Selfish PR Move or Truly a Step Toward Enlightment?

I know that it has been a while since my last few posts, my apologies but I have been pretty swarmed with photo editing that putting words together can sometimes become difficult when all I know is “levels”, “contrast”, “highlights”, “color balance”, and “saturation”. I often wake up in a cold sweat just screaming those words.

So many of my thoughts on what I want to write are thrown on the back burner for this blog because I want to accompany each post with memorable photos and since I am constantly editing and taking more photos, I'm always behind. But no excuses, therefore many ideas and topics will be old, but nevertheless interesting.

“Enlightenment cannot be obtained without working hard at it. To believe otherwise means you are harboring some form of selfishness.” - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I chose this quote because I originally was going to write about a much more unrelated topic but just recently read news that Los Angeles Laker, Ron Artest has filed the paperwork to legally change his name to Metta World Peace.

“I think I did it for a lot of good reasons,” Artest (or World Peace) said. “It's going to open up a lot of eyes. And create a lot of good energy.”

While many people are laughing at Artest's actions, and many have been for years now, I think that it is admirable. I recall back in 2004, writing about Artest's involvement and key role in the Palace Brawl, in which is fought several Detriot Pistons fans on (and in the stands) during the middle of a game.

Artest career has been plagued with bad attitude, punishment, and perhaps even misunderstanding that includes 60 technical fouls, 33 foul-outs, 17 flagrant fouls and six ejections. And not to forget his record-setting 86 game suspension after the “Palace Brawl.”

But the man, who I judged quite severely when he was in his “punk” phase, has dramatically changed. He has gone public saying that seeking help for mental health and therapy is important for everyone and that everyone deserves a second chance like he has been given. He really is somewhat of a new-and-improved man. He raffled off his 2010 NBA Championship ring to help children with mental illness, has done dozens of volunteer and philanthropic work, so much so that it earned him the NBA's citizenship award for philanthropy in mental illness.

And on the court he's changed as well, only getting six technical fouls and one ejection last season.

Does he go about his business in an unorthodox manner? Absolutely. Do I agree with the way he addresses certain serious subjects? Not all the time. But what I think is impressive is that instead of changing his legal name to something egotistical like “Ochocino” like Chad Johnson (whom is once again changing his name back to his birth name), Artest is making a bigger statement. He plans to have his jersey (one internationally known for the Laker purple and gold) read “World Peace” on the back. Although it's not exactly a loss of selfishness or egotism, it should be commended that its a gutsy move and it gets the idea of actual world peace on peoples minds.

I stumbled upon this story on Twitter, as the words Metta World Peace was trending. My time as a Theravada Buddhist monk taught me more than I can still understand, but one thing I learned a lot about is the word “metta” which has many meanings in the Pali language. Most have meanings are of loving-kindness and compassion toward all things and beings. But I always remember that every message or email that my master wrote, he signed off with the word “metta” and I asked him the meaning.

He said (in so many words), “monks must use the word metta because it is all encompassing yet generalized. Monks cannot use words to lay people (those not part of the sangha or monkhood) that elicit any sort of love or praise. They must remain level headed, non-bias.” So signing off with metta has more meaning than the direct definition of loving-kindness to all things.

I do not really like that someone must change their name to send a message (especially if they are someone famous) when if the message is for the “world” but shows some egotistic tendencies. But at the end of the day, I don't think Artest doesn't really deserve the bad press for this act, as I think he is intelligent enough to know that his name is synonymous with “bad-boy.” Therefore attention will be brought to him, which in turn means attention toward the main message... world peace.

This is not much of a feel good post but I think recognition for this “trending” event can definitely be turned into a positive light, rather than a negative. So in Ron Artest's attempt to find enlightenment, I recognize that he has (and will continue) to have a difficult time with his reputation, but as HH the Dalai Lama says, enlightenment is not obtained without hard work. I hope that he finds what he is looking for with this life changing event and that he truly believes in (and understands) the grandeur of a name he has chosen.

Nostalgia is a Powerful Drug

There is not much in my life that I can say that sends me into a deep nostalgic place more than images of Thailand...
For the almost three total years in the Land of Smiles, I have an ample amount of love and connection with the country which I lived it so peacefully.
Recently, I have been offered another photography exhibit and the curator enjoyed a lot of my "travel" photos. So, in my attempt to gather some of my favorites, I had to dig through my photos, dating way back to 2006 all the way up to today. I have barely scratched the surface of the amount of thousands upon thousands of photographs that I need to look through because most of the time, that sweet sweet taste of nostalgia comes in and sweeps me (and my productivity) away.
But the beauty of it all is that I have images to bring me right back to that time, place, smell, sound, feeling, etc.
At the request of a friend interested in some of my work -- whom I lived in Thailand with for six months -- I scoured through my photos, but only of Bangkok, and narrowed down some basic BKK life shots. In between flipping through folders, I looked at my fellow photographer/Thailand lover/Ajarn Rich's photos on his blog at http://dickmarks.com
...His work is stellar and I highly recommend looking at his stuff and his writing.

