The Peach Orchard

I was actually a little surprised by exactly how directly this video related to Shinto. It is very much a Shinto story, and although I'd seen it before, without understanding the basic elements of Shinto it didn't make much sense.

Now, I know who the white-faced people are who told the boy they would no longer visit his house: kami, the kami, and them not visiting is very bad news. This, in Shinto tradition, is what happens when you upset the kami, who reside sacredly in the strongest forces of the natural world. By cutting down the peach trees, the little boy's family upset those kami, forcing them to leave the orchard, and the boy's home, forever.

I also understand now that in their dance, when they were recreating the orchard for the boy, that they clapped because clapping is thought, in the Shinto tradition, to be a way to communicate with the kami.

Before I saw the video, I never knew that Doll's Day, typically a holiday celebrating girls, was actually to welcome the kami that reside in the blossoming trees. Now the actual dolls that they set out on this day make more sense to me.

All in all I really liked this video, and I'm glad I picked this one to watch. I think after seeing this example, I'll be more prepared to see Shinto references in other Japanese media as well.

The Tao of Pooh

I was very excited to read The Tao of Pooh. From the lectures in class, I found myself interested in and excited about Taoism, and the style of the book seemed kind of silly and whimsical, which is generally my preference. However after the first few parts of the book, I found myself not liking it at all and being ready to hurry up and finish it. The narrative style didn't suit me, and I didn't like that he wrote in Pooh as his own character, in his own style which to me was distinctly different than the “real” Pooh. His examples were also lacking, to me: comparing a Sidewalk Cafe to a cheeseburger stand? He could have used a less cherry-picked example and still made his point. Try a bar, where people do go to socialize and stay longer than it takes to finish their drink/food. There are examples in China and France, too, I'm sure of a street food stand where one goes to eat quickly and then move on. Both the writing in of Pooh and that example, in particular, as well as how Hoff manipulated some of the text to make his point made me less receptive to his argument – and I was, originally, very interested and receptive to the point he was trying to make. I was also hoping to hear more about how he hoped to achieve the things he was advocating. He made his point, and instead of moving on, repeated the same point that I had already accepted. It seemed aimed at the hostile reader, which was off-putting and caused me not to enjoy this book as I had hoped.

I did agree with his idea of Americans as Bisy Backsons, wholeheartedly. I think everyone in this culture, especially disillusioned younger people, think this way. I went to nerd high school, and at some point most of us came to the realization that the all-nighters and excessive AP classes weren't getting us anywhere, and this overly busy self-important lifestyle just didn't work. Problem is, most of us didn't know how to fix it, and that's where I hoped this book would come in. However the book never provided a solution, other than the general advice of “don't do that” and “follow your instincts.” While that's enough information for some, I was hoping for more. I felt that Zen Wrapped in Karma gave detain on how to go about gaining the mindset to achieve the things that Warner described, and I was hoping for that in The Tao of Pooh as well. So I ended the book feeling in agreement with Hoff's points and his very general solution, but not his methods, and with nothing more than a vague sense for what he wanted me to do with this collection of agreements we had amassed.

Buddhist Stereotypes

Text: Gotta live, gotta love, gotta do the right thing. // Gotta learn, gotta earn, gotta change the world. // Gotta mellow oooout...


(Sorry about the small image size. There's no way to make it larger, it seems.)

For my explanation of a Buddhist stereotype, I chose a strip from a webcomic called Sinfest. Buddha and Buddhism in general are referenced frequently in the series, but the stereotyping is done in jest, and can be seen in his strips involving other religions as well. However, even in jest, the stereotypes still exist, and I have chosen a strip that references two more common ones.

The idea that all Buddhists are blissful all the time is a misconception and an unfortunate stereotype that many see in the religion. Brad Warner references this a lot in his book and we have discussed it in class, so I'll skip over that part. The less obvious stereotype implied in this comic strip is that Buddhists also have no goal, direction, or work ethic in their lives. This follows on the idea that they should be "blissed out" all the time with the idea that if you understand that there is no future, you can never be a part of the business world or be successful in life. The two simply seem like incompatible conceptions of reality.

However, as Warner discusses in chapter 11 of his book, this is not necessarily the case. He explains that practicing Zen Buddhism operates on a different realm than the business world, and in order to successfully operate in the business world, goals are a necessary thing. He stresses the importance of realizing the social constructs that we have created as a society to maintain our interaction with others are exactly that, constructs. (70) He sums all of this up by giving the example of his own life:

"Even though, in Buddhist terms, there is no real future, I still have a retirement fund. When I go out for public appearances I plan ahead -- not very well, mind you -- but I do. I need to know where I'm going, how long it will take to get there, how long I'm supposed to speak, and what Thai restaurants in the area will be open when I'm done. You can't function in society if you don't involve yourself in the fictions society accepts about time. But you do so with the understanding that you're playing a game." (70)

This concept shows that the human social reality and the Buddhist reality of no future are not incompatible after all, they just require thorough reflection and understanding to reconcile.





Below, I've added a series of strips from the same comic that references Buddhism in a less stereotypical way. When I was rereading comics trying to find one for this assignment, I came across this one and found that it was a lot more funny now that, from this class, I had gained some understanding of what Buddhism really meant. When I was doing this assignment I wanted to use the comic, but thought although it was related to a lot of what Brad Warner said in his book, it did not fit as an example of a stereotype.

