Vipassana

Today I went to the Ekoji Buddhist Sangha to practice Vipassana meditation.  I went there early to talk with the leader and learn more about what they practiced.  Vipassana meditation is practiced by Theravada Buddhists, who are more traditional and derive their teachings from the original teachings of Buddha.  Andy Wichorek, the group's leader, met with my friend and I to tell us about the practice.  He said that the purpose of the meditation is to focus on clearing the mind and making it silent in order to cultivate feelings such as compassion and improve the last two of the eightfold path: mindfulness and concentration.  The meditation was 45 minutes long, and silent the entire time.  We all sat facing a Buddha shrine, and closed our eyes.  A bell signaled that it was time to begin meditating.  At first, I focused on my breathing and tried to clear my mind.  Sometimes my mind would wander, but not for too long.  It was hard not to fidget around, and my foot fell asleep pretty quickly.  This type of meditation is something that takes a lot of practice to get easy, but I think it's worth it.  A few times I went into a deeper meditation, and it felt rewarding knowing that I could do that.  Quieting my mind was the hardest part, but I'm sure that takes a lot of practice.  I really enjoyed my time, and I plan on going again and trying some of the other meditation groups there.

The Tao of Pooh

I thought the Tao of Pooh was a cute way of understanding Taoism. Some of my favorite comparisons between Taoism and Winnie the Pooh are: Wu Wei and Pooh’s way of life, and explaining how Cleverness and Academics (Rabbit and Owl, respectively) are not the best ways to reach solutions or live life.  Wu Wei and Pooh’s way always seem to result in a beneficial result or outcome.  I found that when I have practiced Wu Wei without actually knowing I was doing so, things seemed to always work out. I am the kind of person who will often “go with the flow” or play things by ear, and I don’t usually make plans (mostly because I am terrible at keeping them).  When I live my life this way, I notice that good things happen. This could also be because without making plans, I have less of a chance of being disappointed if they don’t work out or go as I thought.  Pooh does this too, and I imagine so do many Taoists.  On the other hand, Rabbit and Owl’s ways of life are similar to many Americans’. Rabbit thinks he’s clever and always tries to come up with a plan (which ends up not working), and Owl thinks he’s really smart but he really doesn’t have much intelligence at all.  When they try to outthink the problems that situations present, they only cause more trouble.

There were some parts of the book that I didn’t like very much, though. When the author described all Americans as “Busy Backsons” and implied that our way of life is inferior, I got a little offended. I agreed with what he was saying, how it’s bad that people rush through life and waste time by trying to save time, instead of enjoying the moment they’re in (108).  But I still felt like his tone was really offensive.  Not all Americans are like that, and a lot of people do take the time to enjoy life. His juxtaposition of American society to Taoist societies clearly put down American society and marked it as inferior.  I think a lot of Americans could find value out of Taoist practices, but saying “your way of life is terrible, do it this way” isn’t the best way to get that message across, in my opinion.

The Tunnel

I watched a section from Kurosawa's film "Dreams" called "The Tunnel."  It starts out with a man in uniform walking down the road and into a tunnel. An angry dog soon comes out of the tunnel and barks at him. It doesn't bite him, and he cautiously walks into the tunnel. He gets to the other side and stops because he hears footsteps behind him. A soldier with blue skin walks out of the tunnel, and we soon learn that he is dead. He looks a little like this, actually:

Shintos believe that in the afterlife, the human spirit lives on forever. This particular dead soldier has a conversation with the man, who turns out to be his commander. The soldier doesn't believe that he is dead, and the commander explains to the soldier that he died in his arms. The soldier is very depressed, and goes on to talk about his family, and how they are at home, waiting for him to come back.

The soldier leaves momentarily, and soon a whole platoon arrives, all of whom are dead. They are loyally "reporting" to their commander, and assuring him that they have returned from war safely (they obviously did not, but they don't know they're dead).  This is where it gets interesting, because we find out that the commander actually sent them out knowing they would be killed. He says he takes responsibility for his "misconduct," and it's clear he's ashamed about it. He should be, because his actions were one of the worst, according to Shinto beliefs. He says he was captured and tortured, and while he was being tortured he felt like dying would be easier. Seeing all of the soldiers that he sent out to die makes him feel so much pain, that he wishes he could have died with them.

He asks them to leave and rest in peace, and tells them that they are accomplishing nothing by being there. They do as they are instructed, and march away back into the tunnel.

At the very end, the angry dog comes running back out of the tunnel, and it barks ferociously at the commander. It's not really clear how he reacts, but I think that he almost wants the dog to bite him this time. He isn't as cautious as before, and in the last few seconds of the video it looks as if he might collapse to the ground at any point and allow the dog to tear him up. I think I get this feeling because it's so clear that he feels he has dishonored his troop, and Shintos believe that dishonor is worse than death and suicide should follow. If he was really a Shinto he would perform a ritualistic suicide, so feeding himself to the dog probably wouldn't be the best way to go out, but he's clearly suffering so much pain and wants to die soon. 

"Sickest Buddha"

Note: this video may be explicit to some viewers

I found this video on CollegeHumor.com.  It's somewhat Jon Lajoie-esque, and features a guy rapping about being the "Sickest" Buddhist. The comedian in the video is Arj Barker, who is of Indian descent. To my knowledge, he is not Buddhist, and his wikipedia page says his father is of Sikh heritage.

