Eighteen Buddha Hands Qigong

Luohan Qigong, Lohan Qigong, Luohan Gong, Lohan Gong, 18 Buddha Hands

Shaolin Buddhist Qigong

Over the years, I have found many different versions of the 18 Buddha Hands Qigong or Luohan Qigong.  For example, last year, I read Stuart Alve Oson's "The Eighteen Lohan Skills: Traditional Shaolin Training Methods," Valley Spirit Arts, 2015.  

Resources, Lessons, History, Links, Bibliography, Notes, Research  http://www.egreenway.com/qigong/lohan.htm
  

  "One tradition is that the Buddhist teacher, Bodhidharma (448-527 CE), a famous Grand Master of Chan (Zen),introduced a set of 18 exercises to the Buddhist monks at the Shaolin Temple. These are known as the Eighteen Hands of the Lohan. This Shaolin Lohan Qigong (i.e., the art of the breath of the enlightened ones), "is an internal set of exercises for cultivating the "three treasures" of qi (vital energy), jing (essence), and shen (spirit)," according to Howard Choy. The Kung Fu master, Sifu Wong Kiew-Kit, referring to the Shaolin Wahnam style, says "the first eight Lohan Hands are the same as the eight exercises in a famous set of chi kung exercises called the Eight Pieces of Brocade." There are numerous versions,seated and standing, of Bodhiidharma's exercise sets - including the related "Tendon-Changing and Marrow-Washing" qigong set. Some versions of the 18 Lohan (Luohan) Hands have up to four levels, and scores of movement forms for qigong and martial purposes."
- Michael P. Garofalo, Eight Section Brocade
  

  For a comparison of some of the exercises in the Lohan Qigong with the Eight Section Brocade see my chart on the topic. 

  The Luohan Qigong includes a massage or patting training methods, and this is especially popular among Yin Fu Bagua enthusiasts. Master Xie Pei Qi has a DVD out on the topic. 

Subject Index to the Blue Cliff Record 100 Koans Collection

 

The Blue Cliff Record 100 Koans
(Pi Yen Lu, Hekiganroku) BCR

 

The Blue Cliff Record Koan Collection (BCR)
100 Cases of Brief Koans, Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues, Extensive Commentary
Compiled, copied, and shared by Chan Master Xuedou Zhongxian (980-1052 CE). Commentary by Engo.

The Blue Cliff Record BCR 100 Cases Buddhist Text Authority:

Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo.

Subject Index for the Blue Cliff Record 100 Koans Collection (BCR). PDF, Second Draft, 8/11/2023, 29 pages.

Alphabetical List of the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) 100 Koans Collection Cases. PDF, Second Draft, 8/11/2023, 4 pages.

List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Blue Cliff Record (BCR) Koan Collection. PDF, Second Draft, 8/11/2023, 4 pages.

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans and Information:
https://www.egreenway.com/buddhism/koansdup1.htm

 

 

Skyview HS Girls Varsity Soccer 2025

 November 6, 2025 Thursday

Skyview HS (13-1-4) plays Tahoma High School in Tacoma
today on Thursday, 11/6/2025.

Game Time 7:30 pm. Game at the Lincoln Bowl, Tacoma, WA.
Temperature 50F, Wind 12 mph, 70% chance of rain.
You can even subscribe for a feed to watch the game live.

2025 WIAA Girls Soccer Playoffs

Sean drove from Vancouver to Tacoma to attend.
We will watch their 2 dogs.

I have a head cold and will stay home to rest.

Go STORM! ...

At 10:00 pm News from Sean Flinn!
Results of Game: A Loss for Skyview
Tahoma 1 Skyview 0

So the 2025 Skyview record is now 13-2-4

November 4, 2025 Tuesday

Camas Papermakers played against the Skyview Storm (12-1-4).

The game was held at the neutral soccer stadium in Battleground.

The game started at 7 pm. It rained throughout the game. It was around 50F.

The game was, again, a defensive struggle. The two teams played hard and it ended in a 0-0 tie in regulation. Then they played, in the rain, two overtimes; ending again in a 0-0 tie. Then, they did the penalty kick off phase against the goalies. In the dramatic end, Skyview 1 and Camas 0.

Skyview played Camas three times this season: twice during league play, and once in the 4A State Championship Finals. They were a tough opponent. Our record this season against Camas: a 1-1 Tie (2 Overtimes), a 1-0 Camas win, and a 1-0 Skyview win (2 Overtimes & PKs).

