Happy Valentine's Day, Christy!

For Christy...

Doesn't get better than this. With the holidays gone, the vendors are scrambling for Valentine's Day sales already - and this mall kiosk has none other than the Happy Buddha wishing you a romantic day!

Photo taken at Puente Hills Mall, City of Industry, California. This mall is in a very Chinese area, only a mile from Hsi Lai Temple, where I had taken tons of Buddhist photos last spring.

I'll be returning to Hsi Lai when my new car gets its vanity plates. Until then, I'll have to get back to my Korea/Hong Kong photos, edit them, and actually upload them. Sorry for the continuing delays.

Chinese and Japanese Gardening

As I promised - photos from my visit to The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens today. My emphasis today was on Chinese and Japanese gardening, though there is a lot more to see here, including a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, some British art, and even fake Greek vases.

These lions guard the entrance to the new Chinese garden, just opened this year. Gardeners were flown in from Suzhou, a city famed for its water gardens, to create this one. Suzhou also provided the Sun Yat-sen Garden in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1986, though this one is much bigger and prettier.

Water lilies on the pond, with some buildings and a covered corridor in the back.

A pagoda in the middle. Love the architecture!

Another view of the pond, highlighting a stone bridge.

Some bonsai trees at the Chinese garden. Bonsai is normally understood as a Japanese art form, but the Chinese also have it.

Tiles. These contrasting shapes follow the Taoist yin-yang philosophy - a harmony of opposites.

The main entrance gate. The characters are read right-to-left. They are pronounced "Liu Fang Yuan," meaning "Garden of Flowing Fragrance."

Another shot of the pond, showing the vegetation of the Chinese garden with the San Gabriel Mountains in the back.

The Japanese garden is a short walk away, and existed for decades, with its components coming in from neighboring Pasadena, where a Japanese garden previously existed and failed. One of the components is this bridge.

Another component is a traditional Japanese house, complete with this tea room.

Some old pine trees on rocky terrain.

The Zen Garden. The raked gravel signifies water waves. The Japanese call this Karesansui, or "Dry Landscape Garden."

Some of the dozens of bonsai trees, of all species and sizes, maintained next to the Zen Garden.

I walked through a bamboo forest to leave the Japanese garden - and as I looked back, I saw lions again!

Well, this isn't really Asian art, but I threw this in for Woz and Kangaroo; there is also an outstanding Australian garden at Huntington, as seen here.

Before I left, I took in a temporary exhibition of Los Angeles photographs, running from the 1870s through today, showing the triumphs, the sorrows, and the explosive development of Los Angeles and the surrounding region. One note from those photos: Los Angeles around 1910 was a hotbed of "open shop," or anti-union, movement, and pro-labor saboteurs ended up bombing the Los Angeles Times headquarters for its hardcore unionbusting activities.

My original plan was to continue to the cool ocean and see the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro, but I was too exhausted to continue (the drive is 30 miles!). I had to cool down at the Huntington's bookstore, where I continued to take in Chinese and Japanese art - including a statue of Kwan Yin. (No photos allowed in the store, sorry!)

I probably won't post any more artwork until I arrive in Seoul. Hoping to become a modern-day Kwan Yin during my retreat - I really wish I could hear people's cries and do something about it.

More Asian art coming soon

I just spent this hot afternoon at Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, located in San Marino, California. It's had a nice Japanese garden for decades, and this year gained a Chinese garden as well.

I'll post photos and share some of my experiences shortly. But for now, I need a nap - I am completely knocked out from the heat.

A Korean bell - in America!

Click the photo for details.

As stated before, I am preparing for a long-term stay in Seoul, and will be sending in lots of artwork photos from there. I will also try to go to other South Korean cities for even more traditional artwork.

But it's not necessary to go all the way to Korea for a look at a traditional Korean bell. As it turns out, one fine example sits right here in Los Angeles, in the port community of San Pedro.

It was a gift from South Korea's government for the US bicentennial in 1976. At that time, South Korea was a fascist military dictatorship - not a good place to be for laborers, students, foreigners (except US Republicans), women (abortion was absolutely illegal in principle, but in reality tolerated and encouraged for female fetuses for population control), LGBTs, and even small businesses. It was the same fascist government that funded Reverend Moon's pro-Republican activities in the US, in the wake of the fall of South Vietnam, and this bell was another attempt by the fascists to maintain the favor of the US.

But nevertheless, this is a very fine example of Korean bronze bell, with intricate decorations showing a Statue of Liberty holding hands with her Korean counterpart. The bell's design is based on that of the Emille Bell in Gyeongju, which I will most likely visit during my trip. It looks like the fascist rule had a few goods, in a way; not only did they give this lovely bell to Los Angeles, but my road trip to Gyeongju will involve South Korea's expressways and automobiles, two enduring legacies of the fascist era (inspired by none other than Nazi Germany's Autobahns and Volkswagens).

More information:

Wikipedia

Friendship Bell Foundation

Buddhist Art from SoCal

As promised a few weeks ago, I made my pilgrimage to Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California, this morning. Hsi Lai means "coming to the West," and is run by a progressive Taiwan-based Buddhist denomination, to educate the American public about Buddhist beliefs.

I was a bit apprehensive about visiting this temple as a transwoman, but people seem to be very okay with my presence. After all, Kwan Yin is trans too!

A Buddha head at the entrance.

Kwan Yin riding a dragon.

Eighteen figurines important to Chinese Buddhism - arhats, they are called.

You may see this figure often at Chinese restaurants.
He is the Maitreya Buddha, or Happy Buddha.
He gives you lots of happiness and good luck (or Number 8's).

The Kwan Yin garden, populated by Kwan Yin's assistants.

Kwan Yin herself on top of her garden.

This one's for our Turtle. Found at Kwan Yin garden.

Replica of a terra cotta horse carriage, based on those found in Xi'an.

The temple bell, showing the temple name in Chinese.

The main hall has these three Buddhas: Amidabha, Sakyamuni (the main Buddha), and Medicine Buddha, left to right. I couldn't take pictures of the real thing, due to temple regulations.

The temple courtyard.

A white marble guardian lion, one of two in the courtyard.
In the back on the staircase, a similar but painted lion is visible, one of four.

Enjoy! And next time you visit Los Angeles, make sure to visit this temple.

Hello people

I know I've been very quiet here lately, but I will have some stuff to upload soon.

In a week or so, to mark Buddha's birthday (and my own), I will visit a large Buddhist temple in my area - Hsi Lai Temple - and take some photos to share here.

Hsi Lai became infamous for an Al Gore fundraiser that took place there in 1996 (and the reason why the media keeps describing Gore as a puppet of the Chinese). It was pretty tame compared to all the Bush-Moon fundraisers, however.

Keep your fingers crossed, kids! (And Turtle - you'll love my Kwan Yin pics!)

Castle Woman

This artist is someone I'm familiar with from MySpace - has quite a nice body of work, graduated from Evergreen in Olympia in 2002. You can probably see more of his work here: more art