Podcasts about shinjin

Maitrisiddhi explores Shinjin as faith, bodhicitta and wisdom. What happens when the conditioned mind lets up for a bit? Experiences of beauty, openness, love, desire to go for refuge and devotion naturally arise; we experience contact with ‘amida', the quality of limitlessness. Are those experiences ‘ours' – or something else? This talk was given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2024. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting!Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favorite podcast service! Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Soundcloud  

Welcome to the eCommerce Lab Podcast! Get ready for a fascinating conversation! In this video, we will have as a special guest Shinjin Kahler, Director of Global Selling and Partnerships at Picaro, who is recognized for his experience helping global brands strategically expand into new markets. This time, we will focus on one of the most fascinating and challenging markets in e-commerce: Amazon Japan.Shinjin will guide us through the best practices and essential strategies to successfully launch and dominate on Amazon Japan, a market known for its competitiveness, high quality standards, and consumers with unique expectations.If you are thinking about taking your business to the next level and expanding internationally, this video will be an essential guide to understand what it takes to succeed in one of the most sophisticated markets in the world. Don't miss it and get ready to learn from one of the best in the field!

Hi Dharma-friends! In this episode, we read five more verses of the Pure Land Hymns on the Right, Semblance, and Last Dharma Ages. Shinran further explains his understanding of how only by completely relying (in Shinjin) on Amida's Vow to Liberate All can beings in this Last Dharma Age realize awakening. It is Amida's directing of virtue for going forth from the Pure Land and returning that makes this possible. How grateful we are! Next time we'll continue with five more verses by Shinran Shonin. Until then, please be well! For more Dharma content, please visit the American Buddhist Study Center's home page: ambuddhist.org With palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends! This episode's verses from the Pure Land Hymns on the Right, Semblance, and Last Dharma Ages are very powerful and are among my favorite expressions of the Dharma by Shinran Shonin. Shinran is telling us not to worry that our own limitations due to distractions and self-indulgence are too heavy for Liberation. The Light of Amida's Vow of Wisdom is like a great torch illuminating a dark place. That Light is boundless and reaches everywhere. Because saying the Name, Namo-Amida-Butsu, in Shinjin is Amida's own practice, it overcomes literally every obstacle. Through the working of the wisdom of Amida's Vow, our limited good and evil minds are transformed into Amida's mind of great compassion. Namoamidabutsu. Hope you have been enjoying the podcast. Check out the website of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more good Dharma content. Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends! Today we hear 5 more verses from this collection by Shinran Shonin. A striking image in these verses is Shinran's comparison of those who now follow the Nembutsu path with Maitreya Bodhisattva. Maitreya Bodhisattva is the next fully enlightened Buddha after Śākyamuni who will appear in the world when causes and conditions are right to do so. Nembutsu followers, saying the Name of Amida Buddha through Shinjin, realize the same Awakening or Enlightenment as Maitreya when this present life has run its course through the power of the Vow. Amazing stuff!! Until next time, please be well! Check out the American Buddhist Study Center website ambuddhist.org for more good Dharma content. Palms together, Gary

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 This month's session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Vasubandhu, whose treatise on the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable guides us to embrace the at times difficult work of helping others while keeping a playful heart. And when he reaches that lotus-held world,He immediately realizes […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Wednesday, March 9, 2022 This month's session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Vasubandhu, whose treatise on the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable has guided many through the generations to take refuge in the Amida Buddha's compassionate vow. He discloses the mind that is single so that all beings […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 This month's session will explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Vasubandhu, whose treatise on the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable has guided many through the generations to take refuge in the Amida Buddha's compassionate vow. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, composing a treatise, declaresThat he takes refuge in the Tathagata of […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Hi Dharma friends! In this episode, we conclude our traversal of Shinran Shonin's Wasan verses on Master Shan-tao of China (613-681 CE). Shan-tao was so important to Shinran's understanding of the Buddha Dharma. In this group Shinran again affirms that true-entrusting or awakening, which he calls "Shinjin," arises from the spontaneous working of Amida's Primal Vow through Nembutsu. After reflecting on the various obstacles this teaching has encountered, Shan-tao and Shinran urge us to persevere and gratefully receive the Pure Land Way - according to Śākyamuni Buddha, the only authentic way to Awakening for ordinary people of the latter ages, that is, for people like ourselves. Next time, we move to Japan and start the section on the Sixth Master in the Jōdo Shinshū lineage: Master Genshin. Hope you will join us and tell your friends. Please check out ambuddhist.org for more content offerings of the American Buddhist Study Center. Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends, In this episode, you can listen to 5 more of Shinran's Wasan verses on Master Shan-tao of China (613-681 C.E.) Building on what he said previously, Shinran further describes the qualities of diamond-like (or doubt-free) Shinjin or true entrusting -- how it alone fulfills Śākyamuni Buddha's intent as well as the teaching of the other Buddhas for ordinary people in our present circumstances. We are taught to remember that this diamond-hard confidence is not our own doing but is part of Amida Buddha's aspect of benefitting others. We are grasped and never abandoned in the Nembutsu or Name-of-the-Buddha, Namo-Amida-Butsu. Next time, we'll conclude the section on Master Shan-tao with the final six Wasan based on his writings. I hope you have been enjoying the readings, and please recommend this podcast to your friends. Check out ambuddhist.org for more Dharma content. Palms together, Gary

Welcome back, Dharma friends! In the episode, you can listen to the next group of 5 Wasan verses based on the writings of Master Shan-tao (613-681 CE). This group contains some wonderful images by Shinran conveying his understanding of the Buddha Dharma through Shan-tao's thought. One is "diamond-like Shinjin," or leaving our own blind passions and relying exclusively on the power of the Primal Vow. Another powerful image is that of Śākyamuni and Amida as our own father and mother, guiding us by any means it takes to obtain that diamond-like assurance which will bring us to Awakening without fail. If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with a friend. Also, check out the American Buddhist Study Center website ambuddhist.org for more cool content. May the peace of the Buddha Dharma and the Nembutsu touch your heart! Until next time, -- Gary

What did he intend —the design intent of Zen?We are still learning.* * *In the last episode of UnMind we closed with comments that Zen and design both entail individual effort as well as group collaboration, and that designing the most efficacious processes in each requires experimentation and creativity. We will continue this line of thinking in this episode, around design and Zen. We also suggested taking another look at what Buddha did, from this perspective. What problem did Buddha solve, would you say? Or what problem did he define?Shinjin sensei, a senior teacher at Atlanta Soto Zen Center responded,Well, the problem started when he was still living at home, at the palace. He left the palace and saw a sick person, a corpse, a mendicant monk, and an old person, and that started the problem. Why do we have to go through this at all? What's the point, if that's how we are going to wind up? That was the problem that was put in front of him. We are taught that his solution was essentially the Four Noble Truths, the lecture that he gave at Deer Park.Yes, according to tradition, he defined the problem as “suffering.” But, the problem of what? I don't' think a client came to him, and said, “I got this problem I want you to solve.” Right? He defined the problem, according to the way it is interpreted — and I have some pushback on this — as suffering. The problem — of what? — is suffering? What would you fill in the blank with, there?“I would say the problem of existence is suffering,” commented Shinjin.So the problem of existence is suffering. Then we can deconstruct this statement, taking the last word “suffering” and ask, What did the Sanskrit dukkha really mean? We translate it into suffering, and then say OMG, Buddhism is so pessimistic. But I think dukkha simply means “change.” I am not a scholar, but I am pretty sure that if you look up the Sanskrit, it is going to have fifteen, twenty or thirty meanings. I think very simply he defined the problem of existence as change. From our human perspective, yes, we would tend to emphasize the suffering aspect of it. Things that we would love to change won't change, and things that we don't want to change keep changing.In interfaith dialog around the themes of prophecy, we discover that the Abrahamic theistic religions, such as Christianity and Islam, agree that it is all going to come down to Armageddon, and it is all going to be different from then on. We are all going to live without aging, sickness and death, we will live forever in the presence of God, and there will be no change. I keep coming back at them on the panel, asking How can that work? How does that work, I mean? And the answer is always, “God's mysterious ways.” It's not logical; it does not make any sense. Not to mention that God supposedly set things up the way they function now. So why change all the rules all of a sudden?Buddha's definition of the problem, even though they were living in much more primitive or simpler times, would still be the same today. He would say, “No, no, that's not it. That's all ignorance.” The universe will continue to operate on the same basic principles of physics — or Dharma — that it always has. The proximate human problem is still the same as it was then: Ignorance of the primordial sort. Human aspiration to something less ambiguous is understandable, but founded on self-centered ignorance.One aspect of Buddha's definition of the problem is this reification of the constructed self. We have this myth, or this idea, of this “self” that we prop up and support, and identify with, self-identify, and redefine as we mature and age. “That's the difference between me and you!” is the catchphrase. Praising myself at the expense of others. The Precepts come into play in these social interchanges. But Buddha looked at it and said, You know, I've checked this out thoroughly, and I find no evidence of the existence of this Atman, this so-called self, or soul. Sorry, I know you're not going to like that, but that's my testimony.I think Buddha basically did a very fundamental exercise in problem definition. In doing so, he applied this method that we still apply, which is meditation: Sitting still; paying strict attention; going beyond thought; going deeper; and so forth. If there were no Buddhism, if there were no religion, if there were no philosophy, and you found yourself on this planet, you would have to come up with something like this. You would have to figure it out. In fact, everyone is practicing Zen whether they know it or not. They just may not be doing a very good job of it.We are fortunate to have teachers who have refined the definition of the problem, and the prescription for practicing its solution over two and a half millennia.When we think about Buddhism in the context of design or problem-solving, Buddha, from the story we are told, looked at the same life you and I are living — setting aside a lot of differences in 2,500 years — but the fundamentals are the same: aging, sickness and death. He went through a thoroughgoing process that we call “problem definition” in design circles.Buddha saw a problem. For him, the problem was existence itself. The story goes that the suffering he witnessed estranged him from existence itself. In his mid-thirties — in what we may regard as a kind of extended adolescence, having been overly protected by his parents — he rebelled. He didn't want to do what daddy wanted — to take over the family business as a warrior leader — and went off on a spiritual quest instead. We think of it as a net-positive thing that occurred, because although at the end of six years he sat down in desperation and resolved to die, he didn't actually die. He survived. Then he began his career of teaching others to do likewise, about which he apparently felt some ambivalence as to whether he really had anything to teach or not. This reflects a kind of humility in the face of what had to be an overwhelming experience of transformation of world view. There is also a kind of humility around creativity in design. I think we find the same sense of humility in Zen.Buddha's story is an example of breaking the rules and going against the societal norms of his time. Had he not been of a high caste, he probably would not have gotten away with it. In design, we isolate and identify such syndromes of behavior, and codify them as legitimate techniques in creativity. We intentionally “break the rules,” for example by including chance processes we cannot control.Considering what Buddha actually did, he defined the problem of human existence by thoroughly examining it in practice, as Master Dogen would later express it. He analyzed his experience and translated it into a coherent message for his fellow travelers and followers, including the prescription to “do thou likewise.” But also not to simply take his word for his conclusions. Check them out for yourself. And do not confuse the map for the territory. Be prepared to innovate, to improvise. To break the rules of Zen.In zazen we say, Sit still. Sit for a long time. Quiet the mind. Or, as I repeatedly say, Sit still enough, for long enough. With the proviso that you alone can know what is still enough, and long enough. As long as you have any doubts about it, it is probably not yet enough. But we might also say, Oh really? What if I don't sit still? What if I decide I am going to move at any time, or even all the time, when I am sitting? As another of our senior teachers often says, with her ironic smile, the Zen police are not going to arrest you! In other words, contrary to the received wisdom, improvise. See what happens. Give yourself permission to improvise and experiment. Buddha did, I guarantee you.Breaking the rules. We approach Zen meditation, Buddhist studies and protocols as if we have to follow all these rules. You may say, Well, okay, but I have to sit still, don't I? If you allow yourself permission, you may say, Wait a minute. Who am I to be telling myself I have to sit still? I am going to give myself permission to move. Then you might sit there, secretly moving for the whole period. Just pulsating, not forcing yourself to sit completely still. So you don't start developing resistance in your knees, your back, and so forth. Coping with it as you go. What may happen is that you find out why it is that we sit still — by not sitting still.Then there is that relative versus absolute stillness. Where is it?People coming to the Zen center frequently say, “I didn't know what zazen was until I stopped doing it. Then I figured out, Oh, that's what it is, and started doing it again. When your world starts falling apart. But there is a middle way between the extremes of motion and stillness, called mokurai in Sino-Japanese, meaning something like motion in stillness and/or stillness in motion. Relative stillness is what we are going for, to enter into absolute nonduality. Same for all the measurables around zazen.Sit for a long time, an hour, half-hour, sit as long as you can. Not necessarily at the same time. Maybe sit 10 minutes. Maybe try interval training all day long. Take 10 minutes at the desk. Take a deep breath and sit there. No one will notice. And then get back to work again. Or sit all day, one day.Matsuoka Roshi captured this agile approach to zazen with his trademark economy of language, “Sit five minutes, five minutes buddha. Sit a half-hour, buddha for half an hour. But wouldn't you rather be buddha all day?” Of course, we cannot sit 24/7. But we can adopt creative tactics to approximate it.In the morning when you rise (shout out to Crosby, Stills and Nash) sit up on the bed for a while. Rather than panicking and running around like a chicken with your head off, as usual. Or when you are going to bed, just sit on the side for a while. As Bucky Fuller commented, all the questions you have been asking all day long, when the answers come flooding in at night, you can't even remember the questions. Let them settle down. Then you can sleep. Perchance to dream.As Master Dogen reminds us, when we rise from zazen to begin walking meditation — kinhin in Japanese — don't rise “violently.” Rise gently and slowly, keeping attention in the belly, focused on the still point called the tanden. Negotiate the transition intentionally and attentionally, maintaining equilibrium while shifting from sitting to walking. Standing and bowing to each other, as we do in the zendo, makes the transition even more gradual and smooth. Same thing when you are going to sleep at night. Sitting on the bed and moving slowly, smoothly into lying down, segueing into sleep, horizontal zazen.These kinds of transitions are built into Zen practice. We segue into the intensity of the still and silent meditation coming in from the chaotic and noisy street. Then, through chanting the service at the end of the sitting period, segueing back into the vehicle, and getting back on the expressway. The chanting helps with these transitions, Matsuoka Roshi explained. You can continue chanting on the commute.You can be creative in how you approach everything, or anything. Somebody had to make this Zen thing up, at some point in time, after all. Buddha was probably taught meditation by somebody, some sort of yogic meditation. But then he likely made changes in he way he approached it, the way he taught it to others, and how he interpreted its meaning. He had to experiment in order to make those changes.We have to have the flexibility of mind to imitate our teachers in the beginning. You have to trust them, putting yourself at their disposal. This doesn't make any sense to me, but s/he said do this, so I am going to do this. At a later time, we have to have the flexibility of mind to innovate. I know at first I was just trying to imitate Matsuoka Roshi when I came to Atlanta and set up the first Zen center here. After a while it became very clear to me that not only was I not Matsuoka; my students were not me. I had to figure out ways to innovate approaches to training so that it worked with the situation. You know, you don't practice Zen with the sangha you want; you practice Zen with the sangha you have!Next time we will take a little deeper dive into design thinking, relating more of its method and techniques to those of Zen practice and Zen praxis. There is a difference in these two similar-sounding terms, which hopefully will become clear. In the meantime, look it up.* * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Kyōsaku Jon Mitchell

