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YOU ARE THE REASON

Love Begins
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@dinasapartment
My space in 3d Vector works
Brentwood Residence / Belzberg Architects
Architekturfotografie Rasmus Norlander
Ai Weiwei Architecture: Treehouse
OMEGA
Late afternoon sun, France (by * katie)
Zazen
In Zen Buddhism, zazen (literally "seated meditation"; 坐禅; Chinese; zuò chán pinyin or tso-chan Wade-Giles) is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind, and be able to concentrate enough to experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment (satori).
Zazen is considered the heart of Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen is just sitting, "opening the hand of thought",[1] that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.
Methods
[edit]Setting
In Zen temples and monasteries, practitioners traditionally sit zazen as a group in a meditation hall, usually referred to as the zendo. The practitioner sits on a cushion called a zafu, which itself is usually placed on top of a low, flat mat called a zabuton.
Before taking one's seat, and after rising at the end of the period of zazen, Zen practitioners perform a gassho bow to their seat, and a second bow to fellow practitioners.
The beginning of a period of zazen is traditionally announced by ringing a bell three times (shijosho), and the end of a round by ringing the bell either once or twice (hozensho).
Long periods of zazen may alternate with periods of kinhin (walking meditation).
[edit]Posture
The posture of zazen is seated, with folded legs and hands, and an erect but settled spine. The hands are folded together into a simple mudra over the belly. In many practices, the practitioner breathes from the hara (the center of gravity in the belly) and the eyelids are half-lowered, the eyes being neither fully open nor shut so that the practitioner is neither distracted by, nor turning away from, external stimuli.
The legs are folded in one of the standard sitting styles:
Kekkafuza (full-lotus)
Hankafuza (half-lotus)
Burmese (a cross-legged posture in which the ankles are placed together in front of the sitter)
Seiza (a kneeling posture using a bench or zafu)
In addition, it is not uncommon for modern practitioners to sit zazen in a chair, often with a wedge/cushion on top of the chair seat so that one is sitting on an incline, or by placing a wedge behind the lower back to help maintain the natural curve of the spine. While each of these styles are commonly taught today, Master Dogen recommended only Kekkafuza and Hankafuza.
[edit]Instruction
Very generally speaking, zazen practice is taught in one of three ways.
Concentration
Koan Introspection
Shikantaza (just sitting)
Koan practice is usually associated with the Rinzai school and Shikantaza with the Sōtō school. In reality many Zen communities use both methods depending on the teacher and students.
Concentration
The initial stages of training in zazen will usually emphasize concentration. By focusing on the breath at the hara, often aided by counting. This counting meditation is called susokukan, and has several variations. Through this practice one builds up the power of concentration, or joriki. At some Zen centers, the practice of mentally repeating a mantra with the breath is used in place of counting breaths for beginners. In some communities, or sanghas, the practice is continued in this way until there is some initial experience of samadhi or "one-pointedness" of mind. At this point the practitioner moves to one of the other two methods of zazen.
Koan Introspection
Having developed awareness, the practitioner can now focus his or her consciousness on a koan as an object of meditation. Since koans are, ostensibly, not solvable by intellectual reasoning, koan introspection is designed to shortcut the intellectual process leading to direct realization of a reality beyond thought.
Shikantaza (just sitting)
Shikantaza is a form of meditation, in which the practitioner does not use any specific object of meditation; rather, practitioners remain as much as possible in the present moment, aware of and observing what passes through their minds and around them. Dogen says, in his Shobogenzo, "Sitting fixedly, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Nonthinking. This is the art of zazen."[2]
canculture:
How to Build A Green Roof by Carolyn Frank
It’s not an impossible dream! You can do it!
archdaily:
Green roof selection part VIII (via ArchDaily)
Roof garden on Minil Middle School, Shanghai
“Official in Shanghai’s Luwan District hope to have planted 13,000 square meters of roof garden by the end of this year in an attempt to cool down buildings and save energy.”
Pieke Bergmans ' Light Blub
Milan 08: Dutch designer Pieke Bergmans presented several new project in Milan earlier this month, including these Light Blubs.
