I'm not bragging about anything; I just thought, wow, as Thomas Friedman said in his book, "the world is flat." Individuals today have so many opportunities. I don't know why that is, just suffice to say the world is really changing from my parent's generation; even within my short 25 years of life, I've experienced such a change. You can say the change provides unprecedented opportunities, and I'm sure I'll be shaped by such a change. Just don't know how...this is the thing I need to think about.

New Year's Eve in Germany

My new year's eve turned out not bad at all. Four other friends and I had a gathering yesterday night, and my lonely soul finally had some company. It was an inspiring night actually because my friends are all international students, and I enjoyed learning about their backgrounds and future goals. I have to thank Geoffrey for inviting me to the dinner, so that I did not spent my night alone.

Many places in Munich were transformed into large party zones. Tons of people were lighting fireworks yesterday night around the city. It was kind of dangerous to walk around, as some fireworks jumped here and there on the ground instead of shooting straight into the sky. I was almost hit by one; fortunately I walked away fast enough. The situation really reminded of land mines in Gambodia. Nonetheless, the festive atmosphere made the city much warmer despite the cold weather.

"We take care of your mind, body, and spirit!" A slogan I saw on the T-shirt a nurse wore at 6-3. It really spoke a lot to me, of why I want to be a physician.

So hot...

The bitter-sweetness felt at graduation begins to boil or evaporate away with my daily busy activities. Today is the first time that I actually feel the hotness of the summer. The wind is playing hide-and-seek between trees full of green and shiny leaves; water is flowing and laughing happily in the brook cutting through Whalley Avenue. In this clear weather I can see East Rock miles away; the mountain seems to stretch her arms and give everybody a huge hug. The white clouds also seems to rock-and-roll on the immense, blue stage.

Phases of Love

Somebody told me this, and I think it would be nice to share:

Only after we have these three experiences can we truly know how to love another person.

The first thing that hurts is: somebody we love leaves us. It teaches us that relationship is by nature impermanent. Relationship is a very fragile thing; how many times we think we finally find someone we can love, and that person loves us back, but then gears change-love changes to liking, liking to ignoring, and finally ignoring to dislike. It's really not our fault...things just change, despite ourselves.

The second thing that hurts is: we leave somebody who loves us and realize that we can never have that person back. It teaches us to see people around us to be precious, so that we won't regret when one day we realize we actually love them.

Finally, what is heartbroken is: even though two people love each other, they can never be together. It teaches us that all we have is really now, this very moment and nothing else. Never wait to show how much you appreciate another person's presence.

Hope it will be of some help to people!

Habits

We all have something called the mind. But it's interesting to note that most of the time we are totally unconscious of our actions and behaviors. Instead, we are driven by habits without any ability to resist them. One obvious example is when we face problems or people we dislike. Without any self-consciousness our first reaction is aversion, anger, or frustration. Procrastination, anxiety of unknown origin, and the tendency to feel jealous are just a few other examples in which habits overwhelm us. I particularly like this poem, called "Autobiography in Five Chapters:"

1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost...I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I see it is there.
I still fall in...it's a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

I think the point of this poem is that we should bravely acknowledge that our habits are formed by ourselves, and no others. We are completely responsible for who we are. The good news is, if we don't like the way we are right now, there is always a way to change it. It just takes some determination and mindfulness.

I think the most difficult part is for us to see our own bad habits. Thus, it always helps if there are people around us who can poke our habits. At times it hurts, but it's better than accumulating these habits until it's so solid that we can no longer change them.

Happy Rat Year

Goal of the year: focus. It is commonly said that, without focus, nothing can be accomplished. In retrospect of my life, I find the origins of many of my difficulties originate from a distracted mind. I often think about too much at once and try to do too many things at one time. My purpose is to save time. The result is, however, more time wasted. So the ability to focus can give me the power to save the precious time.

I found the ability to focus has another benefit: it can help me look at and think about things more clearly. With the mind fully attentive to one thing, it can often lead to creative solutions.

So, focus is the word of the year. Whenever I am thinking, or speaking, or doing things, may I always be focused.

Happy New Year!

The beginning of a new year and new semester

I do not think what follows is any sort of "new year resolution." I think they are just some reflections constantly going on in my mind that I wish to to share. I hope whoever read it will find some benefits.