Wednesday, January 12, 2022 This month's session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna, who clarifies that mindfulness of Amida Buddha is the path swiftly realize the settled mind. He teaches that the moment one thinks on Amida's Primal Vow,One is naturally brought to enter the stage of the definitely […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 This month's session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna, which open our minds to the easy path of entrusting in Amida Buddha. Proclaiming the unexcelled Mahayana teaching,He would attain the stage of joy and be born in the land of happiness.Nagarjuna clarifies the hardship on […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Hi Dharma-friends! With this episode, we conclude our traversal of Shinran's 34 Wasan verses on Master T'an-luan, who lived in China 476-562 CE. Master T'an-luan is the great teacher of Other Power or Power Beyond Self, which is a core feature of Shinran's understanding of Buddhism. In today's verses, T'an-luan explains that whether one's practice is fully in accord with reality is determined by Shinjin (entrusting or awakening). The shinjin of Self-Power is shown to be lacking, while the shinjin of Other-Power is in accordance with ultimate reality. Other-Power or Power Beyond Self quickly leads to the enlightenment of Nirvana, according to Master T'an-luan. Other-Power is the power of Amida Buddha, the Primal Vow, encapsulated in the Name-of-the-Buddha, NAMO-AMIDA-BUTSU. In the next episode, we will cover the Wasan verses on the fourth great master of the Jōdo Shinshū lineage, Master Tao-ch'o, who lived in China 562-645 CE. Hope you are enjoying this series! Check out the website of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more interesting Dharma content. Please be well, always saying the Buddha's most honored Name, NAMO-AMIDA-BUTSU. With palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma friends! Today's episode covers 5 more verses written by Shinran Shonin based on the writings of Master T'an-luan, who lived in China (476-542 CE). As you know already, Shinran relies on Master T'an-luan for the teachings on Other Power. In today's Wasan verses, we learn that only the Shinjin of Other Power is sufficient for birth in the Pure Land. Shinjin is often understood as "true entrusting" or "awakening." T'an-luan explains why Shinjin based on Self Power is not adequate for birth in the Buddha-land of happiness -- thereby implying which qualities the Shinjin of Other Power supplies. Hope you are enjoying the Weekly Wasan Podcast. Check our home page of the American Buddhist Study Center for other cool content at www.ambuddhist.org Palms together, Gary

Wednesday, November 10, 2021 This month's session will explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna whose writings on the Middle Way serve as the foundation for the Mahayana Buddhist path to awakening. Sakyamuni Tathagata, on Mount Lanka,Prophesied to the multitudes that in south IndiaThe mahasattva Nagarjuna would appear in this worldTo crush the […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 This month we enter into the section of Shoshinge that is based on the teachings of the Seven Masters who transmitted the Pure Land teaching westward across Asia over the course of two millennia. The masters of India in the west, who explained the teaching in treatises,And the eminent monks of […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Wednesday, August 11, 2021 The nembutsu is the easy path to awakening because its liberating power does not come from our own efforts.  In this month's gathering we will explore the challenges of entrusting our lives to Amida Buddha's compassionate Vow. For evil sentient beings of wrong views and arrogance,The nembutsu that embodies Amida's Primal […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

In this session we reflect upon the Dharma truth expressed in the lotus, a symbol of pure awakening that blossoms, not in pristine clear water, but from the messy muck of everyday life. All foolish beings, whether good or evil,When they hear and entrust to Amida's universal Vow,Are praised by the Buddha as people of […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

This month we consider the following verse which illuminates the the profound transformation that occurs with the arising of the one thought-moment of joy. When the one thought-moment of joy arises,Nirvana is attained without severing blind passions;When ignorant and wise, even grave offenders and slanders of the dharma, all alike turn and enter shinjin,They are […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

This month we reflect upon the following verse as it relates to our journey to the Other Shore of enlightenment: The Name embodying the Primal Vow is the act of true settlement, The Vow of entrusting with sincere mind is the cause of birth;We realize the equal of enlightenment and supreme nirvana Through the fulfillment […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

This month we will continue to explore the meaning expressed in the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom through the following verses: This month we will continue to explore the meaning expressed in the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom through the following verses: Pure light, joyful light, the light of wisdom, Light constant, inconceivable, light beyond […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

This month we explore the meaning expressed in the following aspects of the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom: Everywhere [Amida Buddha] casts light immeasurable, boundless,Unhindered, unequaled, light-lord of all brilliance, Full text of Shōshinge Reference Materials 48 Vows of Bodhisattva Dharmakara (Amida Buddha) Handout To join us for online Dharma Sessions, CLICK HERE and sign up […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

This month we learn about the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha, which is the heart of the Jodo Shinshu teaching, as we consider the following lines from Shōshinge: He then established the supreme, incomparable Vow;He made the great Vow rare and all-encompassing. Full text of Shōshinge Reference Materials 48 Vows of Bodhisattva Dharmakara (Amida Buddha) […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

We continue to explore the meaning of the Shōshinge and how it applies to our daily lives, focused on the verses: Bodhisattva Dharmakara, in his causal stage,Under the guidance of Lokesvararaja Buddha, Searched into the origins of the Buddhas’ pure lands,And the qualities of those lands and their men and devas; Full text of Shōshinge […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

In this first session in the Shōshinge Study Class Series, we explore the meaning of the Shōshinge and how it applies to our daily lives, beginning with the opening verse: I take refuge in the Tathagata of Immeasurable Life!I entrust myself to the Buddha of Inconceivable Light! PowerPoint Slides Dharma Talk Audio We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

