Michael P. Garofalo: Haiku and Zen Poetry

Atlantic.Net and Feature Price Are Ripoff Web Hosts!! BEWARE!

Sat, 12 Jul 2003 12:38:19 GMT

I apologize to the thousands of people who visited my third website this month, Green Way Research, only to find nothing there. I also apologize to everyone who sent me e-mail that has been withheld by the ripoff web host Atlantic.Net and defunct Feature Price. Green Way Research serves up over 45,000 webpages each month.

Finally, after being down from 7/1/2003 until 7/11/2003, the many webpages at Green Way Research are now up and running on new web servers. My e-mail is again working properly.

Here is what happened:

1. In December 2002, I paid cash up front to Feature Price to host my website, and things were going just fine at www.egreenway.com.

2. Atlantic.Net "acquires" and takes over accounts of the Feature Price company, then without any warning or explanation my website and email disappear on July 1, 2003.

3. I read a message from Atlantic.Net on 7/2 that I need to join up with them and pay more money to them to get my website back up. If I don't, I don't get a refund, and my website and e-mail disappear, even though I have already paid for six more months of service.

4. Atlantic.Net falsely "talks" at its website (Feature Price FAQ) about demonstating its "good will" and "positive intentions" and "customer service" and providing "excellent web hosting services" .... Hooey!! No service, take your money and run, don't respond - that is the REAL deal you get from Atlantic.Net.

5. My e-mails to Feature Price and Atlantic.Net went unanswered, and their phone lines were always busy.

In my opinion, if Atlantic.Net was a decent and businesslike web hosting company, a company wanting to keep its paying customers, they would have kept my website and email running, sent me a informative e-mail about the change in ownership, told me about their fine services and reasonable costs, told me when I would need to pay them to renew in 12/2003, and welcomed me into to the Atlantic.Net family. I would have patted them on the back for a transitional job well done and signed up and paid another year in advance.

Atlantic.Net's inept and avaricious transition leadership "team" has jumped offsides so many times and fumbled the ball and threw interceptions, just like the Raiders did in the last Super Bowl, and lost the game for them.

What a very disappointing two weeks for a webmaster. I recommend that you not subject yourself to the fumbling and stealing and duplicity of the Atlantic.Net Web host ISP.

Feature Price and Atlantic.Net Are Ripoff Internet Web Hosts

Thu, 03 Jul 2003 13:39:01 GMT

My web host, for www. egreenway.com, was Feature Price, in Florida.
They have been "acquired" by Atlantic.Net.

Suddenly, without notice, my website and e-mail are no longer working.

Atlantic.Net replaced my index.htm webpage with their own. They say I must pay them more money to get my website back up, even though I am still paid up for another 6 months. What a racket!! Based on my experiences, Atlantic.Net and Feature Price are a ripoff team, can't do the work you pay them to do, can't run your webpages or mail server, make excuses, and don't answer your e-mail or phone calls. Beware!!!

Cloud Hands: Tai Chi Chuan and Chi Kung

Wed, 18 Jun 2003 06:16:32 GMT

All my efforts at writing the last few weeks have gone into my Cloud Hands website.

I keep a journal/blog at the Cloud Hands website. It is called the
Valley Spirit Taijiquan Journal

Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan

Mon, 26 May 2003 01:54:59 GMT

Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan: Links, Bibliography, Notes, and Quotes.
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Chinese Poetry: Han Shan

Tai Chi Chuan, Short Form, 24 Movement, Peking Version

Fri, 23 May 2003 13:07:01 GMT

"While making a stride, it is as quietly as a cat walks, and while putting forth strength the exertion is so mild that it looks like reeling off raw silk from a cocoon. The movements, like clouds floating in the sky, are spry and light, but well-balanced and steady. Motion is even and fluid, the muscles neither stiff nor rigid. Breathing should be deep and even ... the mind is tranquil but alert, with consciousness commanding the body. In practising T'ai Chi Chuan it is essential that movements be guided by consciousness and that there be stillness in movement - a unity of stillness and motion."
- Official Chinese instruction manual for the 24 movement short form, quoted by Howard Reid in his book "The Way of Harmony," p. 90.

Cloud Hands Tai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong

Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan)

Thu, 22 May 2003 12:59:05 GMT

Those interested in a website with good links and a extensive bibliography about Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan) should visit the Cloud Hands website. The website expands each day with new and interesting information, links, and references.

Those interested in the Yang Style of Tai Chi Chuan Simplified 24 Movement Form will find a webpage with a list of the 24 movements, comments, links, bibliography, and quotations.

Eight Section Brocade Qi Gong

Wed, 21 May 2003 02:07:49 GMT

A detailed description of the Eight Section Brocade Chi Kung form is now available at the Cloud Hands website. The webpage is over 100KB in size and is growing each week. It includes clear instructions for doing each of the Eight Treasures movements, variations for each movement, links to related websites, a bibliography, quotations, and a variety of comments about this popular Qi Gong form. The form can be used as a martial arts warm up set or as a chi kung set.

A bibliography and selected links about Qi Qong can also be found at the website.

Tai Chi Chuan - Cloud Hands

Tue, 20 May 2003 18:13:36 GMT

A new website is being developed by Michael P. Garofalo for followers of the path of Tai Chi Chuan. The website features articles on Taijiquan, links, bibliographies, and a journal. Sections on T'ai Ch'i Ch'uan include articles, links, quotes and comments about the Yang Style Simplified 24 Movement Short Form, the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan 108 Movment Long Form, and the Chen Style of Taijiquan.