Skyview High School
Girls Varsity Soccer Team 2025
Season Results (13-2-4) as of 11/6/2025

Central Catholic High School 3-0 Win
Curtis 0-0 Tie
Ridgefield 1-0 Win
Sumner 1-1 Tie
Columbia River 0-0 Tie
Mountain View 7-1 Win
Chiawana 2-1 Win
Prairie 6-1 Win
Rogers (Puyallup) 3-0 Win
Heritage 7-0 Win
Battle Ground 7-0 Win
Camas 1-1 Tie
Union 3-2 Win
Battle Ground 8-0 Win
Camas 0-1 Loss
Union 3-1 Win
Puyallup 1-0 Win
Camas 1-0 Win
Tahoma 0-1 Loss

19 Games as of 11/6/2025
13 Wins
2 Losses
4 Ties
13-2-4

Goals Scored = 54
Goals Given Up = 10

Skyview will now be seeded in the State of Washington overall girls soccer high school Finals for 2025.

Karen and I have attended nearly all the soccer games this 2025 season, as have her parents, as well as Hanna Flinn and Beryl Flinn.

We have enjoyed the play of the entire team and the very good coaching this entire 2025 season.

We, of course, take special interest in the Skyview soccer team Defense.
We carefully watch Goalkeeper Sure-Handed Brynnlee Williams #0, Wing Defender Speedy Leilany Elias Sanchez #8, Center Defender [our Granddaughter] Mean Machine Makenna Flinn #17, and Wing Defender Cannonball Quinn Lundy #9. This stout defense, in addition to all the fine Skyview mid-fielders that helped in defense as needed, recorded 10 shut-out games out of 19, only gave up 2 goals in only one game this season, and only gave up 10 goals total in 19 games.

November 1, 2025, Saturday

Today, at 1 pm, the Skyview HS Girls Varsity Soccer Team (11-1-4) played the Payallup HS team. They played at Kiggins Stadium in Vancouver, WA. We attended.

Skyview won the game 1 to 0.

We are now in the State of Washington Finals. The Skyview team record is now 12-1-4

We play Camas next on 11/4. We have already  played Camas twice this season: a 1-1 Tie (2 Overtimes), and a 1-0 Camas win.

Karen and I and other family members will attend the Skyview/Camas game at the neutral Battleground HS Stadium on 11/4 at 7 pm.

Do You Have Good Mental Health?

Traits and Behaviors of Mental Heath

"Although no group of authorities fully agree on a definition of the term mental health, it seems seems to include several traits and behaviors that are frequently endorsed by leading theorists and therapists (e.g., Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, Rudolf Dreikurs, Fritz Perls, Abraham Maslow, Marie Jahoda, Carol Rodgers, Rollo May, Albert Ellis, etc.).  These include such traits as self-interest, self-direction, social interest, tolerance, acceptance of ambiguity and uncertainty, flexibility, acceptance of social reality, commitment, risk taking, self-acceptance, rationality and scientific thinking.  Not all mentally healthy individuals possess the highest degree of these traits at all times, but when people seriously lack them or when they have extreme opposing behaviors, we often consider them to be at least somewhat emotionally disturbed.  

Self Interest:  Emotionally healthy people are primarily true to themselves and do not subjugate themselves or unduly sacrifice themselves for others.  Realizing that if they do not primarily take care of themselves no one else will, they tend to put themselves first, a few selected others a close second, and the rest of the world not too far behind.

Self-Direction:  Mentally healthy people largely assume responsibility for their own lives, enjoy the independence of mainly working out their own problems, and, while at times wanting or preferring the help of others, do not think that they absolutely must have such support for their effectiveness and well-being.  

Social Interest:  Emotionally and mentally healthy people are normally gregarious and decide to try to live happily in a social group.  Because they want to live successfully with others, and usually to relate intimately to a few of these selected others, they work at feeling and displaying a considerable degree of social interest and interpersonal competence.  

Tolerance:  Emotionally healthy people tend to give other humans the right to be wrong.  While disliking or abhorring other's behavior, they refuse to condemn them as total persons for performing poor behavior.  They fully accept the fact that all humans seem to be remarkably fallible; they refrain from unrealistically demanding and commanding that any of them be perfect; and they desist from damning people in toto when they err.  

Acceptance of Ambiguity and Uncertainty:  Emotionally mature individuals accept the fact that, as far as has yet been discovered, we live in a world of probability and chance, where there are not, and probably ever will be, absolute necessities or complete certainties.  Living in such a world is not only tolerable but, in terms of adventure, learning and striving, can even be very exciting and pleasurable.  