LostXpat Host Bert Diggs has been to over 50 countries.He dives deep into cultures, getting to know local customs, local cuisine, the people, and their drink. He is also the host of LostXpat, a YouTube channel dedicated to travel with tens of thousands of followers.  Show NotesFollow Bert on InstagramLostXpat YouTube ChannelTheme music by: Ruel Morales Audio Transcript Brian Schoenborn: Hello. Hello. Hey, everybody. Our guests today has been to over 50 countries. He’s dive deep into cultures, getting to know local culture, local cuisine, the people, and their drink is also the host of lost ex-pat, a YouTube channel dedicated to travel. He’s got tens of thousands of followers. We’re here to talk a little bit about that, uh, as well as a little bit about what’s going on with coronavirus.[00:00:26] Give it up for my friend Bert Diggs.[00:00:28] My name is Brian Schoenborn. I’m an explorer of people, places, and culture. In my travels, spending over 20 countries across four continents, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging in authentic conversations with amazingly interesting people. These are their stories, on location and unfiltered. Presented by 8B Media, this is Half the City.[00:00:56] First of all, let’s get that day drink, and then you gotta get a beer in while we’re having this, uh, corona lock down time.[00:01:04] Bert Diggs: It’s crazy, man. It’s makes sense that everybody’s talking about, it’s the only thing that anybody can talk about. But I think like, you know, it’s nice to get a little bit of a break and kind of talk about other things too.[00:01:14] Brian Schoenborn: Right. You know, like, so just, you know, so for the listeners at home, you know, I’m, I’m in LA. Uh, Burt’s currently in San Diego, although we met each other, uh, back in Beijing, oddly enough, during our times there. How did we meet? I’m just trying to, I’m just trying to remember that cause I remember it was a pretty funny story.[00:01:33] Bert Diggs: But, uh, the way we met was we were both sitting. I was sitting behind you on that. I was sitting behind you on the train in Beijing, going to the airport. We were both heading to the airport. Airport express. I was talking to this girl that was sitting next to me a pair of way that like, I was just kind of chatting and rough, you know, hitting on her and they kind of way then Chinese, you were, you were kind of like looking at me like, how’s he doing?[00:02:00] He’s going, he’s going good. And then after the girl got off the train, we started talking about how we like living in Beijing and how easy it is to make friends and you know, talk to girls. And it’s just. Good experience over there.[00:02:17] Brian Schoenborn: I remember that like, cause I was sitting there just kind of minding my own business.[00:02:21] I don’t remember where I was going. I was going somewhere, but uh, doesn’t matter. But, uh, I was sitting there minding my own business and I saw this girl being talked to and I saw her responding and stuff. I heard like. Western Chinese, right? Like non native Chinese speakers saying like how, and stuff like that.[00:02:38] I’m like, ah, this guy.[00:02:41] Bert Diggs: I was telling her, well, you have a boyfriend, you’re hateful. And that’s how I always talk to the girls, you know? And that’s how it works, man. You know? I mean, Chinese people are very, uh. At least in my experience. Like you said, they’re very, it’s very easy to make friends. You know, they’re very warm. Uh, they like to work hard, but they like to party too.[00:03:04] Brian Schoenborn: They’re very appreciative if you come and enjoy their culture and their country, and if you even make like the slightest attempt to try trying to learn their language, it goes like miles.[00:03:15] Bert Diggs: It really helps a lot when you’re meeting the local Chinese. If you can speak even. You know, a bit of Chinese, you know, 30 different sentences very fluently and understand 60 sentences or 80 sentences or just even.[00:03:31] 200, 300 words. It’s good. It’s all helpful when you live in China. Yep. That’s for sure. Absolutely. And just, you know, I kind of segwayed really quickly away from the Corona virus and don’t we, we’ll get back to that. I know, I know. Bird’s got some stuff he wants to talk about. Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about right there.[00:03:49] Brian Schoenborn: Cheers, man. Oh yeah. Just casual beers. Um, but, you know, we’ll get back to some of that coronavirus stuff as well because, um, you know, Bert’s got a pretty unique perspective on it. Um, based on his experiences. Um, but I want to kind of cover some of those things first, right? Like, you know, uh, tell me about like, how long were you in China?[00:04:07] I mean, I’m on the other places, like, I want to talk about some of these other spots too, but like how long were you in China? And like, what was, you know, what were you doing there? What was your overall experience?[00:04:16] Bert Diggs: So, right when I got into China, it was January 14th, and coronavirus was still just kind of an up and coming topic four.[00:04:26] Woah. And we knew that we’ll handle a couple hundred cases, possibly. And they didn’t know. No one knew exactly how bad it was until 22nd or 21st, I think it was 23rd they locked up one. Mmm. And. Close it down. They didn’t close the flights like exiting Mohan going to other countries, but they locked the country up just to contain the virus.[00:04:49] They didn’t know that it was so bad at the time and like how many people were really infected. It’s, it’s such a big delay. So they, they did probably didn’t know at that time that there was a 14 day lag on everyone who got infected and how big the situation really was in the end. It was, it was really a shock to everybody.[00:05:10] I was in Portugal on January 5th and first heard about this virus, this pneumonia. And that’s why I decided to buy a couple of masks from, be shocked in Portugal, like maybe 50 masks or 25 masks. I just bought them randomly and just to keep them. And then later on they came in really handy after this all came out, you know, cause there was no masks in Beijing.[00:05:39] You could not buy a mask that was a proper surgical mask. Or in 95 you would have to spend a lot more money, like four times the amount. Geez, well, I mean, but even just the concept of getting a mask, when, when you start hearing about things happening, I mean, that comes from time spent in China, right? Like, they’re very, like, at least, you know, at the time that I was there, people are very conscious, you know, whether it’s because of the pollution, the smog, right.[00:06:04] Or whether it’s, you know, if they have a cold or something, like they’ll wear a mask to prevent other people from catching whatever they have. Um, and, and, you know, you spend a couple of years there, like you and I both have, um. You kind of become, I don’t say I ever got used to it because I hate wearing masks.[00:06:20] I like, it drives me crazy. Um, but I’ll do it when it’s necessary, but even just knowing that that’s kind of, you know, having spent that much time there where, you know, you get used to that culture of people wearing things when you know, when whatever is not perfect. Um, it’s probably an easier decision or more natural decision even to make, like when you’re sitting there in Portugal and you’re first hearing about those.[00:06:43] Yeah. Because you know, you’re getting on a flight for 15 hours to get back to China or go to a United States. Um, I mean, no, that you’re going to be exposing yourself to more viruses. So, I mean, I didn’t actually wear the mask on the flight from Portugal to United States. But from the United States to Beijing, I did actually wear a mask for part of the flight cause I was just a little bit, you know, worried, paranoid, whatever you want to call it.[00:07:11] In the end it was, it was for good, for the better. For every one’s better. Yeah. I think I did. I did actually have a little bit of a sore throat when I was leaving. America to go to China. I had like a little sore throat, so I was wearing a mask. People were wearing masks actually on that flight cause they did hear about this ammonia and Woolwine.[00:07:33] And so that was the 14th of January. So you were, you were in China on January 14th how long were you there before you. Before you came back to the States? Oh, I was in China until February 6th but I didn’t come back to the States on that flight. I went to Malaysia for about 20 days, and then I was in Indonesia for almost a month, so I was outside of China because I just wanted to get out of turn.[00:08:02] I didn’t know how bad I was going to get by February 6th when I was leaving. Already. You could only go to very select countries like Italy. You could go to Malaysia, Thailand. You could not go directly to Singapore. You’d have to wait in Thailand, if you want to go to Indonesia or Australia, like these two countries decided they need people out of China for 14 days before they’ll accept them into Australia or Indonesia or Singapore.[00:08:31] So you had a self quarantine even that earlier. Uh, yeah, kind of self quarantine. It wasn’t a mandatory quarantine. It was a, according to you, the I decided to do with myself because I don’t want to be one of the people spreading this virus. Very careful. I just wanted to quarantine myself a bit. I still went out, but I wore a mask if I went out and.[00:08:53] I stayed away from people like at least 10 feet away. I typically stayed. Uh, there was some little roads in Malaysia where you really couldn’t stay 10 feet away, but I did my best to wear a mask and waited 10 days until I took off the mask. Any time I was outside, I want to get back to Malaysia and Indonesia because I love those countries.[00:09:12] But I’m curious first, like, uh. You know, you were in Beijing for what, like three weeks it sounds like. What was the overall, uh, like feeling or vibe while you were there during that time? The feeling. Was like a ghost city, like apocalypse, just kind of like it is now in America. It was really interesting to go out and kind of film.[00:09:38] I was also very careful when I went out and Beijing was not a hard hit city at all. Only a couple of hundred cases at that time. There was like 24 cases in Beijing. When I first started filming. By the time I was leaving Beijing, there was uh, around 200 cases. So it grew really fast. Because the people from Mohan left for aging and other provinces around, and.[00:10:01] Luckily they didn’t go to Beijing that much. They mostly went to Hong Jo Fujin and also they went to like Shanghai area, just like more nearby cities. Right. So for those that don’t know Chinese geography, um, Beijing to Shanghai is roughly the same distance of like, I want to say San Francisco to San Diego.[00:10:24] No, it’s, it’s, uh, there’s a further five hours, five hours on a bullet train. So, um, I mean, it’s like a three hour flight, three hour flight. I mean, it could be, it could be like Boston to like Orlando. It’s almost like that, but not quite, it’s kind of like that. Maybe Boston to Virginia. Okay. Yeah, that’s, that’s pretty much close enough, I think.[00:10:54] Anyways, it’s fair. It’s a fair distance. And those other cities, like Uber is, it’s fairly close to Shanghai. It’s not, uh, it’s much further away than Beijing is anyways. And then Fujian is near the, near the sea. Uh, basically the city that, um, is on the sea with the streets of Taiwan, with Taiwan on the other side.[00:11:14] Um, and then Hong Jo is, uh, next to Shanghai. Anyways. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, uh, very close to Shanghai. And then you’ve also got Sue Jo, very close to Shanghai. All of Amway is pretty close to Shanghai. Uh, that’s really famous for the yellow mountain and whey province. And then, um, I don’t know, there’s just a lot of different places.[00:11:38] Shanghai is actually a better place geographically because you’ve got a lot of interesting places around it. Beijing is great. It’s an amazing city, but there’s not many places to go. If you’re looking to go venture out to other cities and explore and see other places, honestly, like Beijing, there’s hub a and there’s Shannon young, and these places are really dry, cold, really not places you would love to go to travel to.[00:12:07] Well, yeah, all around Shanghai. You got really beautiful places to go. Like hung Jo, Sue Jo. So Joe is supposed to be the Venice of China and how Joe is like this beautiful Lake, and like everyone goes there for vacation and then yeah, Juan Shawn is the mountains. You’ve got that only a couple hours away from Shanghai.[00:12:27] So. But yeah, you do have really beautiful places around Beijing and high row and some other places that have got some cool mountains, but just not as much. It’s definitely different. But also like, I mean, I would even say like, at least for me, a possible reason why they might be traveling to those other cities more is cause it’s closer.[00:12:46] You know? It’s also got the natural beauty and you know, Chinese people love getting outside. So I, you know, I’m in LA, right? One of the most populous cities in the country, if not the most populous. Um, I don’t know my numbers, but you know, it’s notoriously bad with traffic. Yeah. Right now, traffic is starting to pick up a little bit.[00:13:05] I think it’s starting to tick up, but for like the last month or so, it’s been. So listeners, if you’ve never been to LA, I’ve never heard about it. Heard about the traffic situation, like people measure distance and time in LA versus miles, because like, it could take you an hour or more to go five to 10 miles, right?[00:13:27] Depending on the traffic. But these days, you know, going five to 10 miles could take, you know, 1520 minutes. Like it’s, it’s not stewed. The roads are so empty. Even though there’s been a bit of an uptick, and that’s really the way it should be because otherwise, I mean, this virus can spread so many different ways, and even when you’re on a bicycle, someone breathing really heavily driving right past you with a bicycle.[00:13:54] If they’re not wearing a mask that. That breath of air, not even a cough, just a breath. It gave me air and blow in your direction and actually infect you, and maybe it will be a small inoculation, but it we’ll still infect you. It could be a really good thing to get inoculated with a very small part of this virus if you get a big inoculation.[00:14:17] A lot of people say that. That’s the people that go to the ER and have to get the breathing tubes in there in their throats, and the ventilators and the PPD machines and all this stuff that you need to do all this stuff. So the best thing, I mean, I’m not saying get infected, but it’s good to get a smaller infection.[00:14:36] That’s why if you wear a mask, you can get a smaller inoculation into you. And if they’re wearing a mask, it’s also a smaller inoculation into you. So if everyone is wearing a mask. Everyone is giving each other less dose of this virus, and if not even just eliminated the virus completely. So that’s why I think everybody should have been wearing masks many months ago, or even just a facial protection head thing, even though it may not be a CDC certified mask and 95, uh, whatever surgical mask, even just a cloth.[00:15:11] A towel napkin. The best napkins they say are the blue napkins that are, they used to dry cars a lot of the time that you heard about this, the blue napkins inside of your. Mask, like this is the best way to protect your, like it blocks a lot of that air. The virus particles, the breathing particles. So yeah, there, there is actual studies been done on the best materials that we can actually get access to right now.[00:15:39] That blue fiber, what they wash cars with, it’s kind of a cloth called, I’m going to look it up real quick. It’s disposable. I’m from Michigan originally. Dude, it’s a big car state, so I know, I know what you’re talking about. Blue cloth or cars. What the fuck is it? It’s just as 50 pack blue shop towels. So shop towels.[00:15:57] Yeah. Shop blue towels. Look at this one right here, Scott. Shop towels. Exactly. That’s, that’s exactly what they say. It’s a 200 pack right there too. So that’s a 200 rent, 200 shop towels in a, in a box. You can just lie in that in front of a T shirt or something. Right. Or your mask, however you make your mask.[00:16:17] I mean, everyone’s going to make their mask differently, but if you put that and the area that’s like right next to your face, you are blocking a lot of the particles, very similar to a surgical mask. And the closer we can get to having that kind of surgical mask protection or. And 95 protection without that little tiny ventilator.[00:16:36] The little plastic thing that lets the air out. That’s actually not what you want for this because it doesn’t protect the people around you. You don’t want that little plastic thing. They kind of a little bit ventilator. You don’t want that one. There’s an 90 fives without that little plastic thing on the outside.[00:16:52] Well the United, so I’ve been doing some research on this as well cause I, you know, I know some. Mass manufacturers and different parts of the world. So I’m trying to do my part, it’s not that easy. You know, it’s kind of a shit show right now as far as all that’s concerned. Um, but, uh, I have learned quite a bit about mass over the last couple of weeks because of that.[00:17:10] And from what I understanding the end 95 just basically means that 95% of particles that are in the air that you would inhale are blocked. So you’re only getting 5% of whatever that is. So, you know, whether that’s a mask with a ventilator or without a ventilator. Um, it’s still the same amount of blockage.[00:17:31] I don’t know if it’s called a ventilator. It’s just that little plastic thing that, um, or maybe it’s not a, maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s not a ventilator, but it’s, I know what you’re talking about is that plastic piece where it’s like it lets you breath easier. Yeah. We use those things in Beijing when the smog is really bad because you know, you want to breathe.[00:17:51] In a little bit easier, but you also breathe out easier too with that little plastic thing there. And so for smog and pollution, that is the perfect mask. So that’s what we were using in Beijing. Whenever it got to be. Very high PM 2.5 if it was super high and it makes it so like you breathe out easier, you can breathe out the particles that are coming from your mouth, your lungs.[00:18:16] But unfortunately, that’s exactly what we don’t want. Right? Because then if you’re infectious or you’re contagious, then it doesn’t stop that spread. Yeah, and that’s the whole point. We just want to cut this thing down and make the. The are not, which is the transmission level. So this one has gotten or not one person is infected and it affects two to three people on average.[00:18:41] No matter what we do, and if we really bring this down, we can bring that are not down to below one, which will make this virus go extinct, but it’s going to be very hard for that considering this virus is a airborne virus that all you have to do is breathe in a room for a certain amount of time and you’re going to infect anyone that walks in that room.[00:19:02] Well, it’s crazy how much information is coming about coming out about it. You know, like at first they were like, don’t worry, at least the U S government at first was like, don’t worry basket’s it’s not going to help. Then they changed their fucking mind and then the saying, Oh, it’s, you know, three feet of distance now, six feet.[00:19:17] And I read something the other day that said, it can spread on the sole of your shoes up to 13 feet. Like it’s fucking crazy, dude. Like nobody knows what’s going on with this right now. The only thing we can do is. You know, try to be safe, you know, keep ourselves inside. And if we have to leave, you know, make sure you’re wearing a mask and gloves and sanitizing and all that other shit.[00:19:37] Yeah, definitely. Wash your groceries. I mean, depending on if you think they could have been touched multiple times by multiple people. I see lots of people touching the things inside without buying them. I mean, it’s, it’s just habits that we do. Yeah. We have to try to learn to break. It sucks, man. I miss human touch.