Tranquility Touch Stone

After enduring all the new-agey nonsense surrounding the perfectly routine solstice (despite its very nice numerological rhythm, 12/21/12), I am vowing to hold tranquility in my hands, my heart, and mind in 2013.

Tranquil as a stone.

I picked up this nice little water-polished stone at Cannon Beach, Or., in November.  It felt so good in my hand, has a nice heft, fills the palm like a ball of qi, and has a little depression even where my thumb can rest. I thought it might make a nice paperweight, but I think it is better as a meditational object.  I put the characters for tranquility on it but they will probably wear off over the coming year.  (It's a nice way to make a treasure out of a chunk of non-descript mineral.)

Rock-polishing beach

Being of a numerological bent, I also note that 12/21/12 is my 44th wedding anniversary.  "44" seemed equally non-descript as a number, but apparently it is not.  In  some circles it's considered a "master number," like 11, 22, 33) and has some positive significance. According to this new-agey  site, "The Master Number 44 is the most powerful vibration of materialization. It’s known as the master of creating “Heaven on Earth”. The “44″ grounds and motivates people to awaken and manifest their hearts desire and to be influential in their lives and the world."  (I should probably inscribe "44" on the stone as well.)

That sounds like  a good thing, because I was more concerned about the negative association of "4" in Chinese (si, sounds like death).  But if you add 4+4 you get 8, and that sounds like ba, (fortune or wealth), and since there's two of us, we could make it 88, which is the double happiness symbol, which has more to do with the 88 visually resembling "shuang xi" (囍) than the sound of ba ba.  I didn't really know that before.  So, I have willfully turned what might have been a negative meaning into a positive one.   Not new-agey nonsense, just old-timey superstition!

In any case, since 44 is not one of the traditional anniversary gift years (next year it's sapphires!) I have given myself just a little stone reminder of 44 years of tranquility and many more, I hope to come.


Son, DIL, Wizard, at Cannon Beach. Rock group album cover? The Tranquil Stones?

My Wizard of 44 years!

Day 108...Again

In its constant return year after year, today always seems like just yesterday. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

I observe this morning it is again Day 108. I quote from Deng Ming-dao's 365 Tao below. Some of my numerologically inclined readers may find this interesting.

NUMBERS

One gives birth to two, two gives birth to three,
Three gives birth to the ten thousand.
One hundred and eight counts make one cycle,
Constant turning creates all things.

Today is the one hundred and eighth day. Why are numbers so important to those who follow Tao? Even today, when numbers are more commonly yoked to the service of finance and engineering, there are those who revere numbers with the cheap version of mysticism -- superstition. Numbers form a closed world with mysteries to explore and exploit if our understanding is deep enough.

Followers of Tao emphasize certain numbers : One is the unity of Tao. Two is duality. Three is the unevenness that will generate movement. Four is the seasons. Five elements generate the world. Six parts of the body are the arms, legs, head, and trunk. Seven is the day of the waxing moon by the lunar calendar. Eight is the number of divination. Nine is the number of life. Ten is heaven's cycles.

There are twenty-four periods in a year, each with its own characteristics. Thirty-six is six squared. One hundred and eight is three cycles of thirty-six and represents a greater cycle, although there are even more esoteric connotations attached to it.

Numbers are only symbols, a way for human beings to project order upon the universe. They are a language more precise than words. But does Tao talk? Numbers are important to master, but take care to look beyond language and numbers to the true reality that they foreshadow.

And, oh yeah, just in case you didn't notice, last night the moon was full. This has been a year of interesting congrurences in the cosmic cycles of yin and yang.

Numerology

I don't hold too much store by it, but I find numerals related to occurrences of things amusing.  My goodbye post before I left for China was #108.  I returned through Narita's JAL Gate 61.  I didn't catch the exact time, but I would have liked it to be 12:34 or 11:11, times I frequently notice at night on my digital clock display.  I often wake up at precisely 3:45.  The last digits of my zip code are 6789.   Today I noticed that 61 countries have visited TAO 61 (Yin and/or Yang).  It means nothing, but it pleases me.  I guess I should use some of these numbers in lottery combinations.  But I don't gamble. Don't have that confidence in 88.

22,222 Miles to Twoness

At about 9:10 this morning, on the way to my Chinese painting class, the 200K milestone was reached. I missed recording the first major odometer rollover, to 100K, but I did catch 111,111, when a friend observed that TAO 61 (my beloved 1990 Mazda Miata) had achieved oneness. So next is twoness (222,222) , an achievable goal according to my spectacular mechanic who has kept me on schedule with oil changes and preventive maintenance and held my hand through a restoration after the car was totaled about 5 years ago; a blown head gasket somewhere around 50,000 miles; a clutch replacement at 125K, a new radiator (maybe two), and the usual perplexing but inconsequential problems that take it out of commission for a few hours now and then...not so often really. I must commend the Mazda establishment for a remarkable vehicle; I should run so well for my age. I reckon the car is about 91 in car years. It's officially a 1990, but it really rolled off the line in 1989; it is 20, it is vintage. I still get the occasional admiring compliment, "What a cool cute little car!"

