Spring Equinox: Happy First Day of the Year!

Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly  VERNAL EQUINOX 2014

Flowers and fruits are possible thanks to bees (Teacher Julia/tx.english-ch.com)

The fragrant jasmine wafted all over the meditator (mostbeautifulflower.com)

 

In Bangalore (BBclix/flickr)

Happy "New Year"! (In Buddhist Asia, as in most of the ancient world, spring marked the New Year not an arbitrary Gregorian designation ruining a calendar once in perfect sync with Luna/Chandra our Moon, who gives us our seasons, and Sol/Surya our Sun, who floods us in cosmic rays). 

Happy Nowuz from Tehrangeles and Feliz Primavera from Olvera St., formerly Mexico (both well rooted in bustling Los Angeles)!

A new beginning

Meditating on a mandarava flower

With the renewal of Gaia/Bhūmi our Earth we, too, can make a renewed resolve to meditate or at least to be more "mindful" and present as our day unfolds. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, the adage goes, and whether we've heard it before or find it new and insightful, isn't it? If today is, can't we choose to do things differently from now on right at this moment? When else are we EVER able to choose, or do, or accrue karma/merit other than right NOW? So some say, "Now is all there is." Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Ram Dass, the Beatles in India, even the Panchen Lama and his elder would agree. We hear as savakas. We see it. We live it.

Meditation

Reclining meditation (pinterest)

Here is a fascinating meditation to breakthrough to serenity, insight, and self-knowledge. O, what I wouldn't give to be calm! (It helps to begin with a blessing to pre-direct the mind/heart, honoring the Three Jewels of the Enlightened One, the Enlightened Teaching, and the Enlightened listeners/practitioners. This will help if fear arises that one will be unprotected, "open" and susceptible to inimical-influences like spirits, as so many fundamental Christians, Catholics, and Muslims warn).

INSTRUCTIONS: Sit comfortably. Breathe deeply. Let go. Let go of thinking, breathing, sitting, doing, and let it happen. Let what happen? Serenity will happen. Accept the suffering and let it pass right through without holding on. (Resisting is a form of holding on).

When there is serenity, it becomes possible to gain absorption and develop successful insight (east coast) for liberation.

The lunar "Year of the Horse" (2014)

CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; 123newyear.com

Year of the Horse logo (123newyear.com)

  

I had a white pony once but renounced it all.

The year 2014 is considered the "Year of the Horse" according to the Chinese zodiac, which uses the lunar calendar. It begins January 31, 2014 and ends on February 18, 2015.

The Chinese zodiac is comprised of 12 animal signs (one mythical, the others ordinary). The horse is the seventh among them. It symbolizes graciousness, dignity, momentum, and firmness. In Chinese culture, people born during the Year of the Horse are regarded as witty, elegant, eloquent, and charming speakers.

Most of them possess a gift for getting their way by going through the hearts of other people. People bearing the horse sign strive towards seeking freedom and happiness.

• The 12 zodiac signs apply based only on the birth year. Everyone born this year, 12 years before now, and 12 years before then are all that sign. Last year was the Year of the Snake, which will happen again in 12 years. The world's zodiac charts, their astrological calendars, differ from one another, adhering to their own system and predictive value.

Personality

Happy Year of the Horse (photo.elsoar.com)

Horse people are lively, bright, and are known for their physical strength. They can express themselves well when communicating with other people. People born under the sign of the horse prefer to stay at peaceful places.... (Hunger Game's catty "Katniss Everdeen," Jennifer Lawrence, is actually a celebrity horse; expect to see her on a lot of gossip magazine covers in the years to come).

Relationships for Year of the Horse

Lawrence's middle finger mudra (Getty Images)

In matters related to love horse people -- according to the Chinese zodiac -- often suffer bad luck. 

Heartbreak is often experienced by horse people. They need to exercise caution and watch out for feeble bonds that do not survive over time. 

Sometimes their propensity to indulge in overspending or their financial struggles come into their way of maintaining love bonds. They can become too dependent on others, and this makes them vulnerable. They need to watch out for the tendency to bring out feelings too quickly, long before others.

Such candor about love (infatuation) might not be taken in a positive way. And their strategies to resolve their love issues also tend to be their own. (Maybe get the advice of others in stable relationships instead of running wild). More

 

Chinese Spring Festival, 2014 Lunar New Year...
Chinese New Year - Wikipedia
Hong Kong Chinese New Year (Tourism Board)
What Does Your Chinese Zodiac Animal Mean?
Does Year of the Horse Begin January 1 Or Later?
When Is Chinese New Year In 2014?

Happy Lu New Year 2014! (video)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; TetFestival.org ASIAN LUNAR NEW YEAR 2014

(Ttinova) 2014 Lu New Year festivities are exotic and integrating into America

 

Tet parade, Orange County (magnumasi.com)

Each year Americans of Vietnamese descent celebrate the coming lunar year with Tết Nguyên Đán, the most celebrated and significant holiday on the traditional lunar calendar, which also marks the beginning of spring.

The Fung Brothers and Priscilla Liang joke and rap about the 626 (predominantly Asian and Mexican San Gabriel Valley) in suburban L.A. to "Thriftshop" by Macklemore.

  

The Year of the Horse (buddhistedu.org)

The community is proud and honored to present annually the largest Tết Festival in the entire world, attracting over 100,000 patrons from throughout the country and abroad. Visitors are immersed with a vibrant array of traditional foods, live entertainment, festive games, and customs celebrating the new year. This year is the Year of the Horse (Năm Giáp Ngọ).

 

Enter the Horse and exit the Dragon, it's spring and a brand new year!

 

By now the country's largest China town is not in San Francisco or Downtown Los Angeles but in the San Gabriel Valley (area code 626) with its massive mainland Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Filipino, Latin American, and Indian communities.

(SoCalUVSA) A recap of 2013 Lu New Year celebrations in Southern California

That Tet Festival was held between Feb. 8-10, the Year of the [NSA] Snake.

 

2014 (latetfest.com)

VNCSC Tet Festival 2014

A three-day festival organized by the Vietnamese Community of Southern California at Garden Grove Park starting January 31st 2014 and running until February 2nd. 

San Diego Tết Festival

This year there are 11 beautiful contestants each competing for the grand prize of $2,000 and the title of Miss Vietnam San Diego 2014! Come to the festival... 

2014 Tet Festival moves to OC Fairgrounds

The 2014 Tet Festival is NOT going to be in Garden Grove this year.

Tet Festival - Costa Mesa, California (Facebook)

Famous Tet festival heading to Orange County fairgrounds

Organizers of the largest Tet Festival in the U.S. -- an event long linked... Negotiations between the two sides for the 2014 celebration... 

Holidays and observances in Vietnam in 2014

Garden Grove's popular Tet festival is back on 

(OCRegister.com) Garden Grove gets new operator for Tet festival 

2014 Tet Festival Event, L.A. Tet Festival

(TetFest.net) Event: The tenth annual LA Tet Festival 2014