Courtesy of Richard W. Marks

I also stumbled upon another talented photographer whom I am a fan of on Facebook named Luciano Mortula. This picture of his brought me right back to Ramkhamhaeng Road in Bangkapi. It was just a rush of memories and feelings when looking at both Rich and Luciano's photos from Thailand.

Titled: C I T Y O F A N G E L S Courtesy of Luciano Mortula

So without any delay, I needed to post a few images that remind me of the life in Bangkok. If you have lived there, I hope the memories come rushing back to you as they do for me. If you have never been there, hopefully you'll get a better understanding of the jai dee life.

*Be sure to head over to my website for more photos in my Nostalgic Thailand gallery and wander around the rest of michaeltirone.com for some new photos.
**If you are interested in some of my photos (whether it be to print, frame, or just have a digital copy) please contact me at wmtirone@gmail.com

Finding the Extremes and Just Taking the Middle Path Instead... with an ice cream cone.

Recently I have been experiencing a lot of small tests in my life. Troubles and challenges that I have to get by, but if there was anything I learned while ordained as a Buddhist monk last year, it is that life’s tests only dictate your life by the decisions you make in response to those challenges or stimuli.

As we all know, life comes with ups and downs. We have our goods and bads, but it’s how you treat either extreme that determines your character. I consider myself someone who takes the positives and accentuates from them much more than the negatives. When good times happen, I take advantage of them and highlight them each and every day, sometimes subconsciously. But I also reject the bad times. I can learn from them, but I don't like them controlling my attitude and personality.

Much of Buddhism is based upon balance and being content. Being level-minded and even tempered. I look at all situations in my life as the world balancing around me. When very bad things occur, it’s up to you to see the very good things that happen just afterward. It’s natural that they will happen, you just have to distinguish them.

As a small example, I’ll take an experience I had this weekend while in the New York City.

I had just gotten off the bus from Baltimore and got dropped off right outside of Madison Square Garden. I began to walk toward the PATH train to go to Hoboken to stay with my friend Drew. On my walk over to 6^th Avenue, what do I see but an old-fashioned Ice Cream Truck, parked right outside of one of the most famous arenas in the world, in one of the busiest cities in the world. 

There are very few negative connotations with Ice Cream trucks (in my eyes at least) and with its boxy shape, its loud, scratchy music and all the bells and whistles to it, the juxtaposition next to MSG was pretty interesting to me. So I decided to take my camera out and take a few shots, no big deal. I asked the driver at his side window if I could take his picture and I gave him my card and showed him my photos. He loved them. I told him to give me his email address and I would send him some of the pictures. His smile lit up the already bright-light of a truck. He was ecstatic. 

He rushed over and scribbled his email on a napkin and handed it to me.
“Thank you, thank you so much! They are such great photos,” he proclaimed in vaguely broken English. “Here, let me get you ice cream! What kind do you like?”

I told him it’s okay, I just enjoyed taking his photo and no worries. But he kept insisting, already putting the cone under the soft serve machine.

“OK, just a little vanilla would be fine, ha! Thank you, my friend.”

“No, thank you, sir. You have a great night!”

I turned away from the truck with a big smile, like I was four years old again eating some black raspberry from South Main St. Ice Cream shop with my dad. The feeling was so interesting. The excitement of a free ice cream cone brought me back to my small town in New Hampshire and my youthful, “little victories” all while knowing the man on the other side of that truck’s window was happy as well. Only then did I look around me and see anything but a small town, but rather the world’s most famous town.

Some excited ice cream customers.

Another satisfied sprinkles lover.

As I am happily walking away I see the same reactions from everyone else in an eye-shot of the Ice Cream Truck… pure adolescent joy. Elderly men were jumping at the sight of ice cream and then even more excited to hop in front of my camera lens to take a picture beside it with big smiles on their faces and extra sprinkled vanilla cones in their hands. Who knew just standing by a truck outside of Madison Square Garden would bring such infectious joy? I was quite surprised that such a simple vehicle could do so, but as I walked away, I was happy.

I wasn't the only one take pictures of this great gig.

That was my high moment at the time. And I carried it on through to the train, and into Hoboken. I had my headphones on with a skip in my step thinking about how I was going to write such a “fun, upbeat post on my blog." Just as I was about to get to Drew’s apartment, I cross the small side street only to have a car lay on their horn and scream out their window to me, “Yea, you F***ing idiot, just walk in front of a moving car, SH**head!”