The video shows Arj as an American in what looks like a Buddhist meditation retreat. He depicts every Americanized Buddhist stereotype that I can think of, and then makes it even more exaggerated and extreme. For example, in the beginning of his video he talks (raps?) about being required to do a "45 minute meditation" and that he "nailed it in 10."  Brad Warner mentions this way of thinking in his book, "Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate."  In chapter 5, he writes about scam artists claiming they have "instant enlightenment" secrets, and charging a ton of money for something that is unattainable.  Warner explains that "one of the worst [trends in Western Buddhism] is the idea that there are ways to speed a person to enlightenment" (27). With Americans' need to get everything quickly, it makes sense that these scam artists can easily fool Westerners.  In this video, Arj is one of those Americans, thinking he can gain enlightenment quicker than everyone else. He says "I opened my third eye on my first try," yet chats away on his cellphone during a time of serenity, and looks oh-so American while doing so.

Throughout the video, there are "background dancers" (I don't know how else to describe them), and they seem to be very infatuated with Arj. Rightly so, since he claims to be the "Sickest Buddha" and more enlightened than anyone else. At one point, Arj says "Never heard of Kama Sutra? Let me introduce."  Now, as we know, Buddhists are not to "'misuse sex'" (97). This includes wanting too much of it, having sex for the hell of it, etc.  We often think of the Kama Sutra as something naughty, but it was really just made to make love-making enjoyable for all parties.

Arj makes a lot of references to a couple of people who we generally associate with Buddhism. The first is Deepak Chopra, who has written books on Buddha and Buddhism. The next is Eckhart Tolle, the author of "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth." Tolle does not consider himself a Buddhist, but does derive a lot of his teachings from Buddhism as well as many other religions. The last is Siddhartha, who was obviously Buddhist because he was the Buddha.  Chopra and Tolle may often be associated with Buddhism, but that's also stereotypical because while they are spiritual leaders, they are not Buddhists.

Success and Liberation

Success

Sugarland, "Baby Girl," Country, 2004

Atmosphere, "National Disgrace," Hip Hop, 2003

Nicki Minaj, "Dear Old Nicki," Hip Hop, 2010

Nicki Minaj, "I'm The Best," Hip Hop, 2010

Every Time I Die, "The Sweet Life," Hardcore/Alternative, 2009

Liberation

Tom Petty, "Free Fallin'," Rock, 1989

August Burns Red, "The Eleventh Hour," Progressive Metal/Hardcore, 2007

City and Colour, "I Don't Need to Know," Alternative, 2008

Thrice, "Digging My Own Grave," Alternative, 2008

Thrice, "Stare at the Sun," Alternative, 2003

Finding songs for success and liberation was much harder than finding them for pleasure and community service. With pleasure, it was very obvious what the artists were singing about. But this time, I found myself trying to interpret and analyze the lyrics of songs rather than having their meanings spelled out for me.

I’ll start with success.  Some songs have lyrics about becoming successful, or the rewards that come from fame and wealth, but I found other songs that presented a completely different view of success.  Atmosphere’s song, “National Disgrace” is about people who have become famous because of their arrogant attitudes and outlandish behavior. In Nicki Minaj’s song, “Dear Old Nicki,” she channels who she was before she was wealthy and famous, and questions whether she lost who she used to be.  These kinds of songs are refreshing, because when I think about songs of success, I automatically think of the glitz and glam of it all.  In reality, a lot of stars share that their success has at times brought them suffering as well as happiness, and I think that’s something we “normal folk” don’t usually consider.

Finding songs about liberation was a real stretch. It’s hard to know what message an artist is truly sending out with their lyrics, especially when they vague.  Like any other piece of literature, songs can be interpreted in many different ways by different people.  To me, I interpreted these songs about liberation to be about completely removing yourself from worldly pleasures and the world around you, or passing away and knowing what awaits in the afterlife.  I didn’t find any songs that rang true to the definition of liberation in Hinduism, which is being freed from the cycle of samsara, but some steps to liberation are disconnecting from worldly pleasures and reaching enlightenment.  I believe the songs I chose are an Americanized version of that belief.

Is Pleasure More Important?

It was clear when searching for songs that the Hindu aim for pleasure was much more prevalent in popular American music than the aim to serve others.  I wasn’t surprised.  It’s obvious that much of our media, especially within music, derives from the desire to please oneself with love, sex, drugs, etc.  In class we learned that once a person has exhausted their desire to please themselves, they will eventually graduate from seeking that desire and move to another.  I guess today’s Americans, or at least the ones making hit songs, have not graduated from pursuing the Path of Desire yet. 

Even though I wasn’t surprised to find a surplus of songs devoted to sex, I was even more surprised at the lack of songs devoted to community service.  I am constantly seeing celebrities helping various charities, adopting babies from impoverished families, and running for president of Haiti (well, maybe not constantly, but it’s happening).  One would think that these same celebs would try to empower and inspire more people with their music as well as their actions.  Some songs that I immediately thought of when hearing about the assignment (but were unfortunately already taken by the time I chose my songs) were With My Own Two Hands by Jack Johnson and some other guy, and Where Is the Love by the Black Eyed Peas.  I was expecting there to be more modern songs really calling people to make a change in their world, and fully disappointed to see that there weren’t.  It seems like helping others is more important in Hindu culture than in American culture/music.  Maybe we could learn a thing or two about what’s important in life from the Hindu teachings.

Pleasure and Community Service

Pleasure

(explicit) Dead Prez, "Mind Sex," Underground Hip Hop, 2000

Bob Dylan, "Lay, Lady, Lay," Rock, 1969

(very explicit) Bobby Faithful, "Party on the Creep," Rap, 2009

The Beatles, "All You Need Is Love," Rock/Pop, 1967

(explicit) Christina Aguilera, "Woohoo," Pop, 2010

Community Service

Heather Small, "Proud," Pop, 2000

Bill Withers, "Lean On Me," Soul, 1972

Thomas Donovan, "Calling Around The World," Electro-Pop

Jack Johnson, "Good People,"  Acoustic Rock, 2005

Diana Ross, "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand," Soul, 1970