Extra Credit Blog

I went to the Zen service that was offered on a Wednesday night. The website told all new visitors to come in thirty minutes early so that you can receive basic instruction on how to meditate and act accordingly within the Sangha. The instructor gave us basic history about Buddhism, but the moved on how to meditate. The meditation aspect of Zen is most important, with meditation being about 95 percent of the service itself. To properly meditate in a zazen, or sitting meditation, one must prop themselves upon a cushion at an angle. It is a little hard to describe, but the cushion is folded and propped in the back with your knees on the floor. With that stated, the participant must cross their legs in many positions that are offered. The full lotus and half lotus are very hard to do, it is mainly for experienced or flexible people, but one leg kinda folded or Indian-style is alright as well. They do offer chairs in order to complete meditation, but I felt as if I was going to sit in a chair, the experience wouldn't of been the same.

With the participant in a sitting position, which is half comfortable and half painful (it has to be this way so you do not fall asleep nor can not concentrate on the meditation because you are in pain), he must then learn how to complete all proper movements and gestures. The eyes need to be at a 45 degree angle and almost shut, but just enough to kind of zone out, the hands must be placed in one hand in front of the other fashion with the thumbs almost touching. The closeness of the thumbs is very important and the instructor clearly emphasized that. The energy from the thumbs should be passing along and the participant should feel the energy, but with full contact the power of it is lost. The attempt to keep the thumbs near touching is also disciple and concentration for the meditation exercise. In addition to the thumbs, breathing is another form of concentration that is needed for the exercise. Controlling your breathing will help clear your mind and not let you go astray with many little things you could be thinking about. Thoughts that enter in your mind constantly is a big reason why we are always worked up and stressed out. The point of this meditation exercise is to clear your mind, and focus on nothing at all, which placed into practice is one of the hardest things to actually do. To have no thoughts or to force yourself to have no thoughts is actually a thought, but if done right, the person is not even cognizant of having no thoughts in the first place.

Zen is all about no words, no thoughts, and no action. Zen could be considered to most hardcore of the branches because it constantly challenges the participant to think more of himself, to be the wall you are looking at and totally see yourself embedded in it. The philosophy is above my head, even in Zen Buddhism class. The ideas seem really easy to follow and can help you reach enlightenment, but to do it is extremely difficult, especially for Americans. I feel as if Americans can survey and stand on the outside of any Eastern Religion, but to actually practice is would be too time consuming or too much work. An average American can not devote 30 plus hours to meditation along with other exercises, especially if they are working to pretty much survive. Taoism could be seen in the same light, the Tao, or the way, is the natural you that will conform to whatever you feel like, and you should do anything because it is your nature. But modern societies are so well groomed that to say I want to eat ice cream and never work because it is my nature is unacceptable.

I learned a lot from this experience, first off this is not for the faint of heart. This meditation does require some sort of flexibility and concentration, which is damn near impossible for me. I did finally clear my mind and slip into relaxation but would honestly have to reconsider weather I could endure another 2 hour meditation service, like I stated above, its really not geared for average Americans.

Shinto Blog

Upon watching the Tunnel segment from Kurosawa's Dreams, I found that there is a ton of imagery in this clip.  The video starts out with an officer walking upon a beaten and cold path. This could be seen as a little bit of foreshadow, due to the fact that the mud and fog could give off some military imagery, the true gritiness of the situation. The officer does not look very well pleased, and upon entering the tunnel, a dog is barking.  The dog could be a metaphysical wake up call to what is about to happen.

Shinto in a way can be related to Taoism, both have "The Way" in the essence of the philosophical religions.  Shinto is the Way of the Gods, and in this clip, there could be some imagery in that.  The soldiers that meet him upon the tunnel are dead, and in Shinto, to have dead spirits and ghosts around is somewhat of a normal occurrence just like in religious Taoism.  The incorporation of these spirits may seem more of a Western thought, but for Shinto and religious Taoism, it is very important, for example the creation myth with the separation of the heaven and earth.

The reason the soldiers could of been following him is because of their loyalty and discipline.  Shinto is only possible because of the people who follow it.  Discipline is a very important trait to the Japanese, and to have that loyalty and discipline attention to detail and to the detail of believing is possible with Shinto.  The soldiers did get a sense that they were actually dead and that it was all right for them to move on, this idea is about when someone dies unexpectedly, that spirit may act like it is still alive and try to remain on this earth, and it may take a real living person to tell them that they are dead or everything is alright for the spirit to move on.

The Tao of Pooh

        The Tao of Pooh is a very simplistic yet very deep and meaningful analysis of Taoism. Taoism in a simple form is conforming to inner nature of yourself and the nature around you without disrupting the nature of yourself and the rest of nature around you.  To do no action is technically an action, but the wu-wei that is emphasized in the Tao of Pooh and Taoism is the core concept of the philosophical religion, the action of inaction is the true nature of self and keeps that person on the path.


