The unmarkedtombstones leavean impression The elemental needto tell someonethat you were here The same reason the cave people in Lascaux wrote on walls The eternal battle betweensimplicity and pride the primal urge to leave a mark on the earth, and the spiritualquest to disappear entirely
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The Multifaceted Nature of Buddhist Yakshinis
The different faces of the yakshini. Drawing by the author Yakshini are mythical creatures in the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions, effectively representing the female counterparts of the male magical nature spirits, yaksha. The Sanskrit term yakshini is customarily translated as demoness. They are a class of demigoddesses, primarily tied to natural phenomena of growth and […]
Fathers and Sons: The Buddha and King Suddhodana
This Sunday will be Father’s Day in Hong Kong. Most young people, luckily, will get to enjoy the 18th with their old men. In the grand scheme of things it’s not uncommon for kids to lose their father (or both parents) earlier in life. In the end, we all are destined to be orphans. We […]
Postcard from Raymond: The Old Gods
What is a god? Human figures with the heads of animals are intentionally absurd images. They look frightening, ridiculous, inexplicably endearing. They arrest us, shake us out of our dull, seen-it-all before everyday complacency and force us to take a second look at them because they reveal themselves as intentionally strange beings. In ancient Egypt, […]