The Lantern Festival

A Little Bit About 元宵節 Tomorrow the first full moon of the New Lunar Year arrives marking  the time of China’s Lantern Festival.  Falling near the 15th day of the first month of the new year, this is a holiday that is often observed as the culmination of the New Year celebrations. In the cosmology …

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The Eyes of Daruma

The Daruma doll (達磨) is a round, Japanese doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen Buddhism and known to us as Tamo. Typically it depicts the Indian monk Bodhidharma in red, but the one that was given to me is garbed in white. The Daruma has a design that is rich in symbolism and can be regarded as a talisman of good luck or a …

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