Also, if you're offended by people making light of religion, I apologize in advance and assure you that this was done in jest.

Success/Liberation Songs

Success *=potentially offensive.

Travie McCoy, "Billionaire," Pop, 2010*

MC Hammer, "U Can't Touch This," Rap/Hip Hop, 1990

Flobots, "Handlebars," Alternative, 2005

 

AC/DC, "TNT," Rock, 1975

The Presidents of the USA, "Naked and Famous," Post-Grunge, 1994

 

 

Liberation

Twisted Sister, "We're Not Gonna Take It," Rock, 1984

Audioslave, "Doesn't Remind Me," Alternative, 2005

Johnny Cash (version), "Highwayman," Folk, 1985

Men Without Hats, "Safety Dance," New Wave, 1982

Blind Melon, "No Rain," Alternative, 1993

 

 

 

As was expected, worldly success was a much easier theme to find in Western music than was liberation, in the religious sense of the word.  Success, as demonstrated by the songs I chose, comes in many forms, including most commonly fame and monetary gain. If you watch the video for Handlebars by the Flobots, you'll find that it depicts the typical ideal of worldly success (money, fame, power) and pits it against a different ideal of success: that of peace and prosperity for all. 

 However, I had a lot more fun choosing my liberation songs, because it was a more difficult theme and couldn't be taken quite as literally. In "popular" (I use quotes because my music choices for this assignment are anything but) Western music, liberation usually takes the form of liberation from others, such as in "We're Not Gonna Take It," showing a distinct difference in a Western perspective of liberation versus a Hindu perspective. The rest of the songs I chose fit a very abstract definition. "The Highwayman" (which can be attributed to many authors) talks about a man who is killed many times, but always seems to come back, so perhaps it speaks more toward reincarnation, but in the song he speaks from a place outside of that cycle, about how he may come back again or may find a place to rest his soul, which I thought spoke a little bit to a chance at liberation. "Doesn't Remind Me" fits again in a more Western way. He talks about doing various things because it doesn't remind him of anything, which I see as sort of a Western idea of liberation from others, and in less of a spiritual way. If you watch the video, there are some distinct parts of "No Rain" that speak to liberation. The lyrics don't make any direct references, but the video features a little girl in a bumblebee outfit who, after wandering for most of the song, opens a gate to a field of bumblebee girls who all play and dance together. This reminded me of the atman = Brahman lecture involving a drop of water splashing into an ocean that represented the divine. The difference between that and the video would be that all of the individuals in the video retained their individualism, and at no point did they merge into the same figure -- not that that would have helped in more than a representational way, because this ultimate divine reality cannot be qualified. So literally, it doesn't work, but figuratively I think that the song, in combination with the video, makes a good reference to the concept.

 When completing this assignment, I was surprised at how hard a time I had in defending my choices for songs for liberation. I felt it was necessary because without the defense, they may not have seemed to fit, but the "general feel" you get from a song can't really be used in this way, and that's what I went on for "No Rain" and "Doesn't Remind Me," along with a few more key details. 

Pleasure/Community Service Assignment

Pleasure songs:

J. Geils Band, "Centerfold," Rock, 1981

Sir Mix-A-Lot, "Baby Got Back", Pop, 1992

TJ Arnall, "Cocaine Blues," Folk, 1947 (Johnny Cash version)

No Author, "Drunken Scottsman," Irish Drinking Song, No Date (Oral tradition makes accurate dates and names impossible to find.)

Dirty Heads "Lay Me Down," Alternative, 2010

Community Service:

John Lennon, "Imagine," Rock, 1971

The Beatles "Let it Be," Rock, 1970

Styx, "Mr. Roboto," Electronic Rock, 1983

 

Band Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas," Pop, 1984

USA For Africa, "We Are The World," Pop, 1985

 

In completing this assignment, I found that pleasure, as a theme, was overwhelmingly the most prevalent idea. For community service, I had a very hard time finding any acceptable songs that I did not have to "stretch" to meet the definition of the assignment, so much so that I had to resort to Christmas music. This is because in American society, pleasure isn't a transitory concept that one grows weary of with time: it is the embodiment of success, the ultimate goal in life. Also, music is generally something you listen to when you're having fun, and pleasure is a big part of fun. This difference also shows a difference between American and Hindu culture: while most Americans are individualistic, always looking out for themselves first, many Eastern traditions expect people to be of a group mentality: be part of the group, and sacrifice for the whole to achieve.

 

 

I was surprised while doing this assignment by how many songs that I tried to pin as community service were more self-centered "help me" songs or "nobody's helping them" songs, rather than "help others" songs. Examples of this would be Metallica's Welcome Home Sanitarium and Black Sabbath's Iron Man, both of which point out a sad situation but make no suggestions on resolving it. The only song I found that clearly advocated doing good things was "Mr. Roboto," who does the jobs no one wants to do and works thanklessly (except for the song in his tribute) to help others. The Beatles and John Lennon songs more revolved around the theme of coming together than necessarily doing good, but the implication is that the former will lead to the latter. In the end, though, I had to resort to cheesy Christmastime songs to finish out my five, because that is the one time of year that Americans are receptive to the idea of giving toward others.