On the meaning of life:
Of course it's good to think about and plan the future, but if one puts too much thoughts into it, there will be too much hopes and fears which will only create mental gossips. As everybody knows, gossips are usually idle, meaningless, and disturbing. So, let's plan for a good future, but at the same time remain flexible, and don't get distracted to something not yet happens. Without too much hope and fear, we will have equanimity and contentment, which will bring happiness. I don't know if there is any special meaning about life, but don't we all want happiness?

On attitudes:
more giving and less self-cherishing. I like the Nike ad: it's really not about me. In fact, when we think about it: all our happiness derives from other people. Therefore, we should always be kind to others and consider other people precious.

On doing things:
try not to be emotional, but use wisdom, knowledge, and reasoning.

On success:
How does one define success? I think it varies from people to people. To me, it's not an end point, but a lot of people mistaken it as an end point, like money and fame. When one thinks about it such success is only momentary; after a while one feels void and is in a loss. So I think success is really a process that includes courage, patience, and determination to face challenges in daily life. If one lives everyday feeling fulfilled and content, then I think that is success.

I don't want to sound like I can do everything I write here. In fact, I am still so far from it. But I just want to share some ideas with you, and let's strive for a better life together.

Happy holiday

I am still in the process of writing my paper. Although I am in stress, I feel like the more stress I have, the more I need to think about and care for other people. It's sort of like an antidote to prevent me from over focusing on my own problem. I think if Yale has ever taught me anything, it is we all have the obligations to make this world a better world, and it's really not about me.

So, first of all I would like to thank everybody for such a wonderful 2007. It is because of you that I feel like everyday is a good day, and every thing is an opportunity for personal growth. I wish you all joyful at this wonderful season of the year, and I also want to wish everybody good luck in whatever you pursue in the coming year.

Sincerely yours,
Po-Han Chen

Life as a miracle

Sometimes I think our existence is really a miracle. Just think about it, the third law of thermodynamics dictates that everything goes from order to disorder. So it is really miraculous that molecules and elements can gather together and form cells and organs, all linked together in such ordered yet complicated way. If we think about how everything is so impermanent in our life-things rise and fall apart constantly-and how many causes and conditions are required to make one thing to happen, we would see how life is a miracle. Take the fidelity of DNA replication in our body, for example, it requires so many cooperations from so many molecules so that DNA will be replicated in a correct way. Just think about it, how miraculous that these molecules, among tens of thousands of molecules in our cells, can find each other and interact with each other. Sometimes I think we should feel lucky that our body doesn't go wrong, because such proper functioning of every aspect of our cells is such a rarity in nature. The probability that everything works so perfectly is just so low that life is really a wonder by itself. The lesson: life is precious, so treasure it while you can.

Death Meditation

Imagine you are going to die tonight, will you regret or will you take joy in what you have achieved so far in your life? According to the traditional Tibetan wisdom, there is one thing for sure. That is, we are all going to die, and we cannot know when we are going to die. Some people are so unprepared to death so that when the time comes, they panic. I think this same kind of feeling is also true in other things we do in life. For example, my time at Yale is going to end soon, and I am wondering whether I will be prepared to leave this place or not.

I always feel like, we are always preparing, but at the end of a major period of life, we are still very unprepared. I am wondering, now reflecting on my past 23 years of life, have I really got something meaningful?

I think in order for us not to have regret when something comes to an end, the best thing to do is to constantly keep the ending in mind and by doing so try to motivate us to do meaningful things everyday and every moment. Or to put it more practically, live in the presence, the now, and be always vigilant in whatever we are doing. Or like my father always tells me, "focus on the process."

Buddhism

There are some common misconceptions about Buddhism, particularly its pessimistic view on life, its requirement to repress all desires, and its passive indifference to the world as an ideal Buddhist’s life. In this paper I will first present the critics’ arguments and their possible reasons. Then I will proceed to counter their arguments. At the end, I hope this paper will arrive at some conclusions that help people gain a better understanding of the Buddhist philosophy.

Critics of Buddhism claim that one fatal defect of Buddhism is that it gives people a pessimistic outlook on life. The first Noble Truth given by Buddha—the Noble Truth of Sorrow—says “Birth is sorrow, age is sorrow, disease is sorrow, death is sorrow; contact with the unpleasant is sorrow, separation from the pleasant is sorrow, every wish unfulfilled is sorrow” (De Bary 16). In essence, humans are born to suffer. Until we reach enlightenment and escape the cycle of life and death, we are suffering. Another ground for the pessimistic view of Buddhism is the idea of emptiness. For example, according Nagarjuna, one of the greatest thinkers of Buddhism, “there is no birth on the other side, nor on this side; nirvana too in its self-nature exists not. Thus, when surveyed by a knowledge which knows all things, empty are the created” (Radhakrishnan and Moore 339). If everything is empty, including the ideal blissful state of nirvana, then what is the purpose of life?