Flexibility:  Emotionally sound people are intellectually flexible, tend to be open to change at all times, and are prone to take an unbigoted (or at least less bigoted) view of the infinitely varied people, ideas, and things in the world around them.  They can be firm and passionate in their thoughts and feelings, and they comfortably look at new evidence and often revise their notions of "reality" to conform with this evidence. 

Acceptance of Social Reality:  Emotionally healthy people, it almost goes without saying, accept was is going on in the world.  This means several important things: (1) they have a reasonably good perception of social reality and do not see things that do not exist and do not refuse to see things that do; (2) they find various aspects of life, in accordance with their own goals and inclination, "good" and certain aspects "bad" ─ but they accept both these aspects, without exaggerating the "good" ones and without denying or whining about the "bad" ones; (3) they do their best to work at changing those aspects of life they view as "bad," to accept those they cannot change, and to acknowledge the difference between the two. 

Commitment:  Emotionally healthy and happy people are usually absorbed in something outside of themselves, whether this be people, things, or ideas.  They seem to live better lives when they have at least one major creative interest, as well as some outstanding human involvement, which they make very important to themselves and around which the structure a good part of their lives.

Risk Taking:  Emotionally sound people are able to take risks.  They ask themselves what they would really like to do in life, and then try to do it, even though they have to risk defeat or failure.  They are reasonably adventurous (though not foolhardy); are will to try almost anything once, if only to see how they like it; and look forward to different or unusual breaks in their usual routines.  

Self-Acceptance:  People who are emotionally healthy are usually glad to be alive and to accept themselves as "deserving" of continued life and happiness just because they exist and because they have some present or future potential to enjoy themselves.  They fully or unconditionally accept themselves.  They try to perform competently in their affairs and win the approval and love of others; but they do so for enjoyment and not for ego gratification or self-deification.  

Rationality and Scientific Thinking:  Emotionally stable people are reasonably objective, rational, and scientific.  They not only construct reasonable and empirically substantiated theories relating to what goes on in the surrounding world (and with their fellow creatures who inhabit this world), but they are also able to supply the rules of logic and of the scientific method to their own lives and their interpersonal relationships. "

-  Albert Ellis, Ph.D.  The Albert Ellis Reader: A Guide to Well-Being Using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, 1998, pp. 235-252.  Based on the 1962 essay titled "The Case Against Religion: A Psychotherapist's View."  


How to Live the Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Virtues

An Old Philosopher's Notebooks

Skyview HS Girls Varsity Soccer

November 4, 2025 Tuesday

Camas Papermakers played against the Skyview Storm (12-1-4).

The game was held at the neutral soccer stadium in Battleground.

The game started at 7 pm. It rained throughout the game. It was around 50F.

The game was, again, a defensive struggle. The two teams played hard and it ended in a 0-0 tie in regulation. Then they played, in the rain, two overtimes; ending again in a 0-0 tie. Then, they did the penalty kick off phase against the goalies. In the dramatic end, Skyview 1 and Camas 0.

Skyview played Camas three times this season: twice during league play, and once in the 4A State Championship Finals. They were a tough opponent. Our record this season against Camas: a 1-1 Tie (2 Overtimes), a 1-0 Camas win, and a 1-0 Skyview win (2 Overtimes & PKs).

Skyview High School
Girls Varsity Soccer Team 2025
Season Results (13-1-4) as of 11/4/2025

Central Catholic High School 3-0 Win
Curtis 0-0 Tie
Ridgefield 1-0 Win
Sumner 1-1 Tie
Columbia River 0-0 Tie
Mountain View 7-1 Win
Chiawana 2-1 Win
Prairie 6-1 Win
Rogers (Puyallup) 3-0 Win
Heritage 7-0 Win
Battle Ground 7-0 Win
Camas 1-1 Tie
Union 3-2 Win
Battle Ground 8-0 Win
Camas 0-1 Loss
Union 3-1 Win
Puyallup 1-0 Win
Camas 1-0 Win
Tahoma

18 Games as of 11/6/2025
13 Wins
1 Loss
4 Ties
13-1-4

Goals Scored = 54
Goals Given Up = 9

Skyview will now be seeded in the State of Washington overall girls soccer high school Finals for 2025.

Karen and I have attended nearly all the soccer games this 2025 season, as have her parents, as well as Hanna Flinn and Beryl Flinn.

We have enjoyed the play of the entire team and the very good coaching this entire 2025 season.

