: About Me

Growing up a military brat provided me with amazing life experiences before I even knew they were important. Moving all over the world, living in places where I was the minority, and being exposed to diverse peoples and cultures had a profound effect on me. Formative years passed continued when I joined the military in the early seventies. More life experiences were piled on, good and bad. Some that were good at the time I have realized were not, or were better than I thought. Much of what I am today came from the bad. What was hard to deal with when it happened I now look back on with a smile and nod. Life continues to offer up a bounty of experience and memories that fuel my writing.

I have published a science fiction/adventure e-novella and a science fiction/adventure e-serial work. My articles on various subjects appear on Associated Content. For purely social networking I enjoy reading and writing on Gather.

Researching subjects familiar or unknown to me is both a hobby and a vocation. Libraries, bookstores and web browsing for the obscure and the eclectic is where I can often be found.

I am honored to be serving the Helium Community in the Religion and Spirituality Channel and as Buddhism SubChannel Steward.

I have a strong background in backpacking, literature, music, cooking, eastern religions (particularly Buddhism), and pop culture.

A new path extends before me in 2008. Late in 2007 I joined the Center for Pragmatic Buddhism sangha in St. Louis. I am now a novice monk with the Order of Pragmatic Buddhism, dharma name, Ren Cheng.

I bow with respect,
V. Hughes

My passion is ...

way too eclectic.

I know too much about ...

the drug culture of the seventies.

My parents always told me ...

it is time to move again.

My childhood ambition ...

was to be a herpetologist.

My favorite memory ...

the first time I saw Skeleton Gulch above treeline.

Why I write ...

A quote from Dean Koontz - Writing isn't a source of pain. It's psychic chemotherapy. It reduces your psychological tumors and relieves your pain.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

3 books a week/not much/rock, alternative, R&B, jazz, country, folk, rap, hip-hop, classical, soundtracks, world - got any suggestions?

My first job ...

was doing dishes at a AAFES cafeteria.

My best moment ...

hasn't happened yet.

My inspiration ...

is my lady, Mary. She believes I can.

Religion & Spirituality > Buddhism Biography: Thich Nhat Hahn, Vietnamese Buddhist Master

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Thich simply means "teacher". Nhat Hahn's friends and students use the Vietnamese word Thay' to honor the Thien Buddhist Master. Born in Vietnam in 1926 he has personally experienced the horrors of three wars, been exiled from his home, and has suffered persecution for his belief that only through love and compassion can we avoid war. He devoted his life to Buddhism at the age of sixteen when he entered the Tu Hieu Pagoda. There he learned the compassionate teachings of the Buddha and the meditative power of Thien (Zen). Nhat Hahn came to America in the early 1960s to attend Princeton Univ...

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