Taoism Blog

I found Benjamin Hoff's "The Tao of Pooh" very intriguing. The way he was able to connect each character to a different concept made my understanding of Taoism much more clear. Hoff had an amazing ability to interpret Taoism in a creative way. Although I found the book interesting, my feelings towards Taoism changed when I was through. Before reading, I personally found Taoism appealing. Now that I've read the book I think the aspect of simplicity is exaggerated to an extent. There were many passages in the book that made me think Pooh's character was spacey more-so than simpleminded.

"All right, Pooh, what can you tell us about the Uncarved Block?"
"The what?" asked Pooh, sitting up suddenly and opening his eyes.
"The Uncarved Block. You know..."
"Oh, the....Oh."
"What do you have to say about it?"
"I didn't do it," said Pooh. (18)

He obviously did NOT know. Hoff, aware of the "stupid" stereotype, even says "simple-minded does not necessarily mean stupid" (12). However Pooh's conversations in the book had me second-guessing his statement.

I thought Hoff's critique of America as a culture of Bisy Backsons was spot on. There are of course exceptions, while lazy people DO exist, but in general America is an on-the-go society. "The chronic Backson always seems to have to be going somewhere, at least on a superficial, physical level. He doesn't go out for a walk, though; he doesn't have time" (96). Another aspect of American way of life that I interpreted from this quote was our desire to be more technologically advanced. Since we're constantly so "busy", it's hard to find time to do anything ourselves. Therefore we rely on technology to do nearly everything for us, and lose the simplicity in nearly everything around us. He also approaches our Backson society from a level of superficialness. "Now, one thing that seems rather odd to us is that the Bisy Backson society, which practically worships youthful energy, appearance, and attitudes, has developed no effective methods of retaining them, a lack testified to by an ever-increasing reliance on the unnatural False Front approach of cosmetics and plastic surgery" (106). The reality is American culture IS materialistic and superficial, hence taking the way the simplicity of even our own beauty. The Bisy Backson perfectly represents the American society.

Hoff made the connection of American and Bisy Backson society, however I don't believe Taoism is the "cure" to our "problem". Yes, there are aspects of Taoism that can benefit people, such as slowing down and living in the moment rather than checking off our to-do list as the day goes on. But the reality is our culture is extremely different, the Bisy Backson lifestyle is our way of life in America. While Taoism may benefit some, I don't believe it would benefit our society as a whole because we would lose the reality of our culture in a sense.

Shinto: "The Peach Orchard"

Kurosawa'a film "Dreams" depicts several dreams he has had throughout his lifetime. The segment I chose to watch, "The Peach Orchard," begins with a young boy serving his sister and four friends, yet the boy insists there is a young girl missing. At the start of the film there is a shrine of dolls present in the room, however this does not relate to Shinto because there are statues present. The little boy once again spots the missing girl, but only he can see her. He follows her out to his family's peach orchard, where the little girl disappears and what seems to be life-sized versions of the dolls appear. The large group informs the young boy that they will no longer be visiting his house because his family cut down the peach trees and the boy begins to cry. After much disbelief from the "dolls," they quickly realize the boy truly is upset and allow him to see the orchard in full bloom one last time.

The life-sized dolls represent the spirits of the peach trees because these particular dolls are used in celebration of harvest. The communication of the peach trees through the depiction of dolls represents the Shinto belief that matter and spirit are inseparable. Harmonious relationships in nature are also important to Shinto belief. Since the family cut down the peach trees and therefore interfered with harmony, they were punished by the threat of the trees never returning again. The most obvious relation to Shinto in this segment was the idea of the orchard representing Kami. As recognized by Shinto believers, Kami is what is powerful and amazing in nature. From the little boy's perspective, the orchard was Kami. 

Buddhism Assignment 1: Stereotypes

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/152284/gods-a-buddhist
***Sorry, this clip will not show unless you copy the URL because it is not a Youtube link.

I chose this clip from the controversial American animated sitcom, South Park. What I interpret from this clip is that finding balance and enlightenment is a simple ordeal. Buddhism has many misconceptions in America, including the simplicity of finding enlightenment. After reading Brad Warner's book, I believe many Buddhist practices are played down in America and misconceived as the easy way to reach enlightenment. However, considering the temptations and materialism in our country, finding "balance" as Buddhist refer to it, after all is not so simple. 

The goal of Buddhism is to find the path between indulgence and asceticism. The practicers of asceticism refrain from sensual pleasures and material wealth, but Buddha claims this is not the way to find enlightenment. One, however, must limit their indulgences. In his book Zen Wrapped In Karma Dipped In Chocolate, Brad Warner quotes "The only thing I can offer is the advice that you have to constantly seek balance." He advances "When things are too exciting, there's a problem. Just because something is exposed to view doesn't mean you have to look at it. Just because some experience is available doesn't mean you have to have it. Nowadays, though, we no longer rely on society to hide these things from us so we don't take in too much. We need to create our own discipline." (page 88) I believe Warner is trying to express that finding balance in our lives is not found by following the life of Buddha or Buddhist practices, but better yet finding balance within ourselves that best suits our lifestyle. 