We, of course, take special interest in the Skyview soccer team Defense.
We carefully watch Goalkeeper Sure-Handed Brynnlee Williams #0, Wing Defender Speedy Leilany Elias Sanchez #8, Center Defender [our Granddaughter] Mean Machine Makenna Flinn #17, and Wing Defender Cannonball Quinn Lundy #9. This stout defense, in addition to all the fine Skyview mid-fielders that helped in defense as needed, recorded 10 shut-out games out of 18, only gave up 2 goals in one game this season, and only gave up 9 goals total in 18 games.

November 1, 2025, Saturday

Today, at 1 pm, the Skyview HS Girls Varsity Soccer Team (11-1-4) played the Payallup HS team. They played at Kiggins Stadium in Vancouver, WA. We attended.

Skyview won the game 1 to 0.

We are now in the State of Washington Finals. The Skyview team record is now 12-1-4

We play Camas next on 11/4. We have already  played Camas twice this season: a 1-1 Tie (2 Overtimes), and a 1-0 Camas win.

Karen and I and other family members will attend the Skyview/Camas game at the neutral Battleground HS Stadium on 11/4 at 7 pm.

Beverly Beach State Park OR

I had planned to go yurt camping to the Oregon Coast this week from Monday thru Thursday.

I had reservations at Beverly Beach State Park, Oregon. This campground is located 9 miles north of Newport. I have never yurt camped at Beverly Beach.

The weather report indicates rain every day and night, with rain heavy at times. Winds are expected to be steady, with winds from 15-30 mph. These days are also King Tides - with high tides of 9-11 feet. It is dark for many hours these November days.

I enjoy auto touring the 132 miles from Vancouver Home to Beverly Beach SP. And, up and down the coast from Newport to Lincoln City. However, driving in the rain for four days is less appealing.

Lincoln City OR

Depoe Bay OR

Beverly Beach State Park OR

Newport OR

I decided to cancel my 11/3-11/6 reservation at Beverly Beach State Park. 

Karen and I have toured Newport and Lincoln City many times, alone or with family, and stayed at motels, hotels, resorts, and yurts.

With Beauty Again It Is Finished

"Greeting the Dawn,
This Fruitful Day,
For Sun, Sky, Soil, Water, Plants, Animals, and Mankind
I am so grateful.

Seeing the Light without,
Feeling the Light within,
I walk on. 

Thus joyfully you accomplish your tasks,
Happily will the old men in the fields regard you,
Happily will the children regard you,
Happily will women in their homes regard you;
Happily may our trails lead us in the way of peace. 
Happily may we all return.  

With beauty before me I walk,
With wisdom above me I walk,
With good works around me I walk,
With love it is finished,
With beauty again it is finished!"

Adapted by Mike Garofalo from a Navaho prayer found in Pagan Prayers collected by Marah Ellis Ryan.  

In the summertime, I begin my walk very early, around 5:30, at daybreak.  It is cooler and quieter at this time of day.  A good time for a prayer of thanksgiving to the Great Spirit.  In the winter, as shown below, I walk around 9 am.  

      

I enjoy this painting of a Daoist Sage, an Immortal, smiling, walking in the clouds.  A bottle of magical elixir hangs from his Dragon Cane in one hand, and the Peach of Immortality in his other hand.  There is also a sacred Crane ready to show the way.  

   

"Zen Master Yunmen Wenyan and Shifu Miao Zhang were walking together in the valley behind the temple one cloudy summer morning.  It began to rain steadily on the two old friends.  Yunmen said, “My staff has changed into a dragon and is swallowing up the heaven and earth.  So, my friend, where do mountains, rainfall, rivers and the great earth come from?”
Miao Zhang was quiet for awhile, stopped on the trail, and then held his cane in his hand with the tip pointing to the sky.  He said, “Yunmen, as for the source of their coming, the tip of my cane points to the fecund depths of vast emptiness, the crook end to the endless inter-marriages of ten thousand realities, and my hand grasps the heartwood of the ordinary mind.  So, my friend, Yunmen, where are they all going?” "

-  Shifu Miao Zhang's Koan Collection
   By Mike Garofalo, in Way of the Staff

A repost from 9/2020.  

Skeletons Don't Stand Up

                  The Fireplace Records, Chapter 32

Skeleton's Don't Stand Up

One September day, I was enjoying my morning walk in the Kith of my suburban neighborhood. It was late in the month, nearing Mabon, the Autumnal Equinox.  I passed a home where Halloween decorations were set up attractively in the front yard. There were plastic skeletons, pumpkins, a scythe, ghouls, gravestones, and wee-folk statues, etc. Flimsy ghosts hung from ropes.  I stopped and stared for awhile.

The skeleton was propped up so as to be standing with one arm upraised. I pondered this position.  Real skeletons are always the final remains of lying down dead animals; they don't stand up and wave to us.

