The number signifies an important marker in Chinese history as it was when Sun and his associates proclaimed the first Republic and the end of the Ching Dynasty in 1911. Years of struggle, war, and revolution followed and then the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) was established in October, 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) proclaimed that China has stood up & that decades of inequality and subjugation were over.
Today there is much in the news about a ceasefire in Gaza and a Twenty Point Plan for the future. While suggesting that this may be the end of a brutal genocidal war against the Palestinian people, there is little said about the ending of occupation, subjugation, and apartheid. In fact and in principle it appears more like an earlier British Partitioning and even includes the notion of former First Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, as a viceroy-type of overseer . . . no kidding, and seemingly no humor intended.
While it has been some time since anything new has been posted on this Long Blog, this date, 10/10/2025 looks to be like another pivot point in world history. The idea of United States control over the sea lanes of the world and resources of the entire planet, a mission inherited from the period of exploration and imperial outreach dating back over 500 years, is deeply instilled in the Anglo American desire to fund settler colonialism in Israel and command the oil lands of the Islamic world. It is of the same stuff as the US attempt to exterminate the First Peoples of North America (Turtle Island) and now to use extreme means against people of color in the United States itself, in violation of both treaties and The Constitution. This political conflict will continue as perils from late-stage capitalism expand and the threats to the biosphere and all living things grow.
Where do you stand on the very personal and direct question of what Buddhist philosophy would call the birth/death conundrum ? Will you bravely and wisely support life and the best for each other ?