Many critics do not agree with such a pessimistic view of life. Of course we have times of sorrows, but there are also many things we can enjoy, such as a successful career and a family. Also, the world is not as empty as Buddhists propose; rather, it is substantive. Many philosophers in the Western tradition believe that substances are the foundations of the world; these substances or existences have inherent, independent and fixed characteristics. God is often regarded as the highest existence, and many people believe there are some higher existences beyond the realm of this human world, to which we can go after death.

My position is that Buddhism is not pessimistic. I will hence withhold the judgment as to whether a pessimistic view of life is realistic or not. Buddhist philosophy is not pessimistic in the sense that, indeed it teaches that life is full of sorrows, but it also teaches the ways out; these ways are the so-called Noble Eightfold Path. Also, Buddhism indeed teaches the idea of emptiness, but it does not deny any reality. All Buddhism denies is that reality is substantive.

What evidences point out that Buddhism in fact teaches the ways to avoid sufferings? For one, it claims that human beings are the only beings, among all sentient beings, that are capable of freeing themselves from sufferings (Roach, chapter 9). Animals know about pains too, but all they can do is to run away from approaching dangers. We as human beings have the ability to reason and to do things that can help us avoid future pains. The Noble Eightfold Path consists just such ways that can help us reach enlightenment; as Buddha said “it is enlightened, it brings clear vision, it makes for wisdom, and leads to peace, insight, enlightenment, and nirvana” (De Bary 16). Buddha foresaw that people would doubt whether the Path can really remove all pains. That is why the very first element of the Path is the right understanding of Buddha’s teaching. He warned people not to follow his teaching based on blind faith, or partial understanding; instead, he asked us to think for ourselves and hence to have a true understanding of his teachings. Only through such deep understanding can a person develop the right resolve to follow the Path. Therefore, it is true that Buddhism teaches that life is full of sorrows, but it also provides a very systematic way for people to follow so that they can free themselves.

On the other hand, Buddhism does not advocate the idea of absolute emptiness. Nargarjuna indeed showed systematically and logically through a reductio ad absurdum, in his Treatise on the Middle Doctrine, that any claim to reality can be reduced to absurdness and inconsistency. He, however, did not deny that there is any such thing as existence. All Nagarjuna tried to refute is the substantial existences of all things—that everything has an independent and fixed nature. The true meaning of emptiness is that all entities are produced only in the sense of being coordinated, which is drastically different from the notion of absolute emptiness.

Regarding to the idea that nirvana does not exist, and cannot be differentiated from samsara (cycles of birth and death), Nagarjuna attempted to remove the fixed conception that there is an absolute blissful state. If we believe in the absolute existence of nirvana, then we might be prone to clinging to the idea of reaching that state; clinging to an idea that has itself no permanent nature is a source of suffering. Also, our language is too limited in describing nirvana, so any description of it will categorize it through fixed concepts which, in reality, do not exist. As nirvana is beyond the description of language, Nagarjuna described it by saying what it is not—not an absolute existence, it is without inherent and independent characteristics.

Besides the claim that is pessimistic, critics of Buddhism also claim that, as a Buddhist, one must renounce all genuine desires. The second Noble Truth—the Noble Truth of the Arising of Sorrow—tells us that sorrow “arises from craving, which leads to rebirth, which brings delight and passion, and seeks pleasure now here, no there.” Furthermore, the third Noble Truth says the stopping of sorrow is the “complete stopping of that craving, so that no passion remains, leaving it, being emancipated from it, being released from it, giving no place to it” (De Barry 16). Based on a literal reading of the Noble Truths, it seems that enlightenment can only come from renunciation of all desires.

