2009.02.09 01:00 - Two of the most exciting PaB guardians

Gaya was the guardian for this session and comments are hers. Soon after I arrived at the playgoda, Fefonz joined me.

Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Fefonz :)
Fefonz Quan: Hi Gaya :)
Gaya Ethaniel: How are you?
Fefonz Quan: good :), and you?
Gaya Ethaniel: Well thank you :)
Gaya Ethaniel: How is your PaB practice/experiment going?
Fefonz Quan: well, didn't practice a lot during the weekend, though
Fefonz Quan: I do some meditation occasionally, which is a little similar for me
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Gaya Ethaniel: Do you have anything in particular you want to discuss?
Fefonz Quan: i can think of some things :)
Gaya Ethaniel: You don't have to :)
Fefonz Quan: do you have anything of a kind?
Gaya Ethaniel: hm... let me think... that means not at the moment :)
Fefonz Quan: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm not one of the exciting guardians...
Fefonz Quan: don't be harsh with youself :)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Funnily I have less and less things to say
Fefonz Quan: that doesn't sound so bad
Fefonz Quan: less and less thi...
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm making people bored quick which comes handy with some strange people in SL :)
Fefonz Quan: well, I guess. my experience in SL is mostly Pab & kira
Gaya Ethaniel: It was like that for me for many months until I decided to step out and explore
Fefonz Quan: and where have thou voyages taken you?
Gaya Ethaniel: Many places... some are totally empty and deserted
Gaya Ethaniel: Many people RP as I do as geisha
Fefonz Quan: RP?
Gaya Ethaniel: Role playing
Gaya Ethaniel: One can pretend to be a dragon in some places for example
Gaya Ethaniel: Or an Victorian lady
Gaya Ethaniel: Many places to cater RP in SL
Fefonz Quan: i see
Gaya Ethaniel: I got bored of them quick though
Fefonz Quan: do you enjoy gayshing ? (i knew you do that only vaguely)
Gaya Ethaniel: Without meaningful group activities, I didn't think much of it
Fefonz Quan likes the birds here
Gaya Ethaniel: Well I enjoy it simply because I learn new things about Japanese culture through it... but as with many things, there are things I don't like much
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes it's lovely here :)
Gaya Ethaniel: I have become librarian at my school so a lot of interesting things to do also
Gaya Ethaniel: I am thinking of gathering information on Japanese literature
Fefonz Quan: that sounds nice
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes, currently working on Japanese poetry
Fefonz Quan: in SL library, does it have the full books?
Gaya Ethaniel: We have a few books that are properly licensed by the authors at the school library
Gaya Ethaniel: There are many other libraries in SL too I believe
Gaya Ethaniel: Ours is a private and small one
Fefonz Quan nods
Fefonz Quan: i read now a book about the Yakuza, written by a zen/buddhism professor that spent a few years with them
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Fefonz Quan: one of his friends there was in prison for years, and wrote there Heiko songs
Fefonz Quan: some extremely beautiful for my opinion
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Gaya Ethaniel: What got you to read the book in the first place?
Fefonz Quan: i'll try to translate the one that remember most:
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Fefonz Quan: "In the prison library, i pick a flower from the plants guide book"
Gaya Ethaniel: One becomes more appreciative of small things in prisons maybe :)
Fefonz Quan: (i might spoiled the last words, i don’t know how to call the book that have all kinds of plants definitions in English)
Fefonz Quan: i guess.
Gaya Ethaniel: Less distractions available for sure in prisons
Gaya Ethaniel: Thanks it's lovely :)
Fefonz Quan: the reason i got that book, is that i've read some books of the author, mainly about zen, and heard some lectures on buddhism,
Fefonz Quan: and he is a very inspiring man,
Gaya Ethaniel: What's his name?
Fefonz Quan: Yaakov Raz
Fefonz Quan: not sure they are translated to english
Gaya Ethaniel: Doesn't seem that way
Fefonz Quan: i find that he combines the academic ability for lecturing and going into details, with profound practice and involvement in Buddhism
Gaya Ethaniel: Not in Korean either (sometimes Koreans translate Hebrew books before the English)
Fefonz Quan: which is a rare combination
Gaya Ethaniel: Sounds interesting indeed
Gaya Ethaniel: Is he Buddhist himself?
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm guessing not somehow
Fefonz Quan: i would say so, tough i find it hard to define "buddhist" sometimes
Gaya Ethaniel: :) true
Fefonz Quan: he is not a monk, but surely practices a lot of the buddhist ways
Fefonz Quan: (why did you guess not?)
Gaya Ethaniel: A lot of academics who teach religions I've seen don't practice the religion they research but that's my experience
Fefonz Quan: that's why i think he is unique in a way.
Gaya Ethaniel: ah... I see
Fefonz Quan: i think that in a way "buddhist" is a contradiction in term somehow
Gaya Ethaniel: How so?
Fefonz Quan: i guess it won't be true for all lineages, but if the ultimate goal
Fefonz Quan: is emptiness of definitions, identities, self etc.
Fefonz Quan: so this term is also just an empty definition in a way
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes I see what you mean
Gaya Ethaniel: I was just thinking about Wol's email
Gaya Ethaniel: Re: identity and religion
Fefonz Quan: yes, it was an interesting paragraph
Gaya Ethaniel: And why those academics don't research their own religions generally
Fefonz Quan: many of those academics are atheist though :)
Fefonz Quan: i didn't agree also that one can't analyse his own religion/beliefs
Gaya Ethaniel ponders...
Fefonz Quan: analyze
Gaya Ethaniel: It's a complex question this
Fefonz Quan: i can even argue the opposite, some involvement gives you much more real information than outside dry observation
Fefonz Quan: can you teach cooking if you never tasted the stew?
Gaya Ethaniel ponders...
Gaya Ethaniel: So religion in a way is something one needs to experience in order to research?
Gaya Ethaniel: Observation is not enough you mean
Fefonz Quan: in a way tha's what i mean.
Gaya Ethaniel: ah ok
Fefonz Quan: i would say that you can get a lot of data from outside
Fefonz Quan: but someting will be missing
Fefonz Quan: something* (my SL accent is horrible :))
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Fefonz Quan: it's funny, because of the delay i guess, you answer shows almost the same time with my response
Gaya Ethaniel: It can be unpredictable sometimes with lags
Fefonz Quan: it gives a weird sense of causality provoked
Gaya Ethaniel: Does it?
Fefonz Quan: like you read my responses before i put them in :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Some people prefer me having typing animation on so that they can see if I'm typing
Gaya Ethaniel: :) or we thought same thing at the same time
Fefonz Quan: i started suspecting SL telepathy , since teleportation is easy, why not that?
Fefonz Quan: :)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Fefonz Quan enjoy the silence
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Gaya Ethaniel: Any suggestion for the session title?
Fefonz Quan ponders...
Fefonz Quan: two non exciting guardians ;-)
Gaya Ethaniel: heheheh
Gaya Ethaniel: Thanks will use it :)
Fefonz Quan: o-ow...
Fefonz Quan: sure, go ahead :)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Gaya Ethaniel: Have a good day then Fefonz. Nice seeing you
Fefonz Quan: nice meeting you too Gaya :)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles and waves