Day 3583: Struggle.

 

 

"Struggle": ink drawing, junk mail collage, digital.

 

Want music?

Click here: Earth, Wind & Fire, Reasons.

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2GN2S ...

 How a female Buddhist monk became one of Asia's most revered chefs

Winner of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants Icon Award: Chef Jeong Kwan was the recipient of the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants Icon Award in 2022. A Buddhist monk, she has gained fans around the world for her vegetarian "temple cuisine" that showcases the best of Korean produce.

temple cuisine? Temple cuisine is part of Jeong Kwan's Buddhist practice. It connects physical and mental energy together by maximizing the taste and nutrition of the plant-based ingredients.

Jeong Kwan's 'happy place': Jeong Kwan and fellow nuns and monks tend the garden daily. It's one of her favorite places in the temple.

Freshest ingredients: Jeong Kwan's cooking is vegan and made without garlic, onions, scallions, chives or leeks.

Fermenting ingredients: In addition to fresh vegetables from the garden, Jeong Kwan also ferments ingredients in the temple. She has jars of soy sauces, bean pastes and picked radishes that have been brewing in jars for more than two decades. These are her most treasured possessions in the temple.

Practicing Buddhism through her cooking: "To me, cooking is not about being fancy or showing off difficult skills but becoming one with the ingredients. When I am cooking, I think of the ingredients as if they are a part of me. When using water and fire to cook vegetables, I feel we have become one," says Jeong Kwan.

Nature's magic: "It is the work of nature. It's magical how by fermenting, you change the energy of the original ingredient," says Jeong Kwan.

A life in nature: Jeong Kwan says she has yearned for a life in nature since she was very young. She left home to become a nun in a temple in 1974, when she was 17 years old.

 

Update ...

 

Marriage Rocks!

I was thinking about marriage.

I always thought marriage was forever.

My parents were divorced when I was 5.

So though I didn't understand why,  I did know 

at that early age that it could be broken.

Nearly sixty years ago on June 22,1962  

I was married at age 21, for 32 years.

Can I tell you a little story?

Meoto Iwa, Ise, Mie, Japan

Every day, an old married couple watches the sunset from a tranquil coastal spot at Ise in Japan’s southern Mie prefecture. Connected to one another by a rope woven from rice straw, husband and wife sit quietly as the sun dips from view. Every morning, when day breaks, the couple can be found in exactly the same spot—still tied together, still standing sentinel.

The rock-like stoicism of this couple makes sense when you consider that they are, quite literally, rocks.  In Shinto religion, the  majority faith of Japan, spirits known as kami are believed to inhabit people, places, and objects in the natural world. 

Izanagi

The larger rock, about 30 feet tall, embodies Izanagi, the male, while the smaller rock, standing around 12 feet, is the female Izanami. The rope that bonds them in matrimony is a shimenawa, a sacred Shinto object often placed over shrines and gates to ward off evil spirits. The rope uniting the Meoto Iwa frays quickly due to the wind and waves, and must be replaced three times per year.

  

Diagram of where the sun rises from

sunset at Meoto Iwa

A popular and beautiful site.

Great story ?

 

 

 

An interesting 2-minute video, snooze sleep, here.

 

Just because ...

 

 

Black-throated Tit

 

 

Smiles for Saturday ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

                                                               Thanks for coming by today.