It is true that we should get rid of cravings, but Buddha did not ask us to remove all desires. First of all, the mere act of renunciation is an extreme position that Buddha rejected. When he first set out to look for the answers to human sufferings, he tried to renounce all desires but almost died from starvation. Afterwards, he rejected such an extreme way of achieving enlightenment; as he said, “there are two ways not to be served by a wanderer…The pursuit of desires….and the pursuit of pain and hardship” (De Bary 16). Renouncing all desires would amount to the latter. Furthermore, if stopping cravings means that we should repress all desires, then how do we account for the Buddha’s will to save people? Did he speak against what he was doing? If so, then is even the determination to free fellow humans from pains not allowed? Clearly, Buddha wanted to see no sufferings in the world. So it is unlikely that we cannot want anything.

Rather, what Buddha meant by “desire” is “an attachment to impermanent worldly things.” “Develop the state of mind of consciousness of the corruption of the body, for thus passion will grow less; and of the consciousness of the fleeting nature of all things, for thus the pride of selfhood will grow less” (De Bary 27). In this manner, “no craving” really means “realize the impermanent nature of things.” By realizing the impermanence of worldly phenomena, we can resist the tendency to cling onto things. Once we no longer cling onto things, then, as they fade away, we learn to avoid anxiety, worries, and fears.

Critics of Buddhism may then say: if realizing the impermanence of all phenomena is freedom, then we must take a pessimistic view of life. To put it another way, one might say “if I don’t get what I want, I should not care.” Such a view is logical because, after all, no matter whether I get what I want or not, it will disappear eventually. If, on the other hand, I get what I want, I should not take joy, because I will eventually lose it. To avoid future misery, I should repress my joy now.

Buddhism, however, does not advocate such care-free sentiment. As previously discussed, Buddhist philosophy is not pessimistic, and, more importantly, simply not caring about the problem does not help a person solve the problem of human sufferings. Such a stance of not caring and not thinking would lead to ignorance of why pains arise, which, according to Buddha, is also a cause of sufferings (De Bary 19). In addition, not caring is not the right understanding of Buddha’s teachings. When pains come, he is not saying, “don’t care about it when you feel pain.” Instead, he is saying, “When the pain comes to you, you have a perfect understanding of the causes of the pain (if you have followed the Eightfold Path and understand my teachings perfectly), which is caused by the cravings that upset our minds, and have a peaceful and well-founded piece of mind, when you try to end the pain.”

As I’ve argued, Buddhism is not pessimistic and does not require the renunciation of all wanting. If one were to believe that Buddhism teaches pessimistic view of life and all desires must be repressed, they might reach the conclusion that the ideal of a Buddhist is a passive indifference to the world. Such a person will think, “I should not take any active role in life or help other people because it shows that I cling onto something.” As attachment will upset the mind, it is better not to attach to anything, and the best way is not to care about the surrounding world.

In response to such criticism, one has to realize that, in fact, compassion towards others is an important component of any Buddhist’s life. Commenting on the right mindfulness, the 7^th element of the Eightfold Path, Buddha said, “Develop the state of mind of friendliness…as you do so, ill-will will grow less; and of compassion, for thus vexation will grow less; and of joy, for thus aversion will grow less; and of equanimity, for thus repugnance will grow less” (De Bary 27). Compassion will free people from vexations that hamper their path to enlightenment. Compassion is also central in Buddhism because it is profoundly related to the wisdom that realizes the dependent nature of all things and how everything does not have a fixed nature. It is the realization that, if everybody in the society benefits, then I will benefit, and, if helping myself is good, then so is helping others (Roach, chapter 9).

Some critics would argue that compassion really does not matter, if one follows Buddhist teachings. First of all, it is agreeable that we want to avoid sufferings. Nonetheless, it is possible that everybody else in the society will benefit from my actions but I myself will suffer. Secondly, Buddhists believe in the operation of karma. Then, one can argue, if a person suffers, it is because of his bad karma, and if he is feeling happy, it is also because of his past karma. It seems, therefore, that I don’t have any responsibility towards other people.

In response to such an argument: it is indeed true that it is possible that other people benefit while I suffer. This thinking, however, does not follow logically from Buddha’s teachings. Such thinking reduces to doing goods just for the sake of one’s own benefits, (i.e., I will not do it because I will suffer, or I will do it simply because it will benefit me). If so, then one is making a judgment regarding what is mine and what is not mine. This individual makes a supposition that everything within the boundary of my skin is mine, and everything outside is not. Because of this, he will only do things that will benefit this body, “his” body. This idea is another type of attachment to things, in this case, the body, that have no permanent nature, and assigning a fixed nature to something that is not fixed. This is why Buddha told us, with regards to anything, that we should think “This is not mine, this is not me, this is not my soul.” Similarly, the idea that we don’t need to help other people because each of us experiences our own karma is making a distinction between what is mine and what is not mine.

