Sweet Shinto Peaches

The Peach Orchard:
    When we were first given this blog assignment, there was something familiar about the title of the film she was talking about. I realized when I started watching the clip that I had previously seen this film with my boyfriend some time last semester. I really enjoyed the film then because of the concepts it illustrated and the poetic way they were portrayed. I chose to watch "The Peach Orchard" section and compare it to the themes in Shinto. This was not too hard to do as some of the themes were quite obvious.
    The little boy chases this mysterious woman into what used to be a peach orchard before his family chopped it down. Upon arrivng, he is met with some hostility by the nature spirits who resisded in the peach orcahrd. The belief in kami residing in nature and being embodied in nature is a core belief in Shinto. These nature spirits profess their disgust at his families actions and the boy weeps. It is thought that desecrating a shrine or a sacred place (in this case the peach orchard) is one of the worst offenses one can commit in Shinto because it causes the spirits to be angered and to leave. This almost happens until the boy expresses his love of the orchard as it was.
    The boy asks where one can buy an entire orchard in bloom and says that he loved the orchard, not just the peaches. Having a deep love of and appreciation for nature in its pure form is a key belief of Shinto. This religion is focused on nature and maintaing a good relationship with nature and the kami embodied in it. The little boy is able to restore the peach orchard just a little bit (the single tree at the end) by his belief, but the rest of it is lost.

Tao of Pooh

Tao of Pooh

I really enjoyed reading the Tao of Pooh. It had been on my list of books I want to read for a long time, but I never got around to reading it before this class, so I was very excited to see it on the list of required readings. I don’t usually get excited about required texts, so this was a first. I brought the book with me to a research assessment I had to run in which I basically sat quietly for two hours and I read the entire book in that time span. I could not stop reading it. Every page I read, I would think “Wow, that’s so simple, but it makes so much sense.” I also realized while reading that I was a “Busy Backson.” Not a happy realization.

I have been busy planning for my future since I entered middle school, just like most people. In middle school they start telling you that you have to start thinking about what you want for a profession and trying to get into a good high school. In Henrico, this meant a specialty center at a high school (I went to the Humanities center). Then in high school, I worked my butt off both in class and at a part-time job in order to prepare for college. I missed a lot of social events in high school and never had time for extracurricular activities. Now that I am in college, I am breaking my back with classes, research, and a job trying to reach graduate school. Then finally, I will have the job I have been working my entire life towards, but at what cost? I have been working so hard that I have already had an ulcer, developed anxiety issues, and am stressed more times than relaxed. After reading about “Busy Backsons” I realized that Taoism is what I have been searching for so long. I have been trying to plan everything from such a young age that it has done more harm than good. My boyfriend has taken the Taoist approach to life. He makes good decisions for his future, but he isn’t actively planning it. He values spontaneity, learning through experience (including mistakes), and maintaining a sense of child-like appreciation and wonder for the world. I have envied him for this, not realizing I could be the same way if I just tried, or rather don’t try (Wu Wei). I have let go of planning every detail of my future, have reduced my hours at work and stopped signing up to do so much research in order to give myself some time to rest. Honestly, I have been a lot happier and feel so much less stressed.

I don’t think that everyone has to instantly adopt the title of Taoist, start meditating, and throw caution to the wind. I do, however, think that a lot of Americans need to learn how NOT to plan everything. We get taught our whole lives that if we don’t make airtight plans, our future will slip through the cracks and we’ll end up poor and living under a bridge. I think that the reason so many people have nervous breakdowns and develop depression or anxiety is because their carrying this weight around all the time that if they don’t watch out, life will get away from them and they’ll be ruined. What a burden to carry. We need to learn to trust our heart and not always rely on our head. Anyway, I guess I should stop ranting now considering this blog is almost double the length it’s supposed to be. Go Taoism!

Stereotype us they do

Buddhism Blog Assignment 1: Disspelling Stereotypes

     

     The stereotype in this is a rather positive one and one I sort of held to some degree, though not as an entirely serious belief. Yoda is the epitome of what a lot of people expect a "Zen Master" to be like; he looks the part and talks the part. Yoda's ancient body is clad in robes and he can often be found meditating or dispencing emmence wisdom through his teachings. He is like a true Zen Master in that he seeks to teach people the truth, by unlearning what they have learned* (he says this very thing in the clip). However, he is presented as this profound, far-more-powerful-than-you'll-ever-be teacher who is without any obvious flaws or vices. This is itself a stereotype to which Brad Warner responds "it is essential that we give up the notion of teachers as gods and learn to regard them as ordinary people with ordinary needs" (pg. 219). He addresses this idea early on in the book as well, in fact it is in the introduction, so it kind of begins and ends on the same point-"this idea of the 'enlightened being,' of which the teacher was supposed to be an example...that the teacher was a kind of Christ-like paranormal creature with powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary people" (pg. XII).

     On a lighter note, Yoda wears robes as his normal attire. Buddhist monks wear an entire ensemble of robes (pg. 132) but Warner, though a teacher, says he “feels comfortable and normal in T-shirts...and when [he wears] Zen robes [he feels] like a guy at a Halloween party dressed as a monk” (pg.124). That in and of itself is an illustration of Western stereotypes of Buddhist monks/Zen Masters, not all of them wear robes all the time but most Westerners would be shocked to see them in jeans and a T-shirt. Warner does go on further though to say that the robe/ceremonial dress is important at times because “there is no Zen without ceremony and ritual,” it just isn’t necessary all the time (pg. 128). To sum up my spiel, Yoda is a relatively perfect example of a Zen Master/Buddhist monk stereotype.