        Winnie the Pooh in the book is the core essence that was latter described. He does not try to stay on the path and does not do anything to disrupt nature, which is wu-wei. He is also described as being the uncarved block, which in a way is related to wu-wei, showing the quintessential act of following the Dao. The characters in the book try to understand but can not because of their nature, every character in the story has different traits that take them off the path. For example, the Owl is known for being wise, but to have infinite wisdom and making yourself be perfect in academic studies is striving off the path. It is stated in the Tao Te Ching, "When superior students hear of the Tao, They strive to practice it. When middling students hear of the Tao, They sometimes keep it and sometimes lose it. When inferior students hear of the Tao, They have a big laugh (Poem 41).  The students who practice is may be trying to practice it in order to be one with the Dao, but that is an action, which actually leads them off. Being in the middle you are cognizant of the Dao hence an action, because those students try to stay on the path. The last students may be the inferior students and may not care about the Dao, but they also may be the ones who are on the Dao and have no need for action. This segment of the poem I found to be a very good example that can be related to the rest of the book. When Winnie is put up against the Owl, the Owl may be the superior student and Winnie may be the inferior one, yet Winnie has the uncarved block and can easily follow wu-wei.


   This book is a wonderful example of Daoism, every little detail can be interpreted in a Daoist perspective, and reading the Tao Te Ching does in fact clear up a lot of the jargon and ideas. If one wants to follow the Dao, they must simply have no action and everything in nature will do its course.  Sadly, this is very hard because humans have the cognitive ability to think and choose what they please, unlike an animal who hunts to eat and finds shelter to keep them alive.

Buddhism Analysis

 Western interpretation of Buddhism is seeing monks dressed in very elegant robes, being tranquil, as if nothing can bother them, and the most sincere people in the world. While I agree with this, there is more insight to the whole situation, there are two sides to everything. Our limited view of Buddhism, and for the most part, other religions is the stereotypes that we see in the media. Buddhists being poor yet enlightened and have the whole idea of reality under their belt, Muslims being enemies of the state, Indians sole focus on cows and extra extremities, and so on, the looking glass in what we allow to see closes our perception of the world.

        In “Anger Management” there is a scene in where David encounters his childhood bully, but now his enemy is a Buddhist monk. The scene shows Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson hesitant to instigate anything, even though they do, based on the fact that he is a monk, so he forgave and forgot, he is calm, he does not care about anything else but enlightenment. The scene escalates into a full out brawl because of name calling and hilarity ensues, and that is where the stereotype kicks in. The reason the scene is funny because the last thing a viewer would expect is for a monk to engage into a fight because it is not in the nature. Even though that is the truth, the positive stereotype of Buddhist monks by Westerners makes the viewer see the ugly side of good.

         The comparison of analysis to the book, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, shows even more insight of what Westerners see about Buddhism. On page 27 it states that it is silly to think that one can reach enlightenment instantly, as in the movie, the monk did not grow out of his old ways. The book also states that some things can never change, and back to example, is true. In the rest of the chapter it states that one can not reach enlightenment overnight, and in US society, achieving enlightenment is damn near impossible. The way Americans are hard wired in the go, go, go lifestyle, conning a person to achieve enlightenment before lunch, as stated in the book, is easy, but for all intents and purposes, the movie clip shown can best describe a stereotypical outlook on Buddhism mixed with the American attitude of never gonna happen.

Buddhism Clip

At two minutes in the example is shown in "Anger Management" where David finds his childhood bully that became a Buddhist monk

Song

Blog Post #2

Success

Rich Girl- Hall and Oates

Baby You Can Drive My Car- The Beatles

Power Windows - John Berry

Juicy- The Notorious BIG

Black and Yellow- Wiz Khalifa

Liberation

Crossroads – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony

Ridin' Solo- Jason Derulo

Black Bird – The Beatles

Revolution- The Beatles

Peace Train- Cat Stevens

After finding and reviewing more songs which I felt fall into this category I have found that this blog assignment to be easier than the last. Community service, which I have said in my last blog, was the hardest for me to do because of the fact that most artists do not fall into the Hindu aim of community service. The songs I have chosen directly and indirectly state the aim of the assignment, and while some may be cheesy, nonetheless state the aim. On the indirect approach, Blackbird by the Beatles has had some analysis taken on the song, one of the major points being about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The Song is an exposure to the movement through indirect means since there is no real outward spoken point, just metaphors. On the other hand the point is clearly made in the success songs. Juicy by BIG is a classic example of someone ridden into poverty, utilizing his talent, and becoming severely rich and famous, and the rich and successful aspect is stated in the second half of the song Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa is even more apparent in the success category because a story of how he came is non-existent, yet the whole song is about his success, but with some background knowledge, is a success story being this is his first single and CD after his demo tapes.  The two categories relate to the Hindu aims much better than the last, yet there is a downfall at a time. Success in the Hindu culture is not expressed upon the fact of making a a lot of money and indulging in worldly pleasures, on the contrary, the Gita expresses that one who falls into this will not move on to the next life and the possessions that they strive and hurt for in their life is all that they can obtain, and on a a grand scheme, really isn't a lot. Liberation falls a lot more into the Hindu aim because Liberation, from the above songs I chose as an example, is not about worldly pleasures but about making sure everyone can be free from oppression and be treated equally as human beings. The Hindu aim strives for this point because it feels it needs to be right and just to all, even though the caste system went astray from this point, but besides that, the songs fit perfectly.