But lo! the teacher Jizô appears,
All gently he comes, and says to the weeping infants:
"Be not afraid, dears! be never fearful!
Poor little souls, your lives were brief indeed!
Too soon you were forced to make the weary journey to the Meido,
The long journey to the region of the dead!
Trust to me! I am your father and mother in the Meido,
Father of all children in the region of the dead."
And he folds the skirt of his shining robe about them;
So graciously takes he pity on the infants.
To those who cannot walk he stretches forth his strong shakujô,
And he pets the little ones, caresses them, takes them to his loving bosom.
So graciously he takes pity on the infants.
Namo Jizo Bosatsu!
The Legend of the Humming of the Sai-no-Kawara,
by Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo)
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Jizo - matrix of the earth
Jizo was a bodhisattva (bosatsu in Japanese), a man who achieved enlightenment but forsaked nirvana to help others find paradise. He was worshiped as the protector of those in distress, of children, of mothers in childbirth, and of travelers. Worship of the bodhisattva Jizo began in the eighth century with the importation of esoteric Buddhist practices from China. Jizo, whose name means "matrix of the earth," was revered as one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas of the esoteric sect. Jizo and his counterpart, Kakuzo ("matrix of the void"), represent the union of the physical and metaphysical realms.
The Jizo figure is defined by his clothing, by the objects he holds, and by his physical attributes. His head is shaven, and he is dressed in monk's robes, a simple rectangle of cloth (kesa) tied in front over a longer skirt. In his left hand, Jizo holds a wish-granting jewel; he would have held a shakujo (jingle-staff) in his right. The shakujo was used to alert insects and small animals of his approach, so that he would not accidentally harm them. Jizo's idealized face and head-the perfectly proportioned features, third eye, elongated ears, and folds of skin at the neck-also show attributes of an enlightened being.
adapted from http://www.lacma.org/japaneseart/sculpture/jizo.htm
The Jizo figure is defined by his clothing, by the objects he holds, and by his physical attributes. His head is shaven, and he is dressed in monk's robes, a simple rectangle of cloth (kesa) tied in front over a longer skirt. In his left hand, Jizo holds a wish-granting jewel; he would have held a shakujo (jingle-staff) in his right. The shakujo was used to alert insects and small animals of his approach, so that he would not accidentally harm them. Jizo's idealized face and head-the perfectly proportioned features, third eye, elongated ears, and folds of skin at the neck-also show attributes of an enlightened being.
adapted from http://www.lacma.org/japaneseart/sculpture/jizo.htm
Jizo Bosatsu
Il bodhisattva Jizo
Legno laccato e dipinto
Giappone, fine del periodo Muromachi, XV-XVI sec.
Jizo Bosatsu, il bodhisattva Jizo, è venerato in Giappone come colui che interviene a trarre i fedeli dagli inferni in cui possono essere caduti. Nell’iconografia del Buddhismo giapponese è ritratto nelle vesti di un monaco dalla testa rasata, munito del bastone del pellegrino e del “gioiello che esaudisce tutti i desideri”. L’assenza di corona e ornamenti è compensata dall’eleganza regale del manto e della tunica decorati con ricami dorati di ispirazione cinese e centro-asiatica. La statua faceva parte della collezione del barone Wilhelm von Bode.
Legno laccato e dipinto
Giappone, fine del periodo Muromachi, XV-XVI sec.
Jizo Bosatsu, il bodhisattva Jizo, è venerato in Giappone come colui che interviene a trarre i fedeli dagli inferni in cui possono essere caduti. Nell’iconografia del Buddhismo giapponese è ritratto nelle vesti di un monaco dalla testa rasata, munito del bastone del pellegrino e del “gioiello che esaudisce tutti i desideri”. L’assenza di corona e ornamenti è compensata dall’eleganza regale del manto e della tunica decorati con ricami dorati di ispirazione cinese e centro-asiatica. La statua faceva parte della collezione del barone Wilhelm von Bode.
Buddha assiso
Buddha assiso - Gandhara
Le figure sono ricavate all’interno di un arco. L’arco poggia su due lesene con capitelli che richiamano le foglie di acanto dei capitelli corinzi. Sui capitelli sono collocati due grifoni dalle code fiammeggianti. Il Buddha è assiso, la gamba sinistra piegata a terra e il ginocchio destro sollevato su cui poggia il gomito destro. La mano destra mancante era sostegno al volto inclinato in atteggiamento pensoso. Al disopra della spalla destra del Buddha si scorge la figura di Vajrapani che impugna il simbolo del fulmine di Indra. Il fregio alla base del pannello presenta scene dalla vita di Shakyamuni e la sua figura emaciata dalle pratiche ascetiche intraprese prima dell’Illuminazione.
Museo Arte Orientale, Torino
Le sorgenti del Nilo
Nerone promosse nel 62, o 67 d.C., una spedizione per scoprire le fonti del Nilo. Fu comandata da due legionari, che risalirono il Nilo verso l'Africa equatoriale partendo da Meroe, vicino a Karthoum, l'attuale capitale del Sudan.
More wiki
More wiki
Friday, April 1, 2011
Leonardo's dream
"A research team at Festo has developed SmartBird, a biomechatronic bird that can take off, fly and land autonomously. Festo claims that SmartBird flies, glides and moves through the air like its counterpart in nature — the herring gull — with no additional drive mechanism."
Festo's biomechatronic bird flies and lands autonomously | News | The Engineer
Guardate il filmato al sito:
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Superconductivity from nowhere
"In just over a week scientists will celebrate the centenary of superconductivity: the discovery, in 1911, that some materials cooled towards absolute zero allow electric charge to flow without resistance. But now one physicist believes superconductivity can appear when there is no material at all. According to Maxim Chernodub ... superconductivity can appear – provided there is a very strong magnetic field – in the vacuum of empty space. If Chernodub is correct, the phenomenon could explain the origin of the extensive magnetic-field patterns seen in the cosmos."
Superconductivity from nowhere - physicsworld.com
The candy floss of rocks
"The earliest rocks in the solar system, from which the terrestrial planets were born, were more like candy floss than hard rock, according to a new analysis carried out by a team including researchers in the UK and Australia. This is the first geological evidence to support the idea that the first solid material in the solar system was extremely porous before it was subsequently compacted into larger bodies, which become the planets we know today."
Earth grew from 'candy floss' rocks - physicsworld.com
Physicists put a new twist on graphene
"Physicists in the US and UK have worked out why different samples of multilayer graphene can have very different electronic properties. The answer, according to the team, lies in the relative rotation between layers and the discovery could lead to a new way of controlling the electronic properties of the material."
Physicists put a new twist on graphene - physicsworld.com
Physicists put a new twist on graphene - physicsworld.com
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Europa, Ganymede, Callisto
"These images show a comparison of the surfaces of the three icy Galilean satellites, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, scaled to a common resolution of 150 meters per picture element (pixel). Despite the similar distance of 0.8 billion kilometers to the sun, their surfaces show dramatic differences."Catalog Page for PIA01656