Dear zen friend

1)  It is planned to hold mini sesshin   on 9th, 10th, and 11th in September.

Participants sit from 8 am to 5 pm. 

The session is held for 3 days. 

Easy schedule is good to start zen practice again. 

If this worked, mini sesshin in October on 7th, 8th, and 9th would be in sight. 

2)   A horse owned by a neighbor walked in and ate grass these days. 

It ate weed, not cucumbers or tomatoes nearby. 

I allowed it eating since our lawnmower was in trouble this summer. 

Is a horse restricted to eat one kind of grass? 

My image of horse has been made through movies. 

Horses run fast like machine and look great. 

The real horse was gentle and nervous. 

It stood with feet slightly outwardly. 

The horse runs fast not by straight structure of feet but by subtly bent posture made by bones and muscles. 

It is interesting to see a big animal.   

3)  A YouTuber spoke about a problem on semiconductor industry this morning. Taiwan companies produce more than 70% of microchip worldwide and plan to increase their capacity. TSMC is the biggest among these chip makers.    

US government tries to get microchip production back to US soil. Intel was asked to build factories and expand its production lines. Things looked simple. CEO of Intel visited TSMC. Since then Intel became reluctant to realize the offer of the US government. If Intel did not work, which company would do with government money. 

According to the YouTuber, the most advanced microchip (TSMC wants to produce) is made using the most expensive precision machine made by a  company in the Netherlands. The machine can draw 2 or 4 nano lines on a chip. 

The process of making microchip requires lots of electricity and water. TSMC already uses 6% of electricity in Taiwan. Power outage  has happened many times. Lots of water was used by TSMC, so that farmers did not get water enough for farming. Some toxic liquids were suspected not to be treated. Health problems near factories were reported. 

If the most advanced factory of TSMC were built, 11% of the electricity in Taiwan would be used. And the water would be consumed more than double now. Where is power, where is water? 

One company would use 11% of electricity in a nation. Unbelievable! I did not know a tiny chip in my macbook might contain such an environmental problem. Intel CEO knows the situation. 

Is the bigger the better? Is think big good? Is faster internet access necessary? I do not want to chase after a new thing, nor the most advanced artificial product. 

A few months ago a ship with 6000 electric vehicles was on fire and sank into Atlantic ocean. I worry about chemical deterioration of batteries in the sea. We do not know how to correctly treat plastic wastes yet. I hope the Rockefeller would find a way of cleansing the earth.  

Regards.

Eishin Ikeda

Valley Zendo