East Eats West

Jet-set Bodhisattva

  Picture: From Denmark but nevertheless enlightened; Lama Ole Nydahl.

The historical Buddha lived in India but Buddhism has lost its shine there a long-time ago. In China, home of Cham or Zen Buddhism, it was purged by the Communists and the same happened in Tibet. In Japan modernism has made Buddhism often just a mere old tradition. Buddhism’s decline in Asia has been in the making for a long-time and it did not go unnoticed. In the 20th century many Lamas and Zen masters left their home-countries to spread Buddhism in the New World (the most popular being the Dalai Lama). Some went to America (like Shunryi Suzuki), others to France and some made it to Switzerland. With the relocations came the adaptation to Western culture and the first Western Lamas and Zen masters emerged. This was not an accident but clearly intended by the Asian Buddhist teachers.

Nearby where I live there is a Buddhist centre of the Tibetan Karma Kagyü line that is headed by the Danish Lama (guru) Ole Nydahl. For over thirty years Lama Ole has been travelling the world and opening over 450 Buddhist centres. As a Buddha, an enlightened person, he does not get jet-lagged or tired as he is constantly concentrated, content and smiling. On average he travels three times around the world per year and spends more time on a plane than any CEO. The centre in Zurich is inhabited by 25 laypersons that maintain the house and give lectures and lead meditations. Every evening at 7.30pm they meditate and chant together and while leaving in individual apartments, they share a common room. For more about Lama Ole Nydahl visit his website here: http://www.lama-ole-nydahl.de/ . More information about his centres can be found here: http://www.buddhismus.org/

Is facebook evil?

Do you love facebook? Do you think it is a wonderful tool to stay in contact with friends? And do you think it is great because it is free? Well, think again. Have you tried to erase your profile from facebook and failed? It is free for a reason. Facebook collects all the information about you (just read the privacy guidelines) and is constructing a detailed profile of each of its users (that is you). Facebook knows where you are and what you do (status), who you know (friends) and what you buy (if you shop via facebook). It has also pictures of you (photos) and as the rumours go six big commercial companies are tapping into this information. Facebook openly states that your facebook-data is used for marketing (read the privacy agreement). There are a few things one should not do on facebook:

• post any private information like birthdays, address, preferences

• not buy anything on facebook

• not post any inappropriate comments, pictures or links on facebook (like “I am bored at work”)

• be very selective to whom one links

In order to clean up your facebook-profile, use this very useful “how-to”: http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

PS: Check your public online profile easily on www.zoominfo.com and be shocked!

What job and qualifications to have a downturn

With a big recession on the plate companies worldwide have to slim down and lay-off staff. Switzerland has been spared  to recently by the effects of the recession but restructuring is now also going on here. The big question is if Switzerland will face only a mild recession or a severe depression as the USA and UK. With the first people being fired, formerly ‘dull’ professions like teacher, police officer or clerk get a popularity boost in Switzerland. At the same time international companies are hunting for “hungry 25- to 35-year-olds who are willing to travel”, according to The Economist. For mobile expat workers in Switzerland this could mean new opportunities abroad.

Hyperanteface

 Picture: A beautiful face is coming back. 

Lots of people still think plastic surgery is bad, particularly if it is only done for beauty’s sake. Prof. Sailer is a leading plastic surgeon and he claims that patients become more intelligent after a beauty operation as their self-esteem gets a boost. Well, maybe. But the other interesting thing he said is that the most popular modern face is the hyperanteface. The hyperanteface was the ideal facial structure during the times of the pharaohs in Egypt. For example the Egyptian royal wife Nofretete had such a facial structure. And now, Angelina Jolie has! Typical for this type of facial structure is an extended jaw that protrudes. And according to Prof. Sailer this type of face stands for women liberation and strong mind. I would love to ask Brad Pitt about that! 

http://www.sailerclinic.com/welcome.html

The recession scares away expats in Switzerland

 Picture: Zurich might seem sometimes like "hell" to expats. 