Are our Halloween characters and symbols a way of challenging death, spitting on our fears, laughing in the face of death, making fun of death; or, honoring the dying and dead?

We imagine and invent all kinds of scary monsters: ghosts, ghouls, demons, devils, Big Foots, UFO aliens, gremlins ... We pretend they exist, we search for them, we fear them.  We also delight in being safely afraid as with horror films and with televised specials about vampires, the walking-dead, devils, and hundreds of X-Files searches. We fear death and destruction, and delight in inventions and fictions that represent that outcome. Real threats like cancer, heart disease, earthquakes, floods, landslides, famines, and wildfires seldom have a projected Face, and are not often personified nowadays. The ancient Pagans did have many gods and goddesses that personified nature's destructive forces. Some Christians nowadays often say that God caused a flood or disaster because American society tolerates homosexuals or atheists and, therefore, everyone deserves punishment. 

There are not many Zen Koans dealing with scary supernatural beings.  Just a few: a monk reincarnated as a fox (GB 2), a monstrous serpent in a cave (SAM 37, SAM 24), an evil underworld badger (SAM 47), a hearth spirit (OM 31), an turtle-nosed snake (ZE 34), a blood-sucking toad (SAM 34), a doppelganger nun (GB 35), demons (OM 3, OM 15). Sometimes, a Zen priest is called to exorcise the evil creature, but they don't seem willing to get involved. 

The Zen Masters often play along with folk superstitious, like Father Don Manuel in Miguel de Unamuno's novella "Saint Manuel Bueno, Martyr." The priest plays the role of a Catholic believer so as to reduce the suffering and provide some harmless contentment for his appreciative and adoring peasant parishioners. But Father Don Manuel does not really believe in an after-life, Catholic dogmas, or supernatural beings. Like the Buddha, reducing suffering is the primary goal of his actions in the world.

Comments, Sources, Observations

Our primitive fears of the darkness of the night often breeds imaginary creatures.
X-Files actors often find themselves with flashlights in the dark.
Fictions are often fun, but still fictions.
Some people believe that Harry Potter is a real person, existing.
Pretending is essential to Play.

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans  Look under the subject headings of "supernatural beings," "demons," or "snakes."

Meetings with Master Chang San-Feng 

One Old Taoist Druid's Journey  Plenty of Animal Spirits and Wee-Folk Discussed.

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records  By Michael P. Garofalo

More like a UFO Alien than a Skeleton
You get the idea: darkness, fear, evil

  

Sean and Alicia Flinn: 25th Wedding Anniversary

Our daughter, Alicia June Garofalo Flinn has been married for 25 years to Sean Flinn.
They raised two daughters. They are respected by friends and family. They have enjoyed
a comfortable and interesting lifestyle.

Alicia and Sean have lived near Karen and I since 2017. Are homes are only 8 miles apart. We both live in the unincorporated areas of Clark County (population 570,000), Washington.

To celebrate, Karen and I gave the couple an engraved hardwood cutting board and an external hard disk drive with 50,000 photographs from our family collection.

Preparing for Halloween

 

 

Here is how our front porch looked when decorated for Halloween Day.  
We decorated our home in Red Bluff, California, from 1998-2017.  
Notice the five spherical white spectral (ghostly) visitors coming to "trick or treat" at our front door.    

"To all the ancient ones from their houses, the Old Ones from above and below. In this time the Gods of the Earth touch our feet, bare upon the ground. Spirits of the Air whisper in our hair and chill our bodies,  and from the dark portions watch and wait the Faery Folk that they may join the circle and leave their track upon the ground. It is the time of the waning year. Winter is upon us. The corn is golden in the winnow heaps. Rains will soon wash sleep into the life-bringing Earth. We are not without fear, we are not without sorrow...Before us are all the signs of Death: the ear of corn is no more green and life is not in it. The Earth is cold and no more will grasses spring jubilant. The Sun but glances upon his sister, the earth..... It is so....Even now....But here also are the signs of life, the eternal promise given to our people. In the death of the corn there is the seed--which is both food for the season of Death and the Beacon which will signal green-growing time and life returning. In the cold of the Earth there is but sleep wherein She will awaken refreshed and renewed, her journey into the Dark Lands ended. And where the Sun journeys he gains new vigor and potency; that in the spring, his blessings shall come ever young!"
-  Two Samhain Rituals, Compost Coveners, 1980 

  

"Tonight as the barrier between the two realms grows thin,
Spirits walk amongst us, once again.
They be family friends and foes,
Pets and wildlife, fishes and crows.
But be we still mindful of the Wee Folke at play,
Elves, fey, brownies, and sidhe.
Some to trick, some to treat,
Some to purposely misguide our feet. 
Stay we on the paths we know 
As planting sacred apples we go.