Their sarcastic yelling barely even phased me. I literally laughed as I made it to the other side of the street and thought about how I would have taken that comment if it were not for my previous 'high'. I felt bad for the man’s high temper but kept walking as I wiped my hands dry from my sticky, melted ice-cream fingers.

My mind works in ways like this all of the time, so typically these “balancing events” occur dozens of times daily and I consciously think about them. I feel that is how I can stay level-headed.

That was my balance and instead of walking into Drew’s apartment saying, “wow I just had some prick scream at me for crossing the street!” instead I said, “I just had an awesome, FREE, ice cream cone outside of MSG. I took some photos, had a nice conversation with the driver, and went on my way. It was awesome.”

Drew and his roommates thought it was a pretty cool story. I thought it was very cool, and still do. Now I can keep that 'high' for an even longer time with my photographs and story.

As for the guy yelling at me? He might be right, maybe I should have paid more attention to crossing the street, but I’d rather happily skip across the street than concern myself with his short fuse. It’s just about balancing it out. And in the end, having a cone of ice cream and forgetting about the troubles in life for a moment are things that everyone needs once in awhile.

What a sweet life is it.

Just Keep Running

It's been nearly nine months since my return back into America and the spoiled life that I lived in Thailand for more than two years has caught up with me. While in Thailand, it's sort of the unwritten law that men lose weight if living there for a significant amount of time and women typically gain weight. This was a great surprise my first time living in Thailand for 6 months back in 2006. But when I knew I was going back to Thailand in 2008, I pigged out, knowing full well that I would be able to shed the weight easily in Thailand. I didn't used to be like this, as my old habits of exercise used to be great and I truly enjoyed the daily physical activity. Now I just feel old and slowly gaining back the weight I lost in Thailand. My last days in Thailand were my thinnest in a LONG time simply because I had just finished ordaining as a Buddhist monk for a month and lived by a strict diet which lost me about 12 pounds in just a month.

Here enjoying my first meal back to Lay life after Buddhist ordination for one month and losing nearly 12 pounds. This is about as skinny as I have been in a long time.

The culprit that brought my love for food back on a vicious track, "chao ping" and chicken with peppers; China 2's specialities. 

Finally the time has come where my old exercising habits are needed, so for the first time since training to climb Mt. Kinabalu back in October of 2009, I went for a run. It was not much of a run, but I mapped out a route and hit the road. Baltimore is still a bit cold out, but the weather was sunny (with an extra hour of daylight) and so I gave it a shot. The brisk chill didn't bother my legs or bare arms but more so my expanding lungs. That tight burning in the chest wouldn't go away. At first it felt great to have it again considering that I only got the feeling the past two years from high altitude climbing but by mile one, the fun was over and the pain was glaring. But just as all my coaches in high school used to say, "just run through it".

Once getting to the last leg of my run, I was unhappily surprised by the one road I did not know of named Concordia Drive. Come to find, Concordia Dr. was not too flat, but rather my own "Heartbreak Hill" of my loop. This mile long road was the final part of my run and although not extremely steep my out of shape body was telling me that what I was doing to it was a sick joke and it wanted to go back to fasting for a month on rice and tea instead of running anymore. And as much as I would enjoy that as well, that is (and was) not an option. I finished the run and it beat me up, but beneath the sore knees and fast-appearing blisters, I sense a small taste of excitement to get back in shape and keep running. 

Can you judge a country by a book? Or vice versa?

So the old adage to never judge a book by its cover served new meaning when referring to travel within China. A country that has one of the world's most deeply-rooted histories and also some of the most well-known traditions can be very easily be typecast by the western world. My original impression of China, before traveling throughout the country, was of billions of people on top of each other, strict law enforcement and tremendous organization. Some pretty extreme typecasts.

Being the avid enthusiast of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, I was very interested in trying to get a sense of both sides of the story in reference to The Dalai Lama and his relationship with the Chinese government. So before starting my month long journey to China (and with wishful thinking Tibet), I began reading "Freedom in Exile" by His Holiness. Although hearing the rumors of the Chinese police kidnapping and arresting people who read The Dalai Lama's books, I wanted to actually see if that was true. So I took the risk, with the book in hand, as I stepped off the plane in Guangzhou. I made sure that the front of the book, which has a photograph of His Holiness, on it was to my side.

Bodhgaya, India ~ Travelog Thursday premiere!

Every Thursday I will be posting short stories about my travels and adventures and post photos to support them. This week's Travelog is from one of the holiest (if not, the most) places in Buddhism, Bodhgaya, India.