[00:19:59] I want to hug. I want a hug more than like anything else, right? I’m just like, come close. No, I want a real skin on skin contact. I had a dream last night that I kissed a girl. That was my dream. I was like, Oh my God, it’s crazy. I’m like, man, I missed that. You really don’t know what you got until it’s gone.[00:20:25] Right. The feeling is touch and you know, you could just, how’s that feeling of you don’t care about. Hugs and cuddles. Yeah, you can be hard. You can be hard all you want, dude, but you know, you’re just taking it for granted. You know, you get it. You just like, man, maybe it’s going to, some dudes are like, Oh, I’m so hard.[00:20:42] No, don’t touch me. No. Get the fuck outta here, man. You know, when you can’t be touched, that’s when you want to be touched. It doesn’t take a fucking hard ass man to fucking turn that shit. I’m a hard man. I was a fucking 50 caliber machine gunning Marine active duty, and I just want to fucking hug, man. I want a hug.[00:21:03] No, I know. I know what you feel right now. Things that we go through, like when we’re with the significant other, at the time. And you know, we’ve had too much of them and too much of that amazing special time with them, and then go for a one month without them or whatever. Then you’ve got literally, you could go for anything.[00:21:26] Like you’re just so desperate for affection, thirsty. I was hanging out. I was, um. You know? So I’m, I’m also, I’m managing a Chipotle right now in Beverly Hills. It’s of my side hustle, keep my finances stable while I work on my other stuff. And this old lady came in and actually the the, so first of all, it’s super fucking slow.[00:21:47] We’ve lost like. 60 to 75% of our business. Um, but secondly, like the people that are coming in the last few days, I’ve been so like, they just don’t want to leave. They just want to have a conversation. You know? I think there’s like, I think there’s like 67 year old lady who was like flirting with me and she’s just like, she’s just like, don’t you think this is all over blown?[00:22:09] I’m like, no. I’m like. We’ve got to, we’ve got to take care of people. We’ve got to stay in. We’ve got to keep the distance still. Everything that she goes, I am almost 70 years old. She’s like, I don’t care if this thing kills me. I’m like, you fucking, you’re gonna have like 30 more years of life. Are you kidding me?[00:22:23] Like, come on, especially in this day and age, like you can’t really live to be 120 if you’re 50 right now, you might live to be 120 they might come out with some machines that can just rejuvenate yourselves. You never know. So. The thing is, you know, I don’t think the people like. Elon Musk or bill Gates, they’re not going to die early.[00:22:44] They’re going to be 120 hundred and 30 if not, they’re going to be a mortal dude. They’re going to live forever. They’re going to find a way to like put their brain into like some sort of like robot contraption, like the teenage mutant Ninja turtles live forever progressive on the finding of helping them live for a longer time.[00:23:07] I mean, maybe not bill Gates, but I think they’ll get. He might want to live forever. I mean, he’s got enough money. Why not just one person? He his mind, he’s so smart. I mean, he’s a literal genius, but the fact that he was able to predict the pandemic and talk about it in details back in 2015 and talking about how.[00:23:32] Everything would happen, how we are not prepared and how it would be a coronavirus from a animal. You didn’t say bat, but he said everything else was pretty much directly correct and that this could have been from a bat or a. Pig or I guess a one of those are middle pangolin or whatever. It’s maybe, maybe, I don’t know, man, like I don’t want to, I don’t want to conspiracy theorize too much, but like from what I’m kind of gathering, like just my hunch based on the information that I’ve read over the last couple of months, it doesn’t feel so much like it was a wet market thing.[00:24:15] It feels more like, you know, and those virus, the CDCs and , the, the virus  virus lab or whatever it’s called, and they’re both fairly close to each other and they’re both, you know, a hundred, 200 yards away, something like that from the wet market that they blamed it on. Yep. I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m not saying it’s a manmade thing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were researching Corona viruses and bats and somehow it got out, you know, like, like accidental or on purpose.[00:24:48] Like I’m not, you know, I’m not trying to, I’m not playing that game. Like I’m not going to sit here and think like, China did this on purpose to fucking like. Bring the world to its knees and like take over. I’m also a saying that, you know, if it was an accident, they sure as hell are taken advantage. You know?[00:25:08] I mean, that’s, that’s just my impression. I mean, you know, they, they suppressed information like they always do. Uh, and now suddenly they’re, you know, they’re trying to be the heroes and you know, maybe. Change the world, order that kind of stuff, and send people to other countries to help out with this whole pandemic, which is good.[00:25:26] That’s a nice thing of them to do, but it’s good. I think, yeah. I wish that we did take it more seriously back in the early times of January, and I guess it’s just, it was really unforeseeable that it would come to this and how it, it could be 14 days dormant in your body and spread and get so infectious and so contagious with the people that you come in contact with.[00:25:50] Even though you have no symptoms, it still is going to be giving you all the people around you presence. They don’t want. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Three weeks ago, if you told me, Hey, Robert, I got a present for you, Corona man. Be like, yeah, maybe I’m going to get a 12 pack of curls. I know. It’s definitely not a good present.[00:26:17] Again,[00:26:21] I sit there, you know, I just think like, I remember in like December, I’m going, all right. 2020 is going to be the year we’ve got a 2020 vision. This shit’s going to be, this is the year everything’s going to fucking rock. Everything’s going to fucking change. Here we are over a quarter of the way in and the entire year has been fucked and just like.[00:26:49] I hear, I hear this thing goes away by April. Yeah. All better. By April we got 15 and we’re going to be down by zero. By next week, it’s going to be zero by next week. It’s gonna be magical. It’s gonna be as if this never happened. Yeah, right. Dude, LA, I dunno. I dunno. San Diego is, but LA is like, Oh, I guess California in general is shut down until may 15 for sure.[00:27:16] But I do. I’ll tell you what, based on, did you hear the governors, um, the press conference the other day? It’s talking about the criteria to reopen. Yes. In saying that we have to wear a mask. If you work in the restaurant, you got to wear a mask and maybe a face shield and gloves, whole new procedures. Like we’re not opening up in the way that we think we’re opening up.[00:27:37] We’re going to be in a bio containment center everywhere. It’s going to be a safety zone. Yeah. Um, but like, what we should be doing, how he’s doing it is the safe way and the safe way is the best way. When it comes to this virus, we might even have to close off the border to our friends in Nevada and Oregon and whoever else is not taking this thing seriously right now because we’re in Ohio.[00:28:02] Those guys are writing and in Michigan too, like I’m from Michigan, dude, I watched these guys just the other day. They did this whole fucking riot in their cars, and then they all get out of their fucking cars and real estate capital. Like, what better way? What better way to fucking kill yourselves protesting assholes like Jesus Christ?[00:28:22] You know? It’s like, it’s almost like now’s the time for survival of the fittest. This is the Darwin awards right now. This is how we’re going to avoid idiocrasy from happening. Idiocracy to beat. All the dumb asses are going to die from protesting, and it’s not funny, but it’s not what will happen to the irony.[00:28:42] What will happen is actually their grandparents will die, not them. They’re going to be okay because their immune system’s fine. They’re going to be spreading this thing with their parents and their grandparents and whoever else is got a little bit autoimmune disease. So. What they’re doing is really not fair to anyone.[00:28:59] It’s not them who’s going to die. If I get chronic tomorrow, I’m probably not going to die considering I’m drinking a smoothie every day with like, yeah, I don’t know, kale, blueberries, lemon peel, lemons, just so much good stuff in there, and then I’m taking my zing, taking my , taking my vitamin C. These things are the Corona killers.[00:29:19] I mean, people. Or talking about like, you know, Corona cures. There’s no cure on a Corona cure. There’s only making your immune system very high and very Mmm alert, right? To make sure that you’re always going to be killing that Corona. If you end up getting that Corona, at least you’re not going to be getting it in your lungs.[00:29:38] You’re going to get B. Cutting it off at its source. So yeah, the more zinc you got, the more vitamin D three, the more vitamin C, uh, you get  B3 comes for free. It comes from the sun, so sit in the sun. Sunbathe for 15 minutes in LA. If you’re in Washington like Washington, the state, it’s a bit more cloudy. So maybe you’ve got to sit out there for 30 or 40 minutes.[00:30:03] Well L is a bit difficult too though, cause it’s a densely populated city. It’s a, you know, it’s a concrete jungle. The beaches are closed. So the only place, the only people that have the luxury of sitting out in the sun is, you know, if you have like a rooftop in your apartment building or if you’ve got a yard.[00:30:18] Right? Yeah. Um, but there’s a lot of people, I mean, I have a yard, I guess, but there’s a lot of people out there that don’t, and you know, they can’t exactly lay on the sidewalk. I mean, I guess they could, but. You know, then you’re exposing yourself to other people, like walking around you or whatever, you know, like it’s not ideal.[00:30:35] Yeah, you’re right. LA is definitely not the best place for this, but it’s a lot better than New York city for sure. For sure. If you have a back porch, you’re pretty rich, so that’s good. I mean, there’s, if you have a balcony in New York city. I mean, you’ve pretty much got millions of dollars, I’m guessing, because it’s not cheap to get like a massive balcony.[00:30:54] And I have a nice size apartment. I think in New York people are like typically sitting in their living rooms and they have a small window. That’s the typical New York apartment. Yeah, no, I know. I lived in New York for like three years and yeah, real estate comes at a premium. If you have a nice balcony, like a decent balcony, you would actually want to sit out.[00:31:14] And hang out on and look at the sun and emphasize even shining on you. That’s good too. But like, yeah, that’s, it’s going to be costing you like four thousand five thousand seven thousand dollars per month if not 10,000 I don’t know. Like it’s a lot. If you got the room, just one room in that apartment, that’s probably quite a few thousand dollars I don’t know.[00:31:35] Right. I just, I mean, I just think about my time in New York. I mean. I was there when I feel like I was a trained for this for my time in New York because I was there when hurricane Sandy hit. So, uh, where I was, I was actually in Hoboken. So just outside of Manhattan on the Jersey side, and we, you know, we lost power.[00:31:55] For like two weeks, I think. Something like that. Uh, everything was shut down. Um, red cross was outside my building. National guard was in town. Uh, people were people. People were, um, taking an inflatable boats. And like paddling down the streets because it was so flooded. And even that was dangerous because you don’t know if there’s like a down power line or whatever.[00:32:20] Right? So like most of us were stuck. We were confined to our homes for like two weeks. Um, I thought that was shitty, you know, and, and we didn’t have power. Right? So like, here, like, this is like, you know, the whole world, it’s been months, right? At least we have power. At least we have the ability to, you know, talk to each other from Las, San Diego or.[00:32:41] Or other parts of the world or wherever your families and friends may be from, you know, we have that ability to see each other, but I mean, just imagine if like, it feels like a global hurricane, right? Where power was knocked out all over the globe, you know, for like a mother fucking crazy. It’s really crazy.[00:33:01] And the fact is that when we go out. And we get Corona virus, we may need some medical attention and we end up overwhelming our hospitals. And that is what really kills a lot of people because people need the hospital, not just for Corona, but for other normal procedures. And people can’t get their normal procedures done.[00:33:23] And that is also what’s killing people. People need their x-rays to make sure their cancer is not getting bigger, but they can’t go to the hospitals now because Corona is best, the hospitals. So when people are saying, yeah, we’re going to have church on Sunday and we’re going to be having a blast with everybody in need, people need to have.[00:33:44] The Jesus Christ during this time around, everyone’s going to be depressed and it’s not going to be good. Okay. No, I mean, we need to all stay home and not go to our Baptist church in Louisiana or Florida or Ohio apparently. I mean, these places are all having their church service, worship God, and that’s really good, but we cannot be doing this at this time.[00:34:07] It’s just such backwards thinking. People are dying, not just from Rona virus. It’s from cancer. Somebody died in my family today because they couldn’t go to the hospital. They were more scared to go to the hospital and get coronavirus then to go to the hospital to get themselves fixed up. And someone died this morning in my family, my aunt died because she told me last week, I can’t go to the hospital right now because if I go, I’m going to get Corona and I’m going to, in fact, the whole family.[00:34:37] My grandma died a week ago at 98, man, and she, um. Her kids were allowed to see her finally. Mmm. After they had to like Pat, they had to get tested and all that other shit. Um, and then like the funeral, like nobody was allowed to go to it, the gathering of 10. So it was just basically her children and theirs and their spouses.[00:34:58] So like me and all of, she’s got like 25 plus grandkids. And even more great grandkids. She was 98, you know, and like none of us, none of us could even go to the funeral. Did you see it coming from months or is it something that happened? No, it wasn’t Corona related. She’s old. She’s 98. She’s had dementia for like five to 10 years.[00:35:21] Um, she’s lived in an assisted living home for like the last three years. So, you know, we, we knew it was calming, but then apparently like what had happened was she. I think she got pneumonia and then, but the doctors are like, no, we don’t think it’s Corona. Maybe it is. Maybe, you know, it’s, I’m like, what the fuck it was?[00:35:42] Maybe it wasn’t right. Like regardless, because of the, um, you know, the small gatherings order or whatever, like there couldn’t be any more than 10 people there. And so it was her kids and her and their spouses. Um, so it happened kind of fast, but it’s just, it’s just crazy for me to think like, you know, all of these people, not only the 30,000 people, what is it?[00:36:00] What’s the number? Right now, I think it’s like 33,000 or something. 30 something thousand people that died from Kroger virus. So over 30,000 deaths so far. I mean, if, if my, like if my grandma, for example, there’s, there’s other people that are dying for other reasons as well, and you can’t have your last moments.[00:36:20] No. Like it’s fucking crazy, dude. I think that last moments are overrated. I think that the best moments are weeks before your last moments, and me talking to my aunt last week is a lot better than talking to her. Right on her last moments, talking to her last week, it was like I wasn’t even expecting her to pass away.[00:36:41] I didn’t know she was. It’s going to be so sick now. It was just one week ago. I talked to her and she was fine. She was just talking about how they’re not going out there being really careful. They’re cleaning the groceries. Uh, my, my cousin is in charge of the grocery shopping and cleaning them and making sure nothing, it’s getting inside the house, but the fact is Pennsylvania is affected so much with the coronavirus.[00:37:08] I think they’ve got more numbers now than California and Pennsylvania is a. Smaller state. It’s a big state, but it’s a smaller state than California. So, um, she’s in Pennsylvania right now, and that is why she did not go get her normal routine doctor to check her up and make sure that she’s fine because of coronavirus.[00:37:30] I mean, that’s the real reason. We are like ending lives early. Because of coronavirus and that just goes back to that lady that I was talking to at the store. She said, Oh, I’m almost 70 it’s okay if it kills me. I’m like, not okay. People are sudden this and that. Well, that too. Of course. Yeah. Anyways, stay safe.[00:37:55] People. I want to talk about something else. Let’s talk about something nice. We’ve been talking and we’ve been hammering hard, pretty hard on the Corona virus stuff. Um, I want to talk about some, some lighter stuff. I want to talk about some good memories. Like I want to talk more about the travels. Like I want to share some travel stories, man.[00:38:11] Like, yeah. So how long were you in China? Like in total, cause you were there for awhile. Yeah. I’ve been living in Beijing for almost 10 years. It’s coming up on 10 years now, so yeah, it’s actually a full on nine years, but yet almost coming up on 10 years, and I really love Beijing as a city and coming there.[00:38:35] For vacation is also really fun. That’s how I originally fell in love with the place, because you know, going out clubbing, you know, you never know how your night is going to end. It’s the most exciting thing to go out and you just. Don’t know what will happen when you expect it to be home by 11 or 10 30 at night.[00:38:54] You’re like, yeah, this is a quiet night. I got to work tomorrow, seven in the morning, got to teach some classes, ABCD for the little babies or something. When I first came to China, this is what I was doing. But um, yeah, you just decide you’re going to be. Going out for a couple of drinks with your coworkers and then you ended up, you know, it’s seven in the morning and you are still out, and you’re like, well, now I gotta go to work.[00:39:19] I know like I was there for less than four. I was about three and a half. But, uh, you know, when I, when I went to China, I’d never been there. I’d never been to Beijing. There’ve been anywhere in China. My Asia experience was limited to Japan at that time. So I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t speak the language.[00:39:34] I didn’t know anybody. I just, I went because I was going to try to find my path, right? Find my passion or purpose or whatever. But one of the things that I found amazing was. The Chinese put such an importance on Guangxi, which is, you know, it’s a Chinese term that basically means relationships, right? And like that’s how they do business.[00:39:52] That’s how you like go places in the world, move up, whatever. A lot of building that she is sitting around a plastic table and shares outside of a restaurant. Eating a shitload of food, uh, drinking beer, you know, smoking everybody else’s cigarettes. Cause you know, they’ve all got regional cigarettes. Um, that’s the reason I started back smoking.[00:40:15] Actually. I didn’t smoke for nine years until I went to China. Um, now that’s a habit I gotta kick again. Um, but you gotta play with them, right? You gotta, you gotta play, you know, and you’re eating and drinking for hours, smoking cigarettes. Eventually the bite geo comes out, the Chinese rice wine, especially at those weddings.