This Feast I shall leave on my doorstep all night.
In my window one candle shall burn bright,
To help my loved ones find their way
As they travel this eve, and this night, until day.
Bless my offering, both Lady and Lord
Of breads and fruits, greens and gourd."
-  Akasha, Samhain Ritual  

Samhain

Halloween,

The Day of the Dead

 

October: Poems

Quotes

Lore

  

The entrance to our front driveway in Red Bluff featured a seasonal display that Karen prepared from 1998-2017. 
Karen is petting our cat, King Tut, in the early morning hours. 

We now (2020) live in Vancouver, Washington.  

Halloween Pumpkin Carving

 

We enjoyed a pumpkin carving party with 9 people this last Sunday.  Karen had made chili beans, cornbread, and chocolate cake for the party.  We have done this for four years in Vancouver.

Halloween-Samhain-Otherworld Day Customs, Lore and Activities
By Michael P. Garofalo

Halloween, October 31st, Welsh Samhain, All Hallows Eve, Day of the Dead     
Summer's End, Hallowmas, All Saint's Day, Shadow Fest, Martinmas, Old Hallowmas, Nut Crack Night
Beginning of the Winter/Dark Season, Otherworld Borders Day, Ancestors' Night, Hallowed Evening
Winter Nights, The Last Harvest, Feast of the Apples, Great Rite, New Year's Day for Witches, Day for the Ancestors
Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico, and in many other Hispanic and Catholic Cultures
A Day to Remember and Honor Dead Relatives and all the Ancestors and the Great Traditions 
1st Celebration in the NeoPagan Holy Day Annual Cycle or Wiccan Wheel of the Year 

"The eve of the New Year or Oidhche Shamhna was a gap in time. Thus, the spirits from the Otherworld could enter into our world. Rituals on Oidhche Shamhna include providing hospitality to the dead ancestors. They welcomed the dead with food and drink and left the windows and doors of their homes open for the dead to enter. But all spirits from the Otherworld were not good; there were evil spirits too. To keep evil spirits away from their home, they carved images of spirit-guardians onto turnips and placed them at the doors of their homes. As part of the festivities young people wore strange costumes and moved around the village, pretending to be dead spirits visiting from the Otherworld. The Celts believed that on the eve of New Year not only did the boundary between this world and the Otherworld dissolve, but the structure of society dissolved too. Boys and girls would dress up as members of the opposite sex and play pranks on the elders."
-   Celtic New Year  

"Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the jack-o-lantern.  Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin.  However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray.  Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household.  (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o-lantern of choice.)  Bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a Pagan 'baptism' rite called a 'seining', according to some writers.  The water-filled tub is a latter-day Cauldron of Regeneration, into which the novice's head is immersed.  The fact that the participant in this folk game was usually blindfolded with hands tied behind the back also puts one in mind of a traditional Craft initiation ceremony."
-   Mike Nichols, All Hallow's Eve

 

B. K. S. Iyengar and Yoga

Iyengar, B.K.S.  1918-2014 Yogacharya Iyengar

The renowned Yoga Grand Master (Yogacharya) B. K. S. Iyengar was born in Bellur, Karnataka, India on December 14, 1918; and died at the age of 96 on August 20, 2014..  He has taught in Pune, India, since 1936; and all around the world.  "Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, (B. K. S. Iyengar)  is the founder of Iyengar Yoga. He is considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world and has been practicing and teaching yoga for more than 75 years. He has written many books on yoga practice and philosophy, and is best known for his books Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, and Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  Iyengar yoga classes are offered throughout the world, and it is believed that millions of students practice Iyengar Yoga." 

Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom  By B.K.S. Iyengar.  With John J. Evans and Douglas Abrams.  Rodale Books, 2005.  Index, 282 pages.  ISBN: 1594862486.  VSCL. 

Light on Prānāyāma: The Yogic Art of Breathing  By B.K.S. Iyengar.  Introduction by Yehudi Menuhin.  New York, Crossroad Pub. Co., 2012.  Originally published in 1985 in English.  Index, glossary, appendices, 296 pages.  ISBN: 9780824506865.  VSCL.

Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.   By B. K. S. Iyengar.  Foreword by Yehudi Menuhin.  London, Thorsons, 1993.  Index, 337 pages.  ISBN: 1855382253.  VSCL. 

Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika.   B.K.S. Iyengar.  New York, Schocken Books, 1966, Revised Edition 1977, 1979.  Glossary, index, 544 pages.  ISBN: 0805210318.   Subtitle: Yoga Dipika.  I own the revised paperback edition, 1979.  VSCL.   

 
Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health  By B.K.S. Iyengar.  London, Dorling Kindersley, 2001.  Index, glossary, appendices, 415 pages.  ISBN: 0789471655.  Lavishly illustrated compendium of essential poses, routines, prop use, and yoga routines to help specific health problems.  VSCL.   

 

                

 

Books by "Iyengar Yoga" Teachers

Yoga: The Iyengar Way.  By Mira Silva and Shyam Mehta.  New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.  Index, appendices, 192 pages.  ISBN: 0679722874.  A very good reference tool for the study and practice of yoga poses.  VSCL. 

Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco

 

   

Low Tide at Heceta

Low Tide at Heceta

By Mike Garofalo

At the Edges of the West
Highway 101 and 1
Northwest Pacific Coast

Four Days in Grayland

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works

Hecate in Mythology

Best Tidepools in Oregon

Heceta Head Lighthouse

"Heceta Head was a spot of frequent fishing and hunting by the American Indian tribes that populated the area. Heceta Head is part of the Siuslaw traditional lands, known in their language as ɫtúwɪs. They hunted sea lions in the area and gathered sea bird eggs from the offshore rocks. It was also the site of a legend—the Animal People built a great stone wall, which is now the cliffs, and tricked the Grizzly Bear brothers to their deaths there. In 1888, white settlers moved into the area and claimed 164 acres of the surrounding land."

25 Steps and Beyond:
The Collected Works of Mike Garofalo

Photos from the Internet and Facebook:

           

Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast: An Illustrated Guide to Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.  By Eugene N. Kozloff.  University of Washington, 1983, 378 pages.  A technical scientific presentation.

The New Beachcomber's Guide to the Pacific Northwest.  By J. Duane Sept. Harbor Publishing, 2019, 416 pages.

Seashore of the Pacific Northwest.  By Ian Sheldon.  Lone Pine, 1998, 192 pages.

The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans.  By Cynthia Barnett.  W.W. Norton, 2021, 432 pages.

                    

• Acorn and Gooseneck Barnacles
• Limpets
• California Mussels
• Hermit Crabs
• Chitons
• Sea Stars (more commonly known as Starfish)
• Sea Cucumbers
• Anemones
• Sea Slugs
• Turban Snails
• Purple Sea Urchins
• Various Fish Species
• Purple Shore Crabs
• Kelp and Sea Palms

       

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 81

Daodejing by Laozi
Chapter 81


"Truth has no need for fine words;
Fine words may not be true words.
The man of Tao does not try to convince by argument:
He who argues is not a man of Tao.
Wisdom does not consist in knowing everything;
The know-alls do not know the Tao.
The Sage does not hoard. The more he spends himself for others, the more he enriches himself.
The more he fives, the more he gains.
For the Tao of Heaven penetrates all things but harms none.
This, too, is the Tao of the Sage, who acts without contending."
-  Translated by Herman Ould, 1946, Chapter 81  


"Words born of the mind are not true
True words are not born of the mind
Those who have virtue do not look for faults
Those who look for faults have no virtue
Those who come to know it do not rely on learning
Those who rely on learning do not come to know it
The Sage sees the world as an expansion of his own self
So what need has he to accumulate things?
By giving to others he gains more and more
By serving others he receives everything
Heaven gives and all things turn out for the best
The Sage lives, and all things go as Tao goes all things move as the wind blows"
-  Translated by Jonathan Star, 2001, Chapter 81


Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere.
Those who are skilled in the Tao do not dispute about it; the disputatious are not skilled in it.
Those who know the Tao are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.
The sage does not accumulate for himself.
The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own;
The more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.
With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven, it injures not;
Wth all the doing in the way of the sage he does not strive."
-  Translated by James Legge, 1891, Chapter 81  

"True words are not fine-sounding;
Fine-sounding words are not true.
A good man does not argue;
he who argues is not a good man.
The wise one does not know many things;
He who knows many things is not wise.

The Sage does not accumulate for himself.
He lives for other people,
And grows richer himself;
He gives to other people,
And has greater abundance.