The recession is here and according to Credit Suisse it is even a depression. Anyone who has recently been to Britain has witnessed sales with discounts up to 90 percent and retailers going bust. Another sign is the newest copy of Wallpaper magazine that is much lighter because of less advertisement (same applies to Vogue, Elle etc.). With Christmas Sales still very strong recession hit Switzerland just very recently. The first lay-offs are underway. Switzerland historically boasts a very low unemployment rate. Nevertheless it is currently going up to three percent in November 2008. Apparently 46 percent of all unemployed workers are foreigners. Zurich has become a very popular work place for expats from Germany, England, USA and even India. But I am sure they will leave as quickly as they arrived once the economy turns sour. Many expats are strong spenders as they had well-paid jobs. So there absence will be felt from night life to shopping and apartments.

Gong Xi Fa Tsai!

I wish all of you a very Happy Chinese New Year! This picture I took at the New Year celebrations in Georgetown, Malaysia.

Do the Swiss hate babies?

  I recently came across this little sign in the window of a pharmacy in Berne, Switzerland. What might sound very familiar to a German-speaking Swiss is quite a shock to an English-speaking person. While Anglo-Saxon prefer the term contraception the Swiss prefer to be against babies in the first place!

Almost a private spa

 

Picture: The reflection pool at The Dolder Hotel in Zurich

It used to be the hotel of celebrities and kings until it closed down for renovation for four years. Now it is back with a stylish annex by Sir Norman Forster and a new massive spa. The Dolder Grand Hotel promotes itself as a city resort and with the spa it truly lives up to this. We recently spent ten hours in the less than one year old spa. The highlight of the spa is the reflection pool and the aqua zone with bath tubs full of warm black pebbles and a snow-room. The spa also boasts over twenty beauty treatment rooms and private spa rooms. The spa has two big pluses and one major drawback. The two pluses are the very attentive and friendly staff and the privacy and quietness due to the lack of guests. The biggest drawback is the hefty price of a minimum of 450 Swiss Francs per person. Is it worth it? If you sit in the outdoor Jacuzzi with a view of the Lake of Zurich or snooze in the pebble-filled bath tubs, you will easily forget about the price. Particularly if you spend ten hours soaking as we did. So the answer is yes.

http://www.dolder.ch/     

Lamborghini on the go

 

Picture: Take your pick of second hand Lamborghinis

I recently talked to a Lamborghini dealer and I was very surprised to learn that about 80 percent of all Lamborghini, Bentley and Rolls Royce buyers buy the car spontaneously. Apparently they walk into the showroom, look at the cars on display and then buy them right there and then. But I have the feeling that these spontaneous purchases might become rarer during the current recession as credit gets scarcer. I read that for example three quarter of all BWM were leased. I just hope that all those former Lamborghini drivers will not switch to the ingenious Swiss car rental system Mobility that I am using!

Fat is the pharma industry’s and your friend

Before the Americans had Osama bin Laden they were fighting another ferocious battle: fat. The reasoning was simple: if you eat too much fat, you will get fat. Easy, isn’t it? Well, not really. A few weeks ago I attended a presentation by book-writing German doctor Günter Frank. He thought that the Americans are wrong with their fight against fat, as they are wrong about the enprisonment of mates in Guantanamo. According to a meta-analysis of over 16.000 medical studies, only 27 out of those 16.000 plus hinted at a slight relation between eating fat and being fat. Medically speaking, eating fatty food doesn’t make you fat. According to Dr. Frank being fat or slim has more to do with genes and that not everyone digests food as effectively as fat people (they store the energy better than other people). Or put the other way around: thin people are thin because they digest food badly and therefore they eat more (sounds logical). And the second reason for being or getting fat is stress. If you tell children that they get fat if they eat burgers, they will start to develop eating disorders because of stress. So eating only vegetables and high fibre food might work for some persons, but not for everyone: if you are thin it makes sense to eat a burger with French fries. Dr. Frank thinks that the hunt for fat has more to do with the pharmaceutical and nutritional industry creating fear so that people buy their ‘light’ products than with nutritional science. Healthy people are bad for the health industry as they are bad clients! This is at least good news for Burger King!

You can buy Dr. Frank’s book here: http://www.amazon.de/Lizenz-zum-Essen-Gewicht-Stress/dp/3492050743/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231700582&sr=8-1

Read this blog entry for more controversial nutritional information: http://easteatswest.typepad.com/east_eats_west/2008/12/eat-healthy-and-die-younger.html