[00:40:31] You know, you got Joe with those grandmas that want to drink with you at the weddings. Like if it’s an old grandma, of course you’re going to drink with the old grandma. Like she only drinks every year, and she’s having a great day to that day, and you’re going to. Tell her you’re not going to drink with her.[00:40:48] So yeah, you have to drink the by Joe. I’ve never actually been to a Chinese wedding in China. How is that when you first get to the wedding, everyone is a little bit awkward and not really feeling really that like friendly. And then right about after everyone does like the first three toasts, they start warming up to you and as the only Y, the only foreigner there at the wedding, you’re getting asked to drink with everyone.[00:41:19] When I say everyone, I mean everyone’s, and you’ve got to tell them, Oh, shall eat yen nigga by Jack. Hi, she do Ty Gola. Alcohol is too high portion. I need to get less. Yeah. Like basically give me a small shot because alcohol is too high and I’m going to get super drunk. Yeah. And then those grandmas are saying, no.[00:41:43] Gone Bay and like full glass and drink it all. That’s what the grandmas are doing to you and you’re just like, Oh no, this is, this is not good. How many shots of by Joe? 8% alcohol. You’re feeling pretty ripped. You have it by Joe Berks. Come on. Right about. Now I want to describe by geo first, like, let me, so before we get into the Baidu of birds, let me describe what by geo looks, smells and tastes like.[00:42:13] Okay, so you can get by. GBG is the number one selling alcoholic drink in the world because it’s the drink of choice. It’s like a national drink of China, you know, purely by mass. Everyone drinks it at 1.6 billion people drink it. Yeah. You can get bottles of Baiji from his cheapest $2 to like thousands of dollars.[00:42:33] Right. Exactly. The, the cheaper stuff, but it all looks like water vodka when it’s clear. Right. Uh, the cheaper stuff smells like paint thinner, and I think it might even taste like paint thinner too, now that I think about it, like it says. It’s rough. It’s rough. So there’s a pineapple flavored by Joe that’s a little bit more easy to drink.[00:42:59] It still tastes horrible, but the pineapple one, you know what I’m talking about, right? It’s a pineapple flavored by Joe. Actually. It masks the taste a little bit. Yeah. That one is only around 35 to 40% alcohol, which is a lot more doable than the. Arigato by Joe Wood, which is the North Chinese stuff by Joe.[00:43:20] The Argo is like, that’s the real stuff that puts it hair on your chest, and it’s literally like. Rocket fuel. Once you save it automatically just makes your throat hurt and you know, you already feel your liver working really hard after just one sip of that stuff. The next day, you just kind of, if you can remember what happened that night, you’ll realize, yeah.[00:43:47] Yeah. That’s a big help though. Yeah. You’ll realize you don’t want to drink by Joe again for real until the next time they push you into doing it. Normally you’re not going to get pushed into drinking crappy by Joe. You’re going to get pushed into drinking the like. $50 range of by Joe, maybe 30 40 $50 range, so that’s a bit easier.[00:44:14] It’s a bit easier on the lungs and the stomach and the taste buds for sure. The biter that you’re talking about though, is the one that you get from the supermarket called . This is the bio that kills people’s liver a lot faster than the other by Joe that they say is. Better. But yeah, they’re all pretty bad for you.[00:44:32] I mean, directly translated means two fish head. Take everyone. It is, right? Yeah. No. So the best bio that you can get is in the Southern province. Made it like a, like a special old factory or whatever it’s, it’s called. Um. Oh, what’s it called? Mmm. Oh, sorry. There’s  and then there’s the, uh, again, no, I know. I know what you’re talking about.[00:45:04] I just can’t think of what it is right now. It’s, uh, uh, uh, shit. What the fuck is it? Hold on. I’ve drank it so many times. I know. We do. It’s, um, hold on. I’ll look it up. I can remember. I’m looking it up. I’m going to pay it. Uh, the really good brand of by Joe, which everybody drinks. It’s made in great Joe, I think.[00:45:31] No, no, it’s high. It’s called . I’m out of time. So Mount Tai by Joe is the one that they make you drink at the weddings typically, and there’s a very expensive Mount side by Joe, and then there’s the cheaper one, and normally you’re drinking the middle range wine that’s like $50 or $60 a bottle like Mount height can cost.[00:45:53] Around $1,000 if you get like a vintage bottle of now, Ty, or even a lot more than that. Um, I don’t know if you recall, but I, I produced a English premier league soccer event, uh, Manchester United versus Liverpool down in Melbourne. Then after that happened, I was working on putting on another event just like that in, um, Kwaito, which is right next to Shinjin.[00:46:19] Uh, next to Hong Kong. Like that area? No, clay with an H Joe. Yeah. Kwaito is like right next to Shenzhen. It’s kind of a suburb of Shenzhen. Anyways, uh, I went down to visit this guy, this, this investor guy, like four different times, and he, he owns like a bunch of different hotels and a bunch of businesses and shit.[00:46:42] Cheers. Cheers. Boom. Uh. And every time we went down there, he treated us to lunch in one of his hotels. So we had free Chinese food, but he also kept busting out this type of bio geo. It came in a box, you’d open the box, and I was a, it was a ceramic bottle with a seal that you had to crack. You had to like crack the seal to prove that it’s real shit.[00:47:11] And it’s not like bathtub bide, you know? But that’s high quality shit though. You know what I’m saying? Like you gotta crack the fucking ceramic seal on the top and then you can open it. Yeah, you gotta you gotta make sure that’s real. Because in China they got little fake alcohol everywhere. Man. Blind.[00:47:32] It’s like India and China both produce a lot of fake alcohol. Beer can be faked and it, Oh dude, die dude, beer. I can’t even, I’ve heard so much about Yanjing is like the bud light of China basically. Um. But, okay, so Yanjing maybe is like the Bush lighters. It’s like, it’s not that great, but it’s, it’s all over the place.[00:47:56] It’s cheap. Like you get these big, like one liter bottles basically. And I heard that there’s so much, um, counterfeit Yanjing that nobody even knows. The retailers don’t even know what’s real and what’s not. So like there’ve been times that multiple times where I’d buy two bottles of Yanjing. Right? Take a sip of one and I take a sip of the other one, one after the other, and it seems completely different.[00:48:22] Yeah, fucking nuts, dude. But like they just don’t produce the beer very well. Like it could be 3.3% to higher. That’s what they say on the bottle. Like, so for Chinese alcohol, they don’t measure the amount of alcohol. I think they just row. The stuff in there into the batch and the main, whatever you get is what you get.[00:48:45] You know, sometimes you can get a really good Yanjing and Qingdao and then another beer could be so bad and really awful tastes. He cannot even drink even to subsidize because it’s just so nasty. Yeah, but chin chin dies a little bit more consistent though, because the Qingdao beer comes from the city of Qingdao, which was once a German.[00:49:06] Uh, I don’t know if it was a German port or there, there was some German control there sometimes. So Qingdao down actually plays and acts a lot more like a German city than it does a Chinese city. Yeah. Qingdao is really nice city to visit in China and very touristy, and they do have some tourists are touristy architecture.[00:49:28] Some of it is fake and some of it actually is real. Like the church, I guess is real. Apparently that is like from the early 19 hundreds it was around doing like the boxer rebellion kind of era. So actually Ching dollars made all throughout China. It’s not just made in Qingdao. They make it all around, so it’s not right.[00:49:47] So it could be faked and it could also be made for real. It doesn’t matter. Like which beer. It’s better to drink the local beer when you’re in China because you know it’s more likely to be. Really made there cause it’s cheaper if it’s locally produced. They don’t have to import it. Like a lot of fake beers are a Qingdao actually.[00:50:06] Cause Qingdao is a more desired brand. So if in fact he’s going to make a beer, they’re going to make Qingdao. Oh, you’re actually worse off getting the Chine doubt. If you were in a city. It’s in like, um. No shit and John or a city that’s in inner Mongolia or dong Bay like, Hey, long Chong and these places, you’re a lot better off getting the local beer over the Qingdao beer because chin dock could be made by the factory cause[00:50:35] Brand that they really like to tap the lies on these, these fake beer makers and the beer could be fine. You can drink fake beer and you’d be fine, but you know, one out of a hundred batches or one out of a thousand batches are going to be the beer that has got a little bit too much formaldehyde that ends up killing some people.[00:50:55] And you know, there’s been foreigners that have gone to these countryside places in China. That drink the, and they just have the worst hangover after drinking five or $16. It’s even the same as being in a place like Beijing. Like you’d go to the like, so there’s huge clubs in Beijing, right? And they’re all right around the soccer stadium.[00:51:15] They’re all like right. Literally right around the soccer stadium. And they offer free alcohol, free liquor to, to foreigners. And nine times out of 10 it’s fake shit. And you wake up with the worst hangover ever. Uh, that’s not a good idea to get the alcohol from them. You can get one free booze free for a reason.[00:51:35] Yeah, you could, you could get one or two drinks, but you will feel it in the morning. But don’t be drinking that one all night. You will feel it for two or three days. So like I would say that, yeah, two drinks from the free place. It could be okay if you’re just drinking the rum, the Bacardi is. Maybe not fake.[00:51:54] It’s what somebody promoters have said, like the party said, maybe not. We don’t know if it’s fake. If the Procardia is fake, that’s okay. It’s made with the sugar and it’s not the same as whiskey where they gotta like get that concoction made just right. The chemicals or Cardi is just, you know, sugar and it’s rough.[00:52:17] I mean, rum is just a lot more easy to make. And not mess up then having fake whiskey, and I can understand they want to make their fake whiskey, but no, actually there’s one club I went to that has got a really good blueberry flavored whiskey. That is one that doesn’t give me a hangover and it’s free. So there’s a club called, Mmm.[00:52:43] Oh wait, what’s it called? Oh, okay. Um, it’s been a while since I’ve been there. Elements goatee, don’t teach. Shimmer. So go to your West gate. And that’s where most of the clubs aren’t as something like elements. It’s circle. Uh, it’s not circle. It’s next to circle though. It’s the newest one. Like, I guess that one.[00:53:07] You probably have been there before. I went away for two years though, dude. So, I mean, it’s been around for two years. It’s been there for two years. Anyways, sorry that I can’t remember the name, but, uh, no worries. Uh, it’s the same place that live used to be, you know, the, it’s called life. I think they remodeled it and turn it into a new place.[00:53:29] And so live was the biggest club in Beijing for that short amount of time. You know, it’s just like, who has the biggest club is the best live bar. Live bar was massive, and now that they reopened it again, we branded it. I guess a new owner or something and yeah, they, uh, call it something else, and that is the place where foreigners can actually get a free drink and have a whiskey that’s blueberry flavored whiskey.[00:53:57] It’s a bottle that’s made, I think in Taiwan or China. It’s a Chinese whiskey or Taiwanese whiskey. It’s really good though. Uh, anyways, it’s a really off topic thing. It’s pretty silly to talk about a blueberry whiskey in one club in Beijing. But that’s okay. Mark it right there. Exactly. But I mean, if you can see, if you can get 1% of the population in China, you’re fucking made.[00:54:18] Right? Like that’s what people always say, but no. So, so we went off on this little tangent, but I’m sitting here thinking like, the whole, like, the whole thing about that was like, this guy, uh, treated us to, you know, lunch and Baiji or they had a crack with a ceramic, like a little off the top of ceramic and had to crack it with a hammer kind of thing.[00:54:37] And he would go around from person to person. Like we had a table of like, you know, the big round table, right? With the lazy Susan kind of thing in the middle, like we so often see in China, right? So you can move the food around. There’s probably like 10 people at the table and he’s just going from person to person to person, just like shot anybody.[00:54:55] Like before we do the shot, he would say a little something nice. Oh, I’m so glad you’re here. You know you’re a vital part of this thing, blah, blah, blah. Shot. Alright, next person. Oh, I’m so glad you’re here. You’re part of this thing, but shot, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Then he makes his rounds and then the next bird, like the person who was right starts making his rounds and then the person after that makes their rounds and then it’s just a whole fucking circle.[00:55:20] So like, you know, you get. Every single person is just getting fucked, you know? And it’s, and it’s, it’s one of those things that I’ve experienced in China at least. I mean, I’m sure you feel the same way. Maybe not, but like in China, in America, it’s like if you’re the guy that gets too drunk, you’re that guy, right?[00:55:40] Yeah. Nobody wants to be in China. If you get really fucking drunk, that’s like a badge of honor. Yeah.[00:55:52] No, but they respect you for it. They respect you for it. They want to keep you around. They can trust you more when you get drunk with them and like hang and not give away cigarettes, like to be the whorehouse and get to go do their things that though her house and everyone’s going to keep their secrets even though.[00:56:11] Everyone’s got a family at home. It’s, it’s kind of a trustworthy thing. It’s just in general, this is a lot of Asian culture, like Japanese and Chinese and Thai and whatever, Korean and whatever. I mean, I even think of it like this, like growing up, I’ve got two brothers, right? Growing up. If, if me and my brothers did something naughty or bad together, then we had that on each other and stuff.[00:56:36] One of them would try to tell him the other one. Oh, well, I can do this too, or I can do that. You know, like, fuck up. Don’t say a word because I can do, I can tell you about that. You remember that time? It’s kind of like that, I think, you know exactly. Like, I got one finger pointing at you, but three fingers are funny right back at me and we’re all fine cause we’re all going to be in trouble.[00:57:04] If you give away any secrets, I can trust them. When they got secrets from them, you got dirt on each other, you know, you can move forward. Exactly. Um, I want to talk a little bit about, um. Some of these. I love Southeast Asia. I want to just talk about that dude. I’ve been looking like the last week I’ve been looking at like cost of living in places cause I’m just like, once this shit all blows over, I’m just going to fucking move to a fucking Island and Southeast Asia.[00:57:34] But you know, something like looking at different spots or whatever, but like, you know, you’ve been at, you’ve spent significant time in Southeast Asia. Yeah. You’ve made some videos about like me and Mar and Malaysia and other places, Vietnam, I’m sure. Um, I’m just kind of interested in like, you know, where, where have you been?[00:57:53] And like, tell me your kind of impressions of each of these places because this is, it’s fantasy time since we can’t go anywhere.[00:58:02] Yeah. I mean, so to break it down, you’ve got Southeast Asia, which is probably one of the most diverse places in the world for having like so much cool, great food that’s original. That’s unique. Um, the epicenter is Thailand. Like Bangkok is the melting pot of Thailand. So yeah, Bangkok is great for the food.[00:58:24] And then you got Cambodia, which is also a cool place to go, at least quite a few years ago. It was a really awesome place to go. It’s changed a lot. So I can’t say that it still is. Amazing experience that it used to be. Well, yeah, Vietnam is still amazing. It’s probably the second best food in all of Southeast Asia.[00:58:45] Just like amazing, absolute gourmet French food and Asian food mixed together in a melting pot. So don’t get me started on Southeast Asia. I really love getting you started on Southeast Asia. Let me ask you about Cambodia. I’ve been to Cambodia. Okay. I spent, since you went there five, five, five years ago now, five years ago, I spent eight days in Cambodia.[00:59:12] I love Cambodia. Five years ago. Well, let me, well, let me tell you, I, um, I spent four days in SIEM reap where Angkor is anchor watt, whatever, all the time. Yeah. Anchor Watson. That’s about as much time as you want to spend in SIEM reap. I started running out of shit to do. Yeah. It’s got some fun like bars and stuff.[00:59:30] Some pub. Yeah. Bar street. Yeah, sure. Um, I’ve got plenty more to talk about when I put out my story, which I’m working on, um, about that stuff. But like non Penn, the capital city, that was, I spent four days there as well. And that was a completely different experience for me. Man. It’s a little bit dangerous there, but like if you just watch it back, kind of like, Oh, you’re going to be fine.[00:59:54] Well, like that, the minute I fucking landed, dude, like I was taking a took, took from the airport to my hostel and, uh, I just felt like everybody was looking at me like, they’re either three, they’re hungry or they’re plotting something. Yeah. And sure enough, my phone got jacked and nom pen. I, you know, I’d already been through Southeast Asia for like two months and then a non pan of all places.[01:00:21] My phone got jacked. Yeah, no, it’s definitely like the South America of Southeast Asia. It’s a little bit wild West over there. I don’t know. Another place that’s got so much stuff going on as far as crime goes. Out of all of. Southeast Asia. I mean, there’s some pockets in the Philippines that could be not so good, honestly.[01:00:47] And even Vietnam could be bad in some areas. Cities. And Thailand too. And you know, everyone’s got some pockets, but you know, but Kim, Cambodia, Cambodia is a unique though. And here’s why. Like if you understand the history of Cambodia, right? Like the late seventies or the Kemiah Rouge, when POL pot took over and said were declaring this year zero and they committed genocide on their own, people, you know, killing, they were killing everyone that was educated.[01:01:14] Plus their parents, you know, their grand parents, grandparents, whatever, plus their children and all that shit. Um. So to quote poll pod, it was something like completely killing the tree from branch to root, right? They eliminated an entire multiple generations of educated people, you know, so like I feel for Cambodia, I love scenery.[01:01:40] I want to go back to Cambodia and hope that it’s getting better and that they have been getting a lot better over the last five, 10 years, from my understanding. Um, but there’s a whole generation from like 79 to like. The late nineties basically that it was a country of just uneducated people. And so when you, I mean, when you have some of that, sometimes the crime can be a little bit higher because people are struggling for food.[01:02:04] They’re struggling for their way of life. You know, they’re, they’re struggling too. They’re struggling. Everyone’s struggling. The entire country is struggling together. And this communistic a utopia. Facts are the facts right. I was just going to talk about these days, Cambodia is changing and it’s not in a good way.[01:02:25] So you, it is. Okay. You know, SIEM reap is almost the same as it always was. It’s got more Chinese tourists, which is really good. I like Chinese tourists bring a lot of cash and a lot