Enlightenment is not found by sitting under a tree, meditating, and vowing not to move until it is reached. That was not at all Buddha's intentions. Finding enlightenment, or even balance, is found on a personal basis and is unique to how others find it. I found it interesting how Warner informed us of how many Americans try to find balance in their life. He shared with us his experience of using a sensory deprivation tank to meditate and find balance. Warner claimed, "The design of the sensory deprivation tank is based on the idea that mind and body are two distinct and eternally seperate entities. The makers evidently figured that if they could effectively shut out all bodily sensation a person would experience the state of full mind. But the state of mind divorced from body never exists in nature. We imagine it could, but I've yet to meet or read about anyone who could persaude me they'd ever experienced such an absurd thing. But more than that, I find the idea absurd, given my own experience." (page 155) Basically, reaching a full state of mind over body is impractical. However, that does not mean that finding balance in life is, through each and every person's unique way of doing so. 

Assignment 2: Worldly Success and Liberation

Songs About Success

Notorious B.I.G., "Juicy," Rap/Hip Hop, 1994 *explicit*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNPIOi2LiQk
Billy Joel, "Uptown Girl," Pop/Rock, 1983
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCuMWrfXG4E
Drake ft. TI and Swizz Beatz, "Fancy," Rap/Hip Hop, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjpNI4MgCK8&feature=fvwrel
Snoop Dogg, "Gin N' Juice," Rap, 1995 *explicit*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6TUhx2wX0M
Pink Floyd, "Money," Progressive Rock, 1973

Songs About Liberation

Bob Marley, "Redemption Song," Reggae, 1980
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yXRGdZdonM
John Mayer, "Who Says," Pop/Rock, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akvu1AOnUIw
Lynard Skynard, "Freebird," Southern Rock, 1973
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np0solnL1XY
Tom Petty, "Free Fallin'," Rock, 1989
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gqT6En2O78
311, "Speak Easy," Reggae/Rock, 2005

In the last assignment involving pleasure and community service, there was clearly an aim more prevalent. However this time around, I found the aims success and liberation to be fairly equal. It became clear to me that the aims were separated by different genres. Songs about success were easy to find in the pop, hip hop, and rap genres; whereas songs about liberation were much easier to find in the rock and reggae genres. It's interesting how drastically the different genres are when it comes to what their lyrics are written about. Pop, hip hop, and rap are more mainstream, probably because Americans enjoy singing along to songs about success and pleasure rather than liberation and community service. I think it comes down to the fact that, in general, our society is greedy and materialistic. So while neither aim was more prevalent over the other, I was able to find a trend in the aims and music genres.
The Hindu understanding of success was very limited. One could only be successful within their class, which for those other than priests was not saying much. It was impossible for a servant to find success or wealth as a priest. Americans, however, have more opportunity for success because we are all "equal".
Liberation was the ultimate goal in Hinduism. Hindus strived for moksha, which was liberation from samsara. Liberation had more importance in Hindu society than it does now in American society. America is the "land of the free" and while there are still Americans fighting for liberation from certain policies, it doesn't have the same significance that it did in Hindu society. I think it's safe to assume that success and wealth play a larger role in American society today, and liberation played a bigger role in Hinduism.

Assignment 1: Pleasure and Community Service

Pleasure Songs:

1. Joshua Radin, "You Got What I Need," Acoustic/Indie, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgaksJ7bezQ

2. Zac Brown Band, "Toes," Country, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB8Nkn3Xjes

3. Dave Matthews Band, "Crash Into Me," Alternative Rock/Jazz, 1997
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7in-9E3ImQ

4. Iration, "Falling," Reggae, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkJDF94_B7U

5. Merril Bainbridge, "Mouth," Pop, 1994







Community Service Songs:

1. John Lennon, "Imagine," Classic Rock, 1971

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNKhIJfB510

2. Bright Eyes, "Bowl of Oranges," Indie, 2002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmiRWwAXexY

3. Michael Jackson, "Heal the World," Pop, 1991

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UGTISl1Gts

4. Jack Johnson, "The Sharing Song," Acoustic, 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfSpsnLyo18

5. Ben Harper, "With My Own Two Hands," Rock/Folk, 2003

It was clear while scrolling through my Itunes that songs about pleasure were more prevalent over community service songs, as I had assumed. This is for the simple reason that Americans are obsessed with pleasure- sex, materialistic objects, love, drugs, etc. While not everyone shares the same pleasures, we all thrive off of them. Artists make songs to please people, so they sing about pleasing things. Songs regarding community service were not as prevalent, but were still fairly easy to find. The IDEA of community service has become glamorous in America- like "going green" for example. More people prefer the idea of "going green" because it's a trend, but how many people are actually doing their part? The sad reality is that in general, most Americans don’t care about community service. This is how the Hindu's understanding of the four aims differ from ours. Community Service was not just a trend among the Hindus; it was their way of getting good karma and eventually reaching liberation. American’s on the other hand don’t have the same determination to perform community service. Some may to it for popularity reasons and others may because they believe it will send them to Heaven, but generally it’s not a big part of our culture. It comes nowhere close to the exaggeration of pleasure in our society. The Hindu's idea of pleasure is more natural and simple. Imagine being at the bottom of the Hindu caste system- there probably wasn’t much that Americans today could find pleasurable. Therefore I assume they had more appreciation for the simple pleasures in life than Americans do now.