Part of her on-going Design Virus series, Light Blubs are hand-blown crystal light bulbs containing LEDs. Here’s some info from Bergmans: – You may wonder: What is a light blub?? The answer is simple: it is a light bulb that has gone way out of line. Infected by the dreaded Design Virus, these Blubs have taken on all kinds of forms and sizes you wouldn’t expect from such well behaving and reliable little products. Nevertheless, they seem to be enjoying their new free existences. They can be found shining across Milan during the Salone Del Mobile 2008. The Light Blubs are a series of crystal lamps, designed by Pieke Bergmans, in cooperation with Royal Crystal Leerdam. The lamps are all unique handcrafted crystal pieces, equipped with leds by Solid Lighting Design. The focus of Pieke Bergmans latest projects lies on creating products which are all slightly different, though they were made in a set process. The term ‘Perfect Imperfection’ illustrates the qualities that such a product can attain. Through being slightly deformed and different, products become unique pieces and gather a very personal and natural character. The Light Blub is one of quite a wide range of products that are based on this conceptual principle, released this year.
Tomas Saraceno
"For the last 10 years, former architect Tomas Saraceno, has been obsessed with the idea of airborne cities, inspired by a range of futuristic visions, for Ant Farm's Inflatable Buildings to Archigram's walking city and Buckminster Fuller's geodestic dome. His own proposal, Air-Port-City, conjures an aeropolis of nomadic bubble- like habitats that drift with the cloud" taken from BLUEPRINT magazine.
I absolutely adore the structure of these shapes, it's definitely an inspiration to my current interior design project.
Who knew your leftover bath water could actually be useful.
this was sent to me by my friend Chloe Jace morgan, you can check out her blog here!
In our ongoing efforts to be environmentally conscious, recycle frequently, and reduce our carbon footprints, a slew of green products and concepts have been hitting shelves to help us along with these collective goals. The latest addition to the eco-friendly market is the Live Moss Carpet – a soft grass carpet that thrives from the few drops of water you leave behind when stepping out of the shower or bath. Designed by La Chanh Nguyen, the base of the moss is made from decay-free foam called plastazote which prevents dangerous mold and other equally-nasty minuscule lifeforms. There are three types of low maintenance moss – ball moss, island moss, and forest moss – within each foam cell. The humidity within your bathroom and those few water droplets are all that’s needed to keep your little moss garden sprouting all year round.
Swings
There are a lot of good ideas out there for making cool chairs from recycled materials but what about how to upcycle your old chairs? This crafty collection of ideas for your chairs will have you the All Consuming talk of the town.
These inspired me to create my own little swing area in my roof garden.
Amazing Treehouses by La Cabane Perchee
French company La Cabane Perchee ("cabins perched") designs, builds and installs beautiful treehouses such as those pictured above. Commissioned by private clients and resorts around the world, they have built over 120 custom cabins averaging 160-200 square feet, many with an added terrace of 110 square feet.
La Cabane Perchee offers a few different types of tree house depending on your need (personal or corporate). Options are practically unlimited and include bamboo construction, piles (supported by the ground as well as the tree), or a "Nid Perche" (a human bed/nest). Constructed by a master guild carpenter, these houses are built to last and are truly special. A few options, described below:
The bamboo tree house is custom designed for your tree and your particular needs. Cabins can span from 55 to 110 sq. feet and can be fully supported by a tree or supported by piles.
Les Cabanes Sauvages are wild tree houses specially designed for tourism professional needs in terms of amenities, space, comfort, safety and cost. They are built in trees but supported by piles, affording better durability, and the requirement for trees to be huge.
Les Cabanes Sauvages are wild tree houses specially designed for tourism professional needs in terms of amenities, space, comfort, safety and cost. They are built in trees but supported by piles, affording better durability, and the requirement for trees to be huge.
Tree hotel in Sweden
the 'treehotel' is set to open this weekend. located in harads, sweden about 60 km south of the arctic circle - currently consisting of four rooms: the cabin, the blue cone, the nest and the mirrorcube. the project was conceived by tree hotel co-founder kent lindvall, a former guidance counselor who came up with the concept with his wife britta. two additional structures are scheduled to open in october: the UFO and a room with a view.