"If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve." Lao Tzu

The wonder of the world is not in all the wonderful excitement that we run into or have created as man. The excitement is really in each of us. It is a moment of awe, an expression of hope, a point of enjoying the now. Whether you are observing an overwhelming natural beauty or the glory of the ordinary celebrated to the fullest. We are the wonder, without having to look beyond. Though sometimes there is great joy in the looking. :) 

Lao Tzu is discussing the true nature of man. We tend to hesitate and resist taking risk in our lives. Because we value life we refrain from living. This is a quandary I have never had.I have never been afraid of risk. I did not hesitate to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I have studied combative arts my whole life. Grasping life is about grabbing hold of the horns and not letting go.

I do not seek death that is not the business I am in. I am seeking life. I grasp it. 

I fully admit that when I gained my samurai spirit in my youth I did not think there would be anything that I would want to hold onto bad enough, making me, by Lao Tzu standards truly free. I did find something though. Something I wanted to hold onto. And things do change, and times change, and situations change, and a part of me will never ever, ever want to let go. I know that now.

It is a part of me as surely as the great yang,  Taiyang, the Sun, will rise on the morrow. I do not regret this choice, I embrace probably for the first time in a long while, that I have no intention letting change be completely free with my life. I have drawn a line in the sand and intend on fighting, against the odds. But no matter what life holds, or destination, I will not be cowered by this task. I am not daunted by it's immensity. I am not deterred by the fact that not all the choices are within my power. For if you are willing to give everything. even your life, to a cause it is very very hard to fail. This is how I face things. A duel, a challenge. Even if I am not successful I will go to my grave knowing that I tried. The willingness to go all the way. This is a power that has no equal. Enough philosophy now about my favorite new pastry. : )

 So this is my current favorite street food. It is a steamed bun filled with your choice of meat, spicy noodles, or veggies. I tend to like the veggies and the pork. The price is right at about 1.5 RMB per bun. I just noticed you have a really great shot of my damaged thumb, here, this is what you get when you use your thumb to pry open a pitbulls mouth. FYI. I was successful but it cost me. :) 

  So in ancient times the phoenix represented the female dragon in Chinese mythology. Later this female bird (dragon) and her male counterpart became to symbol for marriage. This is the representation of the blessings of the divine masculine and divine feminine in true courtship. Marriage not just on this plane but marriage accepted by the heavens themselves. I chose the Phoenix Eye Dragon Claw name for my school before I knew of this symbology. It however fits very well with my teachings and the 'marriage' of concepts that was the origin of my primary art. 

These little gold statues are all over Kunshan. IF they did not cost as much, or more, than an entirety of one of my future paychecks there are a few of them I would love to have. They are made of pure gold. I am not sure of the exact process used but the details on them are exquisite. They usually have the gold value posted and the price of them are usually only the going rate for the gold value they represent and nothing more.

I finally decided to remind the bosses that my contract is supposed to give me two days off a week. Now they are scrambling to rearrange my schedule. As apparently I am a hot item as far as being an English Teacher. I am having regular visits by the Chinese Teaching Staff to learn from me and my methods. Nothing like a little job security. I have VIPs asking for me specifically  I have not been a person that usually would use such a thing to gain a personal advantage. I think I have managed to find a new me emerging, I have spent WAY too much of my life being the good guy because it was right, and paying dearly because doing what was right or standing aside was prudent rather than buck the system for personal benefit. But I will not be allowing that to happen to me anymore. We will have to see where the chips fall.

Soon I will be setting up a series of shots of the Pharmacy that supports the TCM Hospital right behind my apartment. I will soon be the envy of all my old friends at AOMA. There is a fully stocked raw herb department of the pharmacy takes up most of the second floor of the place. I need to purchase some more needles for practicing and working on my cold some more so that it does not get worse. Damn cold wet weather. I thought it was going to take a break but looks like that is not the case. 

 What's with the monkey and the bug? This is along the hand carved water way I discovered the other day. I will try to get back over there. I think there are statues for all the signs of the zodiac. I hope to make sure to get some shots of the whole series. I will be featuring my zodiac sign of course. So coming soon will be a featurette on the Cock. :) 

This Nescafe crap does cut it as far as replacing coffee.  It allows me to ingest something resembling a cup of cheap cocoa powder mix with enough caffeine to keep me from dying but that is about it. Please if you are following me let others know. I would love to start getting more followers and some more comments. I have some ideas to do a few more series of focused blogs on training and such I just have been limited in getting out in the rain and cold with my sore throat and work schedule. So I am making do with what I can. Soon to be more much more. 

 Temple dogs. The are often represented with one carrying a ball and the other a cub. One with its mouth open the other shut. This represents a powerful and simple protection by symbolizing the speaking of the Tibetan AUM. Or more often referred to as OM. A symbol of infinite power and protection. For centuries the dogs stand at the entrance of houses and temples and repel evil by being the embodiment of OM. The manifest and unmanifested aspects of the divine. The power of god spoken from the mouth of dogs. I like it. 

 Well I have brought you from the risks, and benefits, of fighting for ones life to the spoken manifestation of the Divine and even snacked along the way.  Tell others about this journey. More that know and can share, the more I can confirm my path, that I have chosen, is the right one.

Jia Jian