In this episode of our BryghtCast edition of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast for the week of August 12, 2019,  Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Consultant Bray Wheeler take a look at three current risks and upcoming events: Hong Kong protesters offer apologies, China doubles down after airport clash One-China T-Shirt row engulfs Coach and Disney, a day after Versace apology Donald Trump to delay extra tariffs on Chinese imports US designates China as a currency manipulator for the first time in decades //static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js Episode Transcript Bryan Strawser: Hello, and welcome to the Managing Uncertainty podcast. This is Bryan Strawser, principal and CEO at Bryghtpath. And with me today is Bray Wheeler, consultant at Bryghtpath. This is our weekly BryghtCast edition where we talk about recent news and upcoming events and what they might mean for businesses in the private sector. And we're just doing it a little different this episode. As we looked through the news this morning, and we're recording this on Monday, August 12th, as we looked through the news this morning, really one topic was really dominating the news that we thought had private-sector impact, and that is China. Bryan Strawser: So we're going to start by, again, talking about protests in Hong Kong. I awoke early this morning, of course, early afternoon Hong Kong time, but I awoke early this morning to learn that the Hong Kong Airport was completely shut down because thousands of protesters were occupying what looks from the photos I've seen to be essentially every square inch of real estate in the Hong Kong Airport. So inbound flights were canceled, outbound flights were canceled. And really the, again, we can protest led to airport closure. Bray, what do you see going on here? Bray Wheeler: Yeah, it's just that, it's the next evolution of what they've been able to do. They've targeted a lot of these more disruptive major logistical and transportation features, government locations, things like that where they're going to get the most bang for their buck in terms of attention and disruption really without direct violence. Now, certainly, there's back and forth on how much violence there is actually taking place. But in terms of just the disruption and the attention, this has been the protestors' MO. Bryan Strawser: There were a couple of pieces of related news feeding into the airport shutdown this morning that came out over the weekend. One was there were a number of protests throughout Hong Kong over the last couple of days. I think it's the 10th weekend in a row that there were major protests. There was tear gas fired, which is becoming also more of a norm to see that level of force from the police. There was also an interesting article, I want to say it was in Foreign Affairs Magazine, on their blog over the weekend, but it may have been elsewhere, about protest technology and false news and how both sides were using that in the Hong Kong protest through social media in order to put out their version of a narrative. I think the protesters have been very effective in using video to show their side of the story and what has gone on. Bryan Strawser: And now law enforcement clandestinely appears to be doing something very similar planting stories in social media from the other side to counter the narrative. And that's before we get to the point in our lives where this is being done by AI and machine intelligence and these deep fakes that we keep hearing about. Bray Wheeler: Yeah. It's not that it's unheard of that certainly opposition sides are putting videos or posting pictures that certainly depict a certain way, but just the level of engagement and use of those things is a little bit unique with the Hong Kong protests. It seems like everything that has historically been a tool or a method on either side has come into play, but also some of this new stuff or bordering up, as you said, bordering up to some of this new stuff with the fake images and fake video and fake sounds and all that stuff. It's not overt, but they're encroaching on that directly being used. Bryan Strawser: Right. It's almost like there's a different level of sophistication here that we haven't seen, which makes sense. We're talking about democratic protestors in Hong Kong and all the sense of innovation and freedom that comes with that. And China, the rising great power, who has made a name for themselves in some ways because of their technological capability really only rivaled by the United States in the great power conflict. Bray Wheeler: Yeah. I think, to your point, the level of technology use in everyday life, the level of education, the level of all those things are definitely coming into play here in a different way than we've seen in some of these other countries where they're upset about lack of access to those things and lack of access to be able to grow and to use technology and to have that accessibility, that's not the case between China and Hong Kong. They have it. Bray Wheeler: So it's almost like a protest on a different front, a 21st-century protest almost with just every technological piece coming into play, and we're seeing it and we're hearing it everywhere, it's being covered everywhere. Bryan Strawser: There were two other omnibus bits of news that came about with the protest today, things that happened this morning U.S. time. The first is that China made a statement about the protests that these were actions of terrorists. Bray Wheeler: Sprouts of terrorists. Bryan Strawser: Sprouts of terror. Okay, that's very Chinese. Sprouts of terrorism erupting in Hong Kong. Is this an escalation, do you think, in terms of rhetoric? Bray Wheeler: I certainly think it definitely is an escalation on China's part to use that kind of language, to throw that out, to not directly say it is terrorism, as you said, the Chinese language version of that or communication version of that, was sprouts of terrorism masking it as, "Hey, this is starting to evolve into this and we're starting to become concerned," becomes what will likely be a justification should they escalate this from use of military or force martial law that they declare. They're laying the seeds to be able to do that kind of stuff. Bryan Strawser: The other bit of news relates to what you just said, and that's could the military be used? Could there be more physical escalation? And there were almost what I would say some tinfoil hat wearers on social media this morning talking about, "Hey, there are convoys of military trucks making their way through Shinjin towards the Hong Kong border." And I think a lot of people went, "Yeah, okay. You look like somebody that might wear a tinfoil hat from time to time.". Bryan Strawser: But then China came out and admitted that, yes, we have placed 12,000... They described it as riot police, but the vehicles are clearly military. But of course there's not much differentiation in China between the two sometimes. So they're at the border, this appears not to be a conspiracy. They really are there. So this is a physical warning to the protesters that we may decide to assert ourselves. Bray Wheeler: Yeah, I think China is very much preparing for that possibility or at least playing the leverage that they have to be able to take control of the situation in a way that maybe doesn't even escalate to the use of it. But they're definitely starting to demonstrate and starting to position that use of force and those cards that they have available that certainly Hong Kong protesters do not have because the police are certainly not going to take their side necessarily in this situation. So they're at a disadvantage in that sense. So China's playing every advantage that they have without going full escalation, because it is a little bit of a game-changer, like we've talked in weeks past, where should China escalate to that moment, this becomes more likely a global situation rather than just a Hong Kong, China with some global awareness and monitoring because of Hong Kong's position in the global economy and its relationship with certain Western countries, it definitely takes a different face, should China use force in mass within Hong Kong. Bryan Strawser: And I would expect, and I'm speculating here if China decides to directly intervene with mainland China military or police that's going to happen extremely quickly and without warning. Right? It'll be like if I draw a parallel to what we saw in Cairo in 2011 with the Arab spring, we went from relatively easy to get around the city and safe to get around the city to people not being able to leave their condo or home because they couldn't cross town to get to work or to visit family. It's going to happen at that scale and speed and it's going to be very difficult to get people out. And I don't remember, there are 90,000 Americans there. The number is really high. Bray Wheeler: Yeah. It's a really, really high percentage of Americans and other Western country, citizens from other Western countries. And I think the interesting piece that comes into play that, I don't know how much impact it has, but it's a little bit of an interesting thought is should China elect, to your point, go in in mass and do it relatively quickly? Typically, that's something that would take place overnight. And then in the nighttime hours that they would just show up, take control, and when people wake up in the morning- Bryan Strawser: It's over. Bray Wheeler: It's over. It's a game-changer. What's happening though with these protests is a lot of them are happening afternoon, into the evening, in the overnight. So it's almost a 24/7 operation on the protester front. But there is no good moment for China to just sneak in, take control of Hong Kong and have it be done. They're going to be seen, it's going to be felt, it's not going to be quite the clandestine operation that I think China would like it to be. Bryan Strawser: So when it comes to Hong Kong, and then we can move onto the next two topics that we outlined for today, our message to businesses really remains the same. This is something that you need to continue to monitor. I think you've got to be cognizant of the fact that this may move so quickly you won't have an opportunity to respond or to put other plans in play. So now is the time to plan for those various contingencies. Do you want your expatriates there if the stuff goes down between Hong Kong citizens and the mainland? Do you want to move in advance of that? What continuity implications could this have for your business? And I think any way you slice this, you're running the risk of getting caught in the middle of this and then being unable to react until it's truly over. Bray Wheeler: And I think even just in probably to somewhat of a lesser degree, just as we've seen the airport being disrupted, and we've talked about this in weeks past too, just that Hong Kong is a travel hub. So even if you don't have an operation in Hong Kong but you use Hong Kong as a transit point to hit other countries, you may want to start evaluating whether or not in the short term, near term, that continues to be the spot that you want to transition folks through, or does Tokyo or Seoul or somewhere else become more of [crosstalk] the right spot for you? What's the risk-reward of doing that? Is it cost-effective to start making those switches now? Bryan Strawser: Yep. What's our second China topic? Bray Wheeler: Second China topic, still somewhat related to the Hong Kong issue, and an interesting nexus there too that I think not only plays in the line with China's message on Hong Kong, so it definitely has some global implications to it. But I think more to the point of what we're discussing here from a private-sector standpoint, from a corporate standpoint, is some branding issues with some different products. So over the weekend, several companies have gotten embroiled with some China controversy, Versace, Coach, and Disney, in terms of some t-shirts that these companies have put together in which they've listed Hong Kong, Macao, and Taipei or Taiwan as separate from China. Bray Wheeler: So Beijing, Shenzhen has been listed as the city with the country, so Shenzhen, China. But with Hong Kong and Macao, they're listed separately as just Hong Kong, Hong Kong or Macao, Macao. And then Taipei is Taipei, Taiwan, which in China's view is highly offensive to a one-China policy that they have and one China vision that they take issue with, but also feeds that narrative that's going on in Hong Kong and some of those sensitivities. Bray Wheeler: But I think just from a corporate branding standpoint, not only is it an issue itself just from that market and those Chinese customers looking at that and being offended by it and impacting market space, but also it leads to the need for corporations to really have somewhat of a review process with some of their products to highlight some of those sensitivities that may come into play and may impact you. We've seen it certainly with Israel and Palestine through products, cultural appropriation, use of different icons and symbols. The U.S. flag is always one. But just those things, when companies are using products or branding or things like that, these things pop up. They have an impact and they become a distraction. Bryan Strawser: From an international relations standpoint, this is one of the greatest sins you can commit in a playing field where China is present, is to refer to Hong Kong or Macao as separate than China. But the biggest sin of all in international relations where China's there is to refer to what they think of as Chinese Taipei, the wayward province of Taiwan, as Taiwan as an independent power. Right or wrong, that's the way diplomacy is conducted when you're talking about these things. And Disney and Versace and Coach are well respected international companies, particularly Disney who operates in China and really stepped in it with this approach. So China really had some words for them over the weekend and it's caused all three companies to apologize. Bray Wheeler: Yes. And like I was saying before, too, these types of situations are easily catchable, easily mitigated, but if they're not, they become front-page news. And to your point, particularly with China and the volume, and like we've talked about just right before, the circumstance of what's going on in Hong Kong and that narrative of Hong Kong being a part of China, when you step into it and then step in it in the middle of something else, becomes a serious brand component. And China's a big market and their a big player in the global economy. Bryan Strawser: Absolutely. So I'm not sure there's a thing here to monitor. Certainly, companies should be culturally sensitive on this particular topic. Make the right decision by your company. Bray Wheeler: When I think if you're fortunate enough to have or you've invested the resources into it from a reputation monitoring, from a crisis response monitoring, there's opportunities, we've seen it with other companies, company I used to work for became a cross-functional group that got put into place to review some of these things that, as a point for different merchandising or branding or communications or whatever it might be to be able to go and use it as a resource to look and say, "Hey, this looks all great, but if you do this we're going to have an issue because this thing, Hong Kong is separate from China, is going to be an issue." Or used before, Israel Palestine, is a common one, putting Palestine on things causes issues. Bray Wheeler: So there's really having a mechanism or having a thought process or starting to think about, from a rep management standpoint, from a incident response standpoint, starting to have some of those reviews or those conversations, highlighting those as potential issues at the very least could become effective in mitigating some of those, or at least getting ahead or being prepared to respond. Bryan Strawser: Yeah, I completely agree. I think that those are very important things to have in place. If you're going to do business on a global scale, then you need to understand the sensitivities involved in such. Bray Wheeler: Yep. Bryan Strawser: So our last topic for this week's edition is just in general about some current news around tariff and currency issues between China and the United States. There were two big announcements around this last week, both done by the president. The first is that he was adding a 10% tariff to products that were not currently seeing a tariff from China to the United States. China retaliated following that tariff announcement by saying that they were going to stop buying grain from the United States. Bryan Strawser: That's a pretty significant impact on the Midwest where most of the grain used in the world is grown, and China is the biggest market for grain in the world and buys a significant amount of grain from the United States. So hard to know where that's going. Interestingly enough, on NBC News this morning I saw that there was a poll of farmers in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, I believe were the states, about the tariffs. And 57% said they supported the president's action. Bryan Strawser: The other thing that happened between the U.S. and China last week is that the United States for the first time declared China to be an international currency manipulator, that they were deliberately manipulating the yuan, the Chinese national currency, which then after an initial very negative response, China came back and said that they would not devalue the yuan in the international markets. Their initial response, by the way, is that this was a ridiculous accusation by the United States, but then within 12 hours they said, "Well, we won't be downgrading or otherwise manipulating the yuan." Bray Wheeler: And I think they were trying to combat the perception, at the very least, the perception that they were doing it in response to the tariffs as a weapon to counteract the tariffs that were put into place. And that it was reactionary rather than they did it because it was the right economical thing for China to do, independent of tariffs, was the narrative they were trying to re-put out after stepping in it. Bryan Strawser: So these are definitely two issues to watch, the tariff situation when it comes to grain, and the Chinese deciding not to buy U.S. grain. I'm not actually sure how sustainable that is. I think the grain in the world typically comes from the United States, although Russia grows a significant amount of grain as well. But I'm not sure if that throw will actually turn out to be true or not. But certainly the trade war continues to heat up, and that's definitely an issue that businesses should continue to monitor. Bray Wheeler: Yeah, I think especially going into the fall and winter, when typically the Midwest, the big producers of it are going to go into the winter season and having a lot of that stored up, and how long has that been stored and whether or not that can be sent over. So even though we've grown it and we're holding it, how does that play? I think it's, to your point, the sustainability of some of that is in question, but timing is certainly another piece to it too, the fact that this is taking place right now in comparison to that fall/winter time period where there's a little bit lower risk or pressure from it. We'll have to see. Bryan Strawser: That's it for this edition of the Managing Uncertainty podcast. We'll be back with our regular topical episode next Monday. Thanks for listening. Hope to hear from you again soon.