Worrying Over Another War

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 02:43:20 GMT

Wearing
their team colors -
Ash Wednesday.

God's Hand tossed on the lawn,
Right Wing Red Guards in the White House,
Patriots on speed, unable to weep,
Americans raped as they sleep.

Baghdad:
two armies
sweating.

March - Poems, Quotations, Links, Lore, and Garden Chores

Sat, 01 Mar 2003 15:12:00 GMT

The afternoon is bright,
with spring in the air,
a mild March afternoon,
with the breath of April stirring,
I am alone in the quiet patio
looking for some old untried illusion -
some shadow on the whiteness of the wall
some memory asleep
on the stone rim of the fountain,
perhaps in the air
the light swish of some trailing gown.
- Antonio Machado, 1875-1939
Selected Poems, # 3, Translated by Alan S. Trueblood

Time is one apricot blossom.
Space, a bee.
The Universe, honey.
And, the Goddess of Spring?

The 300 Missing Poems of Han Shan

Thu, 06 Feb 2003 02:45:53 GMT

On the first day of the Chinese new year, the year of the goat/ram,
I received from Mazie and Robert O'Hearn a wonderful new
large collection of poems in the style, subtlely, and expansive
elegance of Han Shan. What a delight it has been to "hear"
the spirit of Han Shan in these modern writers, and ponder.

An attitude, yes, but more than an "attitude",
a sensibility, a perspective, an aesthetic - and more than these;
more like a direct pointing to the >> heart of the matter <<
being fully in-to the World,
with Love, Awareness, Compassion, Surprise and Wonder.

Indeed, one is fortunate to have such good friends.

February fog -
the "naaaahh" of mountain goats on
Cold Mountain.

Soul Mates Extraordinaire

Sat, 18 Jan 2003 23:42:43 GMT

I never
grasped emptiness
or hiked around Mt. Sumeru,
patted Chao-chou's dog
or teased Nansen's cat,
blocked the Bodhidharma's uppercut
or slept in Han Shan's dirty hut,
borrowed Wendy Johnson's garden rake
or rode the Ox through the Gateless Gate.

I never, ever
suffered the Great Doubt
or solved any of Rinzai's riddles,
looked for sticks in Yun-men's crapper
or broke Tassajara bread with Shunryu Suzuki,
minded the flapping flag for Hui-neng the sage
or heard Jiyu-Kennett move her whisk in Mt. Shasta's shade,
chanted on Mt. Tamalpais with Whalen, Ginsberg and Snyder
or saw Dogen's True Eye open just a little bit wider.

I never did.
Nope, never!
Not in 55 lifetimes.
Yet, it seems like I did.
Yep, dayinanddayout,
appearances notwithstanding,
Reality appeared just So.

This I know:
their heritage is in my heart,
their myths mine,
these dear Friends of the Buddha Mind.

Above the Fog
By Michael P. Garofalo

Night Mooring at Maple Bridge

Tue, 14 Jan 2003 17:45:54 GMT

The moon's low, a crow caws,
The landscape's laced with frost.
Under the riverside maples,
Lit by fishing lamps,
My sadness keeps me from sleep.
Beyond old Suzhou town,
Down to the traveler's boats,
Han Shan's Temple bell
Rings clear -
Right at midnight.

-   Zhang Ji, 780
    Night Mooring at Maple Bridge
    Rephrased by Michael P. Garofalo

    Translated by Francis Chin

    Sleepless in Suzhou by Richard Lim

    Zuzhou: City of Gardens

    Night Mooring at Maple Bridge - Links

    Suzhou Gardens

Cold Mountain Buddhas

Han Shan (c 750) and Han Shan Te'-Ch'ing (c 1600)
A complete directory of links, bibliography, biographical
information, and selected quotations from a variety of
translators. 82K. Complied by Michael P. Garofalo.

Cold Mountain Buddhas

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 16:57:02 GMT

You find a flower half-buried in leaves,
And in your eye its very fate resides.
Loving beauty, you caress the bloom;
Soon enough, you'll sweep petals from the floor.

Terrible to love the lovely so,
To count your own years, to say "I'm old,"
To see a flower half-buried in leaves
And come face to face with what you are.

- Han Shan, c 630 CE
Translated by Peter Stambler

I improved my Zen Poetry website the past few days.

Read the Zen/Taoist poets from Cold Mountain - Han Shan,
and provided a guide to the literature in my
Cold Mountain Buddhas.

Sun, 22 Dec 2002 22:55:21 GMT

Title: 1 - 1 = 0 = 1 - 1

A concrete poem by Michael P. Garofalo

Concrete Poetry: Indexes, Guides, Bibliography, and Some Poems

Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form.
Emptiness is no other than form;
form is no other than emptiness.
In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and
Consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra,
All dharmas are emptiness.
There are no characteristics.
There is no birth and no cessation.
There is no impurity and no purity.
There is no decrease and no increase.

Buddhist Heart Sutra

All of the existent, conditioned dharmas
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows;
Like dew and also like lightning:
Thus should they be contemplated.

Buddhist Diamond Prajnaparamita Sutra

Zen Poetry

Wed, 18 Dec 2002 03:36:02 GMT

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the
landscape - the loneliness of it - the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it - the whole story doesn't show.
- Andrew Wyeth

Winter - Quotes and Poems

Cuttings - December:

December fog -
among the yellow leaves
a dead frog.

Completely
finished -
a death poem.

Empty spider webs
under the eaves -
melting frost.

Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems
by Michael P. Garofalo