~Bodhgaya, India

The other day I was driving through Pennsylvania after a icy storm hit the area. The road conditions were fine but on both sides of the road were beautiful images of rolling hills covered in shear ice with a lonely, leafless tree sitting in the distance atop the hill. Seeing it through the fog hovering over the open fields was almost eerie but still calming. Those multiple scenes continued to stick in my mind miles further down the road. I kept thinking to myself, “I should have stopped and taken a photo of that scene.” I even was angry at a car pulling off to the side of the road whom I believed was “stealing my photo!” My sense of entitlement might seem a bit egregious but I struggle with the idea of a photo or scene not being captured the first time.

Once getting home, I thought of other times in my travels where I saw a scene that would have been a spectacular photograph, but missed it. I was going to write about such stories, but realized it would only frustrate me more. I pondered on the many times where I caught myself saying, “man, I missed a great photograph there.” But then recalled that many times, I did actually return to the scene with my camera in hand and got the photo I was looking for.
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Below, you'll see a photo I took at the Bodhi Tree (Tree of Enlightenment) in Bodhgaya, India. The actual tree and place in which the Buddha reached Enlightenment after meditating underneath this tree for nearly seven weeks. This is the holiest of sites in Buddhism, as this is the place Buddhism began.



My time in Bodhgaya was one of many emotions. It was my first time seeing my friends whom I left in Varnassi two weeks prior to set out on traveling by myself. Solo traveling in India is not the easiest venture and it resulted in some truly difficult and frustrating times, but also very memorable moments as well. So upon my arrival, I somehow found my friends after staying awake for nearly 25 hours traveling and shared stories over some palak paneer. It was comforting to not have my guard up the entire meal and simply relax a bit with close friends. The restaurant we were at was very interesting. The entire menu gave two set prices; “cheap price” and “caring price”. The idea was you received the same meal but the caring price gave the additional rupees you paid toward a local charity and/or paid for the same meal to be served to a starving child. I obviously chose the caring price and had myself a fairly tasty meal.



Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to my friends once again as they were off to their next city and I was about to head to one of the most amazing places in the world, Mahabodhi Stupa where the holy Bodhi Tree sits. As I got to the entrance I was completely in awe of the massive stupa and the tree beside it. I actually was beside myself. And sadly, my stomach seemed to be just beside itself as well. I walked around the stupa snapping hundreds of photos and praying, all the while my stomach began to tie itself in a knot. The “caring” meal did not live up to its name. I slowly contemplated heading back to my hotel room as my stomach was killing me. So I decided to pack up my camera and see if I could wait it out. After resting a bit longer, I needed to leave the stupa for the day and rest up.

Here is when I saw a photograph that I had to have. It was one of the very last leaves left on the Bodhi tree as the rest had fallen down for the season, wrinkled and brown. But this leaf sat against a blue sky with pink and red shades, completely unaware of its surroundings all falling toward the Earth. I had to get this photo, especially as it was a timely photo. The urgency in it was extreme because if I missed it today, who knows if it would be there tomorrow but with my camera already packed in my bag and my mission to head back to my hotel, I decided to ignore it. As I walked passed the fruit vendors with hundreds of flies around each basket on my way home and the random fires kicking up smoke and dust from the unpaved roads, I began thinking to myself, “If I take my camera out now, my point of ignoring that photo of the leaf at the stupa is meaningless.” Well, the brief seconds it took to simply pull my camera out and snap some photos did not hinder the status of my stomach bug but rather fueled my anger in leaving the photo "back at the alter" per se.

I stopped to get some random medicine at the shop near the hotel and finally got to my hot and sticky room to lay in my bed and turn the television on. Without too much detail, my peaceful time was constantly interrupted by bathroom visits and cold sweats. Once my fourth round passed and last roll of toilet paper expired, I tried to get some sleep. I turned off my lights and closed my eyes until I had a little visitor, and it wasn't an evil stomach. As I was sleeping, a small mouse had somehow hopped onto my bare chest, then onto my head and back into the darkness. I sprang out of bed, flipped the lights on to see where the rodent went and saw him on the window seal as he stared back at my near naked body. I had no idea what I was going to do with him, and by this time, it was far too late to ask anyone for help to rid this creature out of my room (plus the smell coming from my bathroom was something I did not want anyone else to have to endure). So I scared the little mouse into a corner, but it escaped all of my traps, even hopping back onto my sheets and pulling a Jason Bourne by jumping from the bed in the air and onto the window curtain, sliding down it vertically onto the floor. I am not joking. After about 45 minutes of frantically running around my room in my underwear to get this mouse out of my room I finally got it to scamper out underneath the door, where I toweled the bottom of the door on both sides so he couldn't come back in. I finally got to sleep with the mouse out of my mind, but then that photo that I missed began to fill the void. For the rest of the night I thought about how I would shoot the scene if it was still possible.



The following day, I woke up feeling much better after a lot of rest and was fortunate to find that the photograph that I was thinking about all night was still there and I could capture it exactly how I planned. These photographs are from my second day of shooting. Take a look at some of the shots I got from that day here