信心銘 Shinjin-mei: On Believing in Mind A Dharma talk connecting current events to the first sentence of the Shinjin-mei

This is part six of a six part series. Dennis Hirota, Professor in the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, was the Institute of Buddhist Studies' 2010 Ryukoku Lecturer. Dr. Hirota's topic was "Shinran's Phenomenology of Religious Life: Toward a Rethinking of Shinjin." The lecture was divided into three parts over the course of three separate days. The audio tracks here roughly compare to the following: Lecture One, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Truth": parts one and two Lecture Two, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Time": parts three and four Lecture Three, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Dwelling": parts five and six Dr. Hirota is known for his translation work in "The Collected Works of Shinran" and original works such as "No Abode: The Record of Ippen," "Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism," "Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought," and "Tannisho: A Primer." Originally recorded March 10, 16, and 17, 2010 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Jodo Shinshu Center, Berkeley, Ca. Copyright © 2010, Denis Hirota.

This is part five of a six part series. Dennis Hirota, Professor in the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, was the Institute of Buddhist Studies' 2010 Ryukoku Lecturer. Dr. Hirota's topic was "Shinran's Phenomenology of Religious Life: Toward a Rethinking of Shinjin." The lecture was divided into three parts over the course of three separate days. The audio tracks here roughly compare to the following: Lecture One, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Truth": parts one and two Lecture Two, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Time": parts three and four Lecture Three, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Dwelling": parts five and six Dr. Hirota is known for his translation work in "The Collected Works of Shinran" and original works such as "No Abode: The Record of Ippen," "Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism," "Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought," and "Tannisho: A Primer." Originally recorded March 10, 16, and 17, 2010 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Jodo Shinshu Center, Berkeley, Ca. Copyright © 2010, Denis Hirota.

This is part four of a six part series. Dennis Hirota, Professor in the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, was the Institute of Buddhist Studies' 2010 Ryukoku Lecturer. Dr. Hirota's topic was "Shinran's Phenomenology of Religious Life: Toward a Rethinking of Shinjin." The lecture was divided into three parts over the course of three separate days. The audio tracks here roughly compare to the following: Lecture One, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Truth": parts one and two Lecture Two, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Time": parts three and four Lecture Three, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Dwelling": parts five and six Dr. Hirota is known for his translation work in "The Collected Works of Shinran" and original works such as "No Abode: The Record of Ippen," "Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism," "Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought," and "Tannisho: A Primer." Originally recorded March 10, 16, and 17, 2010 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Jodo Shinshu Center, Berkeley, Ca. Copyright © 2010, Denis Hirota.

This is part three of a six part series. Dennis Hirota, Professor in the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, was the Institute of Buddhist Studies' 2010 Ryukoku Lecturer. Dr. Hirota's topic was "Shinran's Phenomenology of Religious Life: Toward a Rethinking of Shinjin." The lecture was divided into three parts over the course of three separate days. The audio tracks here roughly compare to the following: Lecture One, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Truth": parts one and two Lecture Two, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Time": parts three and four Lecture Three, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Dwelling": parts five and six Dr. Hirota is known for his translation work in "The Collected Works of Shinran" and original works such as "No Abode: The Record of Ippen," "Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism," "Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought," and "Tannisho: A Primer." Originally recorded March 10, 16, and 17, 2010 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Jodo Shinshu Center, Berkeley, Ca. Copyright © 2010, Denis Hirota.

This is part two of a six part series. Dennis Hirota, Professor in the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, was the Institute of Buddhist Studies' 2010 Ryukoku Lecturer. Dr. Hirota's topic was "Shinran's Phenomenology of Religious Life: Toward a Rethinking of Shinjin." The lecture was divided into three parts over the course of three separate days. The audio tracks here roughly compare to the following: Lecture One, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Truth": parts one and two Lecture Two, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Time": parts three and four Lecture Three, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Dwelling": parts five and six Dr. Hirota is known for his translation work in "The Collected Works of Shinran" and original works such as "No Abode: The Record of Ippen," "Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism," "Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought," and "Tannisho: A Primer." Originally recorded March 10, 16, and 17, 2010 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Jodo Shinshu Center, Berkeley, Ca. Copyright © 2010, Denis Hirota.

Dennis Hirota, Professor in the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, was the Institute of Buddhist Studies' 2010 Ryukoku Lecturer. Dr. Hirota's topic was "Shinran's Phenomenology of Religious Life: Toward a Rethinking of Shinjin." The lecture was divided into three parts over the course of three separate days. The audio tracks here roughly compare to the following: Lecture One, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Truth": parts one and two Lecture Two, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Time": parts three and four Lecture Three, "The Shin Buddhist Path and Dwelling": parts five and six Dr. Hirota is known for his translation work in "The Collected Works of Shinran" and original works such as "No Abode: The Record of Ippen," "Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism," "Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought," and "Tannisho: A Primer." Originally recorded March 10, 16, and 17, 2010 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Jodo Shinshu Center, Berkeley, Ca. Copyright © 2010, Denis Hirota.

