Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Do the characters (자립) have a meaning?
What are the Three Refuges?
What are the Eight Precepts? I thought there were only five...
How do you include Korean characters in your site?
How did you learn Hangul (the Korean alphabet)?
What is a blog?
How do I start my own blog?

Do the characters (자립) have a meaning?

Yes. 자립 is my Buddhist name written in Korean. 자립 is written and pronounced "Chalip" in English. I received my Buddhist name at Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple on May 16^th, 2004 (16^th day of the 5^th month of the Buddhist Year 2548) when I formally took the Three Refuges and Eight Precepts and embraced the teachings of Buddhism.

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What are the Three Refuges?

The Three Refugues could be considered the "Holy Trinity" in Buddhism. Buddhists take refugue in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Buddha refers to the historical Buddha Shakyamuni and can include all Buddhas of the past, present and future. Dharma refers to the teachings of Buddhism. Sangha means community and includes both the community of monks and laypersons who practice Buddhism and the community of all beings. In Western Zen temples/sitting groups you may hear the Three Refuges chanted (spoken aloud) in Pali, Sanskrit or English. This handout provides all three translations.

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What are the Eight Precepts? I thought there were only five...

There are five basic precepts that are the foundational vows all Buddhists undertake. They are:
- To refrain from killing
- To refrain from stealing
- To refrain from sexual misconduct
- To refrain from false, harsh, and idle speech
- To refrain from intoxicants that cloud the mind
At Still Point, laypersons take these Eight Precepts (or, vows) when they formally accept Buddhism as their spiritual path. It is common for monks and nuns to take additional precepts when they are ordained.

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How do you include Korean characters in your site?

There are several things you need to do. Here is the basic overview:
- In the <HEAD> section of your HTML document, add this META TAG to denote that you want to use UTF-8 or Unicode character encoding on your web page:
  - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
- Make sure your HTML editor can support Unicode characters.
- Change the settings on your Windows XP Language Bar (Add Input Language: Korean).
- Change the input language on the Language Bar from English to Korean... Use the IME Pad to draw the character and enter it into your HTML editor. You can use the Korean keyboard if you are working in Microsoft Word then copy the characters into your HTML editor if the IME Pad is awkward.
For more information, see this helpful article from Declan Software.

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How did you learn Hangul (the Korean alphabet)?

At first, I found a few websites that I used as a reference:
- An Introduction to Korean by J. David Eisenberg
- Omniglot: A Guide to Written Language
Then I found a great software package by Declan Software. The specific product you need to learn Hangul is called Read/Write Korean. You get a 30% discount if you buy the Korean language learning suite (suite includes instruction on the alphabet, computerized flash cards, grammar lessons, a dictionary).

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What is a blog?

I like Rebecca Blood's definition. She says:

A weblog is a coffeehouse conversation in text, with references as required

A blog (or, weblog) is an online journal. While blogs don't all look the same, they follow the same conventions:
- A collection of entries updated frequently (often daily)
- Each entry has a permanent link (also called a permalink) that provides an easy way for other bloggers to reference the entry.
- Site visitors can post comments to individual entries (this is the "coffeehouse conversation" part)
- Entries are archived and categorized. The blog provides some mechanism to browse past entries by date or by category.
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How do I start my own blog?

If you are thinking about starting a blog of you own, I recommend Rebecca Blood's book The Weblog Handbook as a good reference for beginners. There are plenty of free blogging services out there, and some that charge a nominal fee. Google's list of blogging services is a good place to start to find the right service for you.

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For More Information

If your question wasn't answered here, feel free to e-mail me. I will make periodic updates to this FAQ.

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