*For those of you who have started reading the Dalai Lama book, this is a very important theme and essential to understanding the reality of Tibetan Buddhist thought

Liberation is Success

Success:


1. Kid Cudi, "My World", Hip-Hop, 2009
2. Chris Brown, "Look At Me Now", Rap, 2010 (EXPLICIT!)
3. Darius Rucker, "Alright", Country, 2009
4. Joe Walsh "Life's Been Good", Rock, 1978
5. Regina Spektor, "Making Records", Alternative, 2003

Liberation:

1. Eddie Vedder, "Far Behind", Rock, 2007
2. Eddie Vedder, "Society", Rock, 2007
3. Fastball, "The Way", Alternative, 1997
4. Cat Stevens, "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out", Folk, 1971
5. Old Crow Medicine Show, "Take Em' Away", Bluegrass, 2004

My Thoughts:
   Songs about success are more abundant than songs about liberation, but it's sort of genre specific. I had a hard time finding songs about success in my iTunes than liberation songs and had to look elsewhere. America, being an individualistic culture values both success and liberation. In fact, the two often go hand-in-hand; oftentimes in the entertainment industry, people rise up out of disadvantaged situations and are liberated from those negative environments into a life of success. "Liberation" in pop culture is not the same concept as liberation in the Hindu aim, however. The Hindu aim is liberation from Samsara and the cycle of rebirth, this seperation is known as moksha and usually takes many, many lifetimes to achieve. Liberation in the entertainment industry is usually from smaller, personal confines and takes usually less than one lifetime. This latter form of liberation is often accompanied by success. This success is also different than that of the Hindu aim. While they both can mean being wealthy, the Hindu aim is usually centered on making money to support a family/household. The pop culture success is individual wealth and supporting oneself and one's hobbies, desires, and sometimes their families too. The scope of these terms is quite different depending on the cultural context.

Moving on…

    In my list of songs about success, I tried to include songs that approach the idea of success in different ways. “Look At Me Now” glorifies wealth and fame; “My World” addresses the fact that people doubted his success was possible; “Life’s Been Good” illustrates a kind of nonchalance about success; “Alright” puts success on a less grandeur platform and makes it more simple; and finally, “Making Records” shows that personal success can be really lonely and unsatisfying. I used that song in particular to represent the disconnect between the Hindu aim and the aim of the American entertainment industry; there is something to be said for sharing your success with others. The songs in the liberation list are all pretty straight forward except for the last song. I chose “Take em’ Away” for similar reasons as I did the Regina Spektor song. This song is a plea to the lord for liberation, which is very similar to that of the Hindu aim. The end.

The Pleasure of Community Service

Pleasure:

1. Born Ruffians, "Hedonistic Me", Alternative, 2006
2. Devendra Banhart, "Can't Help But Smiling", Folk, 2009
3. Stornoway, "I Saw You Blink", Alternative, 2010
4. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", Pop, 2010
5. Vetiver, "Rolling Sea", Indie, 2009

Community Service:

1. Bob Dylan, "Gotta Serve Somebody", Folk, 1979
2. Bob Marley, "One Love", Reggae, 1995
3. Otis Redding, "Chain Gang", Soul, 1966
4  Band Aid, "Feed the World", New Age, 1984
5. The Scorpions, "Wind of Change", Rock, 1990

My Thoughts:

                The aim of pleasure was addressed significantly more than the aim of community service. This didn’t really surprise me at all, in fact it was what I expected. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but honestly, I think there are far more hedonistic people than selfless people in American society. The focus of the entertainment is on what sells, and songs about seeking and obtaining pleasure are much more marketable than songs about bettering the community. Back in the 1960s, there was a cultural shift toward community service and peace, and as a result, folk music became especially popular, but since then the popularity of those songs and subjects has waned. Even before the 1960s, majority of popular music in America was dedicated to love and romance. Currently, love still remains a popular subject in American music, but it now shares the spotlight with songs about sex, drugs, money, and leading a grossly decadent life. This shows that even the scope of “pleasure” itself changes throughout time and is certainly not in accordance with the Hindu aim.  The Hindus did not disvalue sex or love by any means, but it had a different emphasis. Sex and love were meant to go together and sex was more than just an act of pleasure. It was something spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional.

                To be honest, it is a lot easier to live your life for your own self. Meaning, seeking personal pleasure is an easy and attainable goal. Dedicating yourself to serving others, the community, the environment, etc., takes time and sacrifice. Pleasure is a lot harder to achieve through indirect means. Serving others can be downright not pleasurable at times and very exhausting, making it a less appealing choice for many Americans. America has an individualistic culture and while that has many benefits for business and personal well-being, it can also carry the consequence of selfishness. I do not mean to say that seeking pleasure or enjoying yourself is a bad thing or makes you a selfish person. I don’t think it does. However, I do think that always seeking excessive pleasure can put the individual and the greater community at risk. The job of the entertainment industry is just that, entertainment, and so it will always promote what is pleasurable, enjoyable, and entertaining. People themselves have to find a balance between their own happiness and that of other people in the community.