In part of three of the live show series, our first question has to do with Shin Buddhism's stance on aborted fetuses. Scott cleverly ducks the question but Harry provides some interesting insight into the Japanese ritual of mizuko kuyo (water baby ceremony) and the efficacy of ritual in Shin Buddhist context. Our second question… Continue reading Live show part three: abortion and shinjin →

Shoshinge "The Hymn of True Faith" A crucial component of the Buddhist faith is chanting. The practice of chanting is much akin to the Christian hymns. Much like the past practice of the Catholic churches tradition of chanting in Latin, one does not need to know Japanese in order to be absorbed by the melodic rhythm of foreign sounds. This podcast is a recording of Shoshinge, one of the many Jodo Shinshu chants. Here's some background on this important chant. About Shoshige The following introduction is from Shinshū Seiten, Jōdo Shin Buddhist Teaching, published by the Buddhist Churches of America. The English translation of the gāthā is from The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way, Vol. I., Shin Buddhist Translation Series, Hongwanji International Center, Kyoto, Japan. The full title of this gāthā, Shoshin Nembutsu Ge, means ‘Gāthā on the Right (or True) Faith in the Nembutsu.’ The title consists of three terms: Shōshin, lit. ‘Right Faith’ refers to Shinjin, or Faith. Nembutsu, lit. ‘thinking of the Buddha,’ refers to the practice of uttering Amida’s Name. Ge, or ‘gāthā’ in Skt. Means ‘verse,’ or ‘hymn.’ Faith and Nembutsu are very important ideas constituting the central concepts of Shin Buddhism. In the passage which introduces the Shoshin Ge, Shinran notes; Relying upon the true words of the Great Sage and reading the commentaries of the great masters, I have realized the profound grace of the Buddha. Hence I here compose the Gāthā of True Faith in the Nembutsu. This shows that he composed this gatha out of his gratitude to Amida Buddha on the basis of the Teachings of Śākyamuni and the commentaries of the Seven Patriarchs. ‘The words of the Great Sage’ directly refers to the Dai Muryōju Kyō (The Larger Sutra), in which Shinran Shonin found the true religion by which a sinful and helpless man can be saved. He trusted in the Teachings of this Sutra singleheartedly, and conceived of all the other Teachings of the Buddha as being expedients to Pure Land Buddhism. It is also important to note that Shinran approached the Teachings of Amida’s Salvation through seven predecessors, namely, Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu from India; Doran, Dōshaku and Zendō in China; Genshin and Genkū in Japan. In the Kyō Gyō Shin Shō he abundantly quotes from their discourse, and in the Shōshin Ge he gives their essentials. The whole gāthā is an exposition of the Pure Land Teaching which may be divided into two parts: 1) based on the Sutra and 2) based on the commentaries. The contents of the gāthā with minor divisions are as follows: I. Exposition based on the Sutra 1. Homage to Amida 2. Adoration, in particular, to a. Amida Buddha b. Śākyamuni Buddha 3. Exhortation II. Exposition based on the commentaries 1. General statement 2. Exposition, in particular, to a. Nāgārjuna [2nd or 3rd cen. A.D.] b. Vasubandhu [4th cen. A.D.] c. Donran [T’an Luan, 476-542 A.D.] d. Dōshaku [Tao-ch’o, 562-645 A.D.] e. Zendō [Shan Tao, 613-681 A.D.] f. Genshin [942-1017 A.D.] g. Genkū [Honen, 1133-1212 A.D.] 3. Exhortation Ki myo mu ryo ju nyo rai Na mu fu ka shi gi ko Ho zo bo satsu in ni ji Zai se ji sai o bus-sho To ken sho butsu jo do in Koku do nin den shi zen maku Kon ryu mu jo shu sho gan Cho hotsu ke u dai gu zei Go ko shi yui shi sho ju Ju sei myo sho mon jip-po Fu ho mu ryo mu hen ko Mu ge mu tai ko en no Sho jo kan gi chi e ko Fu dan nan ji mu sho ko Cho nichi gak-ko sho jin setsu Is-sai gun jo mu ko sho Hon gan myo go sho jo go Shin shin shin gyo gan ni in Jo to gaku sho dai ne han His-shi metsu do gan jo ju Nyo rai sho i ko shus-se Yui setsu mi da hon gan kai Go joku aku ji gun jo kai O shin nyo rai nyo jitsu gon No hotsu ichi nen ki ai shin Fu dan bon no toku ne han Bon jo gyaku ho sai e nyu Nyo shu shi nyu kai ichi mi Ses-shu shin ko jo sho go I no sui ha mu myo an Ton nai shin zo shi un mu Jo fu shin jitsu shin jin ten Hi nyo nik-ko fu un mu Un mu shi ge myo mu an Gyaku shin ken kyo dai kyo ki Soku o cho zetsu go aku shu Is-sai zen maku bon bu nin Mon shin nyo rai gu zei gan Butsu gon ko dai sho ge sha Ze nin myo fun da ri ke- fi Mi da butsu hon gan nen butsu Ja ken kyo man naku shu jo Shin gyo ju ji jin ni nan Nan chu shi nan mu ka shi In do sai ten shi ron ge Chu ka jichi iki shi ko so Ken dai sho ko se sho i Myo nyo rai hon ze o ki Sha ka nyo rai ryo ga sen I shu go myo nan ten jiku Ryu ju dai ji shut-to se Shitsu no zai ha u mu ken Sen zetsu dai jo mu jo ho Sho kan gi ji sho an raku Ken ji nan gyo roku ro ku Shin gyo i gyo shi do raku Oku nen mi da butsu hon gan Ji nen soku ji nyu hitsu jo Yui no jo sho nyo rai go O ho dai hi gu zei on Ten jin bo Satsu zo ron setsu Ki myo mu ge ko nyo rai E Shu ta ra ken shin jitsu Ko sen o cho dai sei gan Ko-yu hon gan riki e ko I do gun jo sho is-shin Ki nyu ku doku dai ho kai Hitsu gyaku nyu dai e shu shu Toku shi ren ge zo se kai Soku sho shin nyo hos-sho jin Yu bon no rin gen jin zu Nyu sho ji on ji o ge Hon shi don ran ryo ten shi Jo ko ran sho bo satsu rai San zo ru shi ju jo kyo Bon jo sen gyo ki raku ho Ten jin bo satsu ron chu ge Ho do in ga ken sei gan O gen ne ko yu ta riki Sho jo shi in yui shin jin Waku zen bon bu shin jin potsu Sho-chi sho-ji soku ne hon His-shi mu ryo ko myo do Sho-u shu jo kai fu ke Do shaku kes-sho do nan sho Yui myo jo do ka tsu nyu Man zen ji riki hen gon shu En man toku go kan sen sho San-pu san shin ke on gon Zo matsu ho metsu do-hi in Is-sho zo aku chi gu zei Shi an nyo gai sho myo ka Zen do doku myo bus-sho I Ko ai jo san yo gyaku aku Ko myo myo go ken in nen Kai-nyu hon gan dai-chi kai Gyo-ja sho-ju kon go shin Kyo-ki ichi nen so o go Yo-I dai to gyaku san nin Soku sho hos-sho shi jo raku Gen shin ko kai ichi dai kyo Hen ki an nyo kan is-sai Sen zo shu shin han sen jin Ho ke ni do sho ben ryu Goku ju aku nin yui sho butsu Ga yaku zai-hi ses-shu chu Bon no sho gen sui fu ken Dai-hi mu ken jo sho ga Hon shi gen ku myo buk-kyo Ren min zen maku bon bu nin Shin shu kyo sho ko hen shu Sen jaku hon gan gu aku se Gen rai sho-ji rin den ge Ket-chi gi jo I sho shi Soku nyu jaku jo mu I raku Hit-chi shin jin I no nyu Gu kyo dai ji shu shi tou Jo sai mu hen goku joku aku Do zoku ji shu gu do shin Yu-I ka shin shi ko so se-tsu Shoshinge Translation I take refuge in the Tathāgata of Immeasurable Life! I entrust myself to the Buddha of Inconceivable Light! Bodhisattva Dharmākara, in his causal stage, Under the guidance of Lokeśvararāja Buddha. Searched into the origins of the Buddhas’ pure land, And the qualities of those lands and their men and devas; He then established the supreme, incomparable Vow; He made the great Vow rare and all-encompassing. In five kalpas of profound thought, he embraced this Vow, Then resolved again that his Name be heard throughout the ten quarters. Everywhere he casts light immeasurable, boundless, Unhindered, unequaled, light-lord of all brilliance, Pure light, joyful light, the light of wisdom, Light constant, inconceivable, light beyond speaking, Light excelling sun and moon he sends forth, illumining countless worlds; The multitudes of beings all receive the radiance. The Name embodying the Primal Vow is the act of true settlement, The Vow of entrusting with sincere mind is the cause of birth; We realize the equal of enlightenment and supreme nirvāņa Through the fulfillment of the Vow of attaining nirvāņa without fail. Śākyamuni Tathāgata appeared in this world Solely to teach the ocean-like Primal Vow of Amida; We, an ocean of beings in an evil age of five defilements, Should entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s words of truth. When the one thought-moment of joy arises, Nirvāņa is attained without severing blind passions; When ignorant and wise, even grave offenders and slanders of the dharma, all alike turn and enter shinjin, They are like waters that, on entering the ocean, become one in taste with it. The light of compassion that grasps us illumines and protects us always; The darkness of our ignorance is already broken through; Still the clouds and mists of greed and desire, anger and hatred, Cover as always the sky of true and real shinjin. But though light of the sun is veiled by clouds and mists, Beneath the clouds and mists there is brightness, not dark. When one realizes shinjin, seeing and revering and attaining great joy, One immediately leaps crosswise, closing off the five evil courses. All foolish beings, whether good or evil, When they hear and entrust to Amida’s universal Vow, Are praised by the Buddha as people of vast and excellent understanding; Such a person is called a pure white lotus. For evil sentient beings of wrong views and arrogance, The nembutsu that embodies Amida’s Primal Vow Is hard to accept in shinjin; This most difficult of difficulties, nothing surpasses. The masters of India in the west, who explained the teachings in treaties, And the eminent monks of China and Japan, Clarified the Great Sage’s true intent in appearing in the world, And revealed that Amida’s Primal Vow accords with the nature of beings. Śākyamuni Tathāgata, on Mount Lankā, Prophesied to the multitudes that in south India The mahasattva Nāgārjuna would appear in this world To crush the views of being and non-being; Proclaiming the unexcelled Mahāyāna teaching, He would attain the stage of joy and be born in the land of happiness. Nāgārjuna clarifies the hardship on the overland path of difficult practice, And leads us to entrust to the pleasure on the waterway of easy practice. He teaches that the moment one thinks on Amida’s Primal Vow, One is naturally brought to enter the sage of the definitely settled; Solely saying the Tathāgata’s Name constantly, One should respond with gratitude to the universal Vow of great compassion. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, composing a treatise, declares That he takes refuge in the Tathagata of unhindered light, And that relying on the sutras, he will reveal the true and real virtues, And make widely known the great Vow by which we leap crosswise beyond birth-and-death. He discloses the mind that is single so that all beings be saved By Amida’s directing of virtue through the power of the Primal Vow. When a person turns and enters the great treasure-ocean of virtue, Necessarily he joins Amida’s assembly; And when he reaches hat lotus-held world, He immediately realizes the body of suchness or dharma-nature. Then sporting in the forests of blind passions, he manifests transcendent powers; Entering the garden of birth-and-death, he assumes various forms to guide others. Turning toward the dwelling of Master T’an-laun, the Emperor of Liang Always paid homage to him as a bodhisattva. Bodhiruci, master of the Tripitaka, gave T’an-laun the Pure Land teachings, And T’an-laun, burning his Taoist scriptures, took refuge in the land of bliss. In his commentary on the treatise of Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, He shows that the cause and attainment of birth in the fulfilled land lie in the Vow. Our going and returning, directed to us by Amida, come about through Other Power; The truly decisive cause is shinjin. When a foolish being of delusion and defilement awakens to shinjin, He realizes that birth-and-death is itself nirvāna; Without fail he reaches the land of immeasurable light And universally guides sentient beings to enlightenment. Tao-ch’o determined how difficult it is to fulfill the Path of Sages, And reveals that only passage through the Pure Land gate is possible for us. He criticizes self-power endeavor in the myriad good practices, And encourages us solely to say the fulfilled Name embodying true virtue. With kind concern he teaches the three characteristics of entrusting and non entrusting, Compassionately guiding all identically, whether they live when the dharma survives as but form, when in its last stage, or when it has become extinct. Though a person has committed evil all his life, when he encounters the Primal Vow, He will reach the world of peace and realize the perfect fruit of enlightenment. Shan-tao alone in his time clarified the Buddha’s true intent; Sorrowing at the plight of meditative and non-meditative practicers and people of grave evil, He reveals that Amida’s Light and Name are the causes of birth. When the practicer enters the great ocean of wisdom, the Primal Vow, He receives the diamond-like mind And accords with the one thought-moment of joy; whereupon, Equally with Vaidehī, he acquires the threefold wisdom And is immediately brought to attain the eternal bliss of dharma-nature. Genshin, having broadly elucidated the teaching of Śākyamuni’s lifetime, Wholeheartedly took refuge in the land of peace and urges all to do so; Ascertaining that minds devoted to single practice are profound, to sundry practice, shallow, He sets forth truly the difference between the fulfilled land and the transformed land. The person burdened with extreme evil should simply say the Name: Although I too am within Amida’s grasp, Passions obstruct my eyes and I cannot see him; Nevertheless, great compassion is untiring and illumines me always. Master Genkū, well-versed in the Buddha’s teaching, Turned compassionately to foolish people, both good and evil; Establishing in this remote land the teaching and realization that are the true essence of the Pure Land way, He transmits the selected Primal Vow to us of the defiled world: Return to this house of transmigration, of birth-and-death, Is decidedly caused by doubt. Swift entrance into the city of tranquility, the uncreated, Is necessarily brought about by shinjin. The mahasattvas and masters who spread the sutras Save the countless beings of utter defilement and evil. With the same mind, all people of the present, whether monk or lay, Should rely wholly on the teachings of these venerable masters. Sutras: Juseige | Junirai | Sanbutsuge | Shoshinge Copyright © 2006 by Nishi Hongwanji L.A.