And it is. After all these miles, I still get the same pleasure I did when I test drove it on Lagoon Drive, a long straight stretch behind the airport, running it through five gears trying to redline it. When the weather isn't rainy, I drive with the tonneau (cockpit cover) so I don't have to worry about putting a top up or down, and even when it's moderately rainy, the windscreen is so well designed that as long as I maintain at least 20 mph, I don't get wet. People ask me why I don't get a new one. And I ask, why should I? This car is a PET, like a faithful reliable pony; I couldn't put it down. Someday maybe, when my mechanic says it's hopeless, when it breaks a leg and needs shooting. Then I might consider a well-depreciated Jaguar XK-8, the only other car on the road I have ever lusted after. (The Miata all grown up, in evening clothes.)

I'm not too promiscuous when it comes to cars. Sure, there have been the occasional rentals. My Dad, who philandered his way through cars, would always ask about whatever economy rental I drove up to Ocala from Orlando, "So what do you think of that miscellaneous late model Dodge/Ford/Chrysler/Chevy/Toyota?" I didn't think anything of it. I didn't even know what it was (usually a two-door compact with unnecessary features I couldn't figure out.) Whatever it was, was just a car. Anyway, I wish he were still alive so I could tell him about my Taoist immortal, achieving oneness, aspiring to twoness, and with only one clutch replacement! He taught me how to drive a standard transmission; riding a clutch was a SIN! See, Dad, I did good!

In honor of the milestone, it seems the police decided to give me a card. Two miles into the new order of magnitude, I got a parking ticket, despite the SHOPO sticker on the windshield; there's a myth that won't die. A sign that you give money to the fraternal police organization buys you no indulgence.

I haven't acquired too many tickets with TAO 61. Three speeding violations...and never for going REALLY fast. They were insults, really. A couple of other parking citations. Amortized over 200,000 miles it is hardly significant, and the total would make only a moderate contribution to the SHOPO fund.

And in yet another instance of synchronicity, in the mail when I arrived back home was the request to renew my registration. $162.36 for a registration that carries the notation"Insurance salvaged rebuilt vehicle," which pretty much guarantees that no one would ever buy it, not that it is or ever will be for sale. If the car required a visa, it would be time to renew that as well!

When TAO 61 was new (and truth be told, I got it at 30,000 miles, but now that sounds barely broken in) I could usually fill it up for about $14. The mileage has remained pretty constant since 1994, but the price has not. Earlier this year I was delighted to pay only $25. But recently the price has gone up again for the Aloha spirit, though not (yet) as bad as it was this time last year. But in my little roadster, it's still inexpensive. My usual fill-up, 9.5-10 gallons, is running up to thirty bucks, more than double when I started. I know because I'm one of those people who compulsively records every fill-up in a little book. I could calculate the lifetime mileage if I wanted to average 15 years of notations.

Ah yes, about that time it was totaled. Someone turned left into an intersection as I was entering it to go straight through. I saw her coming in that slowed down way you realize a disaster is about to happen. A collision. Then it seemed the car was on fire; I severely dislocated my left pinky finger when I struggled out of the seat belt, diving out the door onto the street. The airbag had deployed. In addition to the permanently damaged little finger (which now has a mind of its own, often hitting the caps lock key against my will, but it looks good and proper when I drink English-style tea) , I acquired chemical burns and bruises from the airbag. I was in moderate shock, but I remember some very quick and expert first aid. Turned out an off-duty ultra-attractive fireman from Molokai (how lucky can you get) witnessed the accident, treated me (kindly) and testified that it was not my fault.

Two days later, my mechanic and I went to the pound to check it out. It looked so sad, but we determined that it was still structurally sound, a conclusion with which the insurance company did not concur. So I took the money, bought it back, threw in another grand, and had it redone: the hood, left front fender, the rack and pinion, a new paint job, and of course, the airbag--the biggest expense of the job. (It was like breaking your nose and getting a facelift.) I guess some people would have had it put down. But there was clearly life left...that was about 50,000 miles ago. Another 22,222 doesn't seem out of the question. And in fact, the next goal after twoness, 286,000 -- the distance to the moon -- is something I've been thinking about in the midst of all the Apollo 11 hoopla. We got a man to the moon, why shouldn't TAO 61 go the distance?