Furthermore, Buddha never intended to make the knowledge of karma an excuse not to help other people. It is true that Buddha said in his final words that we should not “look for refuges to anything besides [ourselves]” (De Bary 29). Our compassion indeed cannot save other people completely—they need to save themselves eventually. Nonetheless, if one thinks about it another way, if there are no beings with wisdom, such as Buddha and other Enlightened Ones, then who can offer guides to those who are suffering? How can they get out of sufferings by themselves? It is similar to expecting a child to do calculus without teaching him how to do addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. To get a sense of this same emotion, we can also imagine the following situation: when we need help from a person, he refuses and walks away coldly. If a person really wants to see that no beings suffer in the future, including him, then he must plant a seed of compassion, intending to save all beings in the universe.

In conclusion, Buddhism is not pessimistic. Indeed life is full of sorrows, but there is a way out. We, as humans, among all beings, have the rare gift of being able to reach enlightenment. The progress does not require repression of all feelings of want. We can want things, but we have to realize the fleeting nature of all things. Lastly, the Buddhist philosophy is not a passive indifference to the world. If a person wants to learn how to save himself from sufferings, a key component is to learn compassion towards all beings. It is similar to the proverb: if a person wants to get more, he needs to learn how to give first.

References:

De Bary, William Theodore. The Buddhist Tradition: In India, China, and Japan. NY: Vintage Books, 1969

Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, Charles A. Moore. A Source Book in Indian Philosophy. NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1967.

Roach, Michael. The Garden: A Parable. New York: Doubleday, 2000.

Compassion

Am I incapable of caring for people? I feel like so many people in my life have assisted me even though they don't really need to. I, in return, rarely do anything for them. I wish I could develop the capacity to put other people before me. Emily said you don't develop that kind of emotion until you are truly in love or having a kid. This made me think, how amazing a mother's love is. It's so unconditioned. I wish I could love my fellow human beings like that. Got to learn giving and taking.

If craving is the source of sufferings, then logically, learning how to give will undo the cause. If a person can be truly compassionate, then he truly realizes what it means by "no self."

I don't really understand, but what is it about human nature that we cannot learn contentment, but desiring more and more, like power, money, and attention? Why do we take the sickly pleasures in other peoples' failures? Why do we sometimes involve in gossips and divisive talks that bring people apart? And how can we be so indifferent to other peoples' sufferings?

Fundamental Questions

1. How do we know what is right to do and what is wrong to do? If it's really like what Nagarjuna said, that reality is relative, then how do we define a good action. If a good action is to make a person feel happy, then what is this happiness? And why does happiness matter, if after all, everything is empty?

2. If, as Nagarjuna said, that everything is relative and has no independent, fixed nature, then how does cause and effect work? If a cause necessitates the effect, then apparently there's an inherent and fixed character about cause. Is Nagarjuna saying there's no cause and effect relationship after all? If so, is he denying the fundamental principle (Karma) of his religion?

3. The nature of mind. If our current minds evolve from our minds yesterday, and the ones yesterday from the day before yesterday, the day before yesterday from last week, which is from last month, last year, all the way back to the time when we were still in our mothers' wombs, then imagine the moment when the new life first appears, when the egg and sperm first met. Where does that very first conscious come from? If from somewhere else, how come we cannot remember what happened before we entered our current bodies?

Examination of Causality

There absolutely are no things, nowhere and none, that arise anew, neither out of themselves, nor out of non-self, nor out of both, nor at random (Nagarjuna, Treatise on the Middle Doctrine).

A shity day

The people in this world are certainly not as nice as I thought. People can be deceitful and play around with other people's feelings. Desire and anger have clouded my judgments of who these people really are. There is certainly a list of moral values I highly regard, and I need to stick to these principles and remain resolute. I think I have known for a long time which person is suitable for what kind of friendship, according to their behaviors. So don't be hesitant and afraid of saying no. Although I'm kind of annoyed by some people today, I have learned to trust my judgment, and I think learning how to evaluate the true nature of another person is an important skill to learn, as Confucius said, "know your fellowmen."

Finally, I still want to remind myself-做人要潇洒, 有自信. And as Hsin-Hao pointed out, I still had a lot of etiquettes to learn.