The Tao of Heaven
Blesses, but does not harm.
The Way of the Sage
Accomplishes, but does not contend."
-  Translated by Lin Yutang, 1955, Chapter 81

信言不美.
美言不信.
善者不辯.
辯者不善.
知者不博.
博者不知.
聖人不積.
既以為人己愈有.
既以與人己愈多.
天之道利而不害.
聖人之道為而不爭.-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 81

xin yan bu mei.
mei yan bu xin.
shan zhe bu bian.
bian zhe bu shan.
zhi zhe bu bo,
bo zhe bu zhi.
sheng ren bu ji.
ji yi wei ren ji yu you.
ji yi yu ren ji yu duo.
tian zhi dao li er bu hai.
sheng ren zhi dao wei er bu zheng.
-  Pinyin Romanization, Daodejing, Chapter 81

"Sincere words are not fine,

Fine words are not sincere,

The Faithful friend will stick to the end,

But the flatterer tickles the ear.

The skillful do not debate,

Debaters lack in skill,

For truth is found by looking around,

And words are weapons of ill.

The knowing are not most learned,

The most learned do not know,

For knowledge is grown from thought alone,

While learning from others must grow.

The sage lays up no treasure,

No hoard of goods or gold,

For they who keep a store-house deep,

A constant watch must hold.

The more he works for others

The more he works for his own,

For it grows by use, is lost by abuse,

And he gathers by what he has sown.

The more he gives away,

The more does he have himself,

For thought's a thing that from thought will spring,

Which is quite the reverse of pelf.

The Way of Heaven is sharp,

But it never will cut nor wound,

For they who swim with the flowing stream

Will ever be safe and sound.

T'is the way of the sage to act,

He acts but never strives,

For striving breaks whatever it makes,

And only a wreck survives."
-  Translated by Isaac Winter Heysinger, 1903, Chapter 81 

"Credible words do not sound pretty, pretty words are not credible.
A nice person is not good at arguing, a person who is good at arguing is not nice.
A person who has real knowledge does not show off,
A person who shows off does not have real knowledge.
Great men do not accumulate things for themselves.
The more they do for others, the more they have,
The more they give to others, the more they get.
The law of the heavens is to benefit everything without harming it,
The law of great men is to do things for the world without fighting for the credit."
-  Translated by Xiaolin Yang, Chapter 81


"Sincere words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not sincere.
Good men are not argumentative, the argumentative are not good.
One who knows is not erudite; the erudite one does not know.
The sage does not take to hoarding.
The more he lives for others, the fuller is his life.
The more he gives, the more he abounds.
The Way of Heaven benefits and does not harm.
The Way of the sage works and does not compete with anyone."
-  Translated by Tien Cong Tran, Chapter 81

"Believed words lack embellishment
 Embellished words lack belief.
Those who value lack argument
Those who argue lack valuing
Those who know lack learning
Those who learn lack knowing.
The sages are without accumulating
Grasping, it happens they act
Others later gain presence
Grasping, it happens they give
Others later gain abundance.
The Tao of the heavens
Benefitting yet without spoiling
The Tao of the sages
Acting yet without contending."
-  Translated by David Lindauer, Chapter 81 

"Las palabras sinceras no son agradables, las palabras agradables no son sinceras.
Las buenas personas no son discutidoras, las discutidoras no son buenas.
Las personas sabias no son eruditas, las eruditas no son sabias.
El Sabio no toma nada para acaparar, cuanto más vive para los demás, más plena es su vida.
Cuanto más da, más nada en la abundancia.
La Ley del Cielo es beneficia, no perjudicar.
La Ley del sabio es cumplir su deber, no luchar contra nadie."
-  Translated in English by John C. H. Wu, Spanish version by Alfonso Colodrón, 2007, Capítulo 81   


"Faithful words may not be beautiful,
Beautiful words may not be faithful.
Those who love do not quarrel,
Those who quarrel do not love.
Those who know are not learned,
Those who are learned do not know.
The riches of the self-controlled man are in the Inner Life.
When he spends for others, he has more for himself.
When he gives to others, he has much more for himself.
Heavenly Tao blesses all and hurts no one.
The way of the self-controlled man is to act and not to fight."
-  Translated by Isabella Mears, 1916, Chapter 81  


"Sincere words and not pretty.
Pretty words are not sincere.
Good people do not quarrel.
Quarrelsome people are not good.
The wise are not learned.
The learned are not wise.
The Sage is not acquisitive - Has enough By doing for others,
Has even more By giving to others.
Heaven's Tao Benefits and does not harm.
The Sage's Tao Acts and does not contend."
-  Translated by Stephen Addis, 1993, Chapter 81  



A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Chapter.  These are hypertext documents, and available online under Creative Commons 4.

  
Chapter 81, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.  Compiled and indexed by Mike Garofalo.  

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List

A Solitary Daoist Neopagan's Final Journey  

An Old Philosopher's Notebooks

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons