Sunshine Through the Rain

For the Shinto blog, I chose to watch Sunshine through the Rain. Out of all of the sections of Kurosawa’s film “Dreams”, I liked this one the most. The scene began with a small boy walking out into the rain. He stands there without saying anything. Soon his mother comes out and talks to him. She tells him that as it is raining, the sun is still out and that this is the type of weather that foxes have their wedding processions in and that they do not like it when someone watches them. In Part 2, the same boy is shown walking silently in the forest as it continues to rain with the sun shining. Suddenly, he sees fog in the distance. People are then shone walking out of the fog. The people are marching in unison as music is played. This appears to be the foxes wedding procession, which the young boy’s mother warns him not to watch. At the end of the clip, the boy returns back to reality where he meets his mother again. She is not pleased with him because he disobeyed her. His mother refused to let him back into the house and told him that an angry fox had come looking for him. The angry fox had given his mother a weapon for the boy to kill himself since he brought shame and dishonor to himself.

 This section from the film “Dreams” relates a lot to the Shinto religion. In Shinto, foxes are considered to be spiritual and wise creatures and everything in the world revolves around spirituality. The clip expressed how important foxes are in society and it also signifies how wise they are. At the end of the clip when the boy returns home after dishonoring his mother, this relates to the fact that there is an emphasis placed on actions. One of the Shinto ethics states that there is an emphasis placed on actions that create harmonious relationships in home & society. When the boy disobeyed his mother, he did not act in a way of honor and he caused tension, instead of harmony, between himself and the foxes. Lastly, this clip also related to Bushido, which believes that dishonor is worse than death and for this reason ritual suicide is expected if dishonor occurs. Because the boy caused himself dishonor it seemed only right in his mother’s eyes as well as the fox’s eyes that he commit suicide.

Tao of Pooh

Prior to reading The Tao of Pooh, I found it amusing that we were going to read a book about Winnie the Pooh. Growing up, I loved watching Winnie the Pooh on the Disney Channel. He was one of my favorite characters. I never realized how someone could correlate the story of Pooh bear with Taoism. When I bought the book, I decided to read the back of the book, just to see what the author had to say. As I read the writing in red, “While Eeyore frets…and Piglet hesitates…and Rabbit calculates…and Owl pontificates…Pooh just is,” I started to understand how Pooh is an example of a Taoist. I found the book to be easy to comprehend. The stories that the author used helped especially because it was easier for me to visualize the different concepts that were discussed, including the topic about the Bisy Backson’s. When discussing what exactly a Bisy Backson is, the author stated that they are people who are “almost desperately active” and he also mentions that “if you want to be healthy, relaxed, and contented, just watch what a Bisy Backson does and then do the opposite”. I agree with the author when he refers to American culture as being full of Bisy Backsons. Americans are always on the go; it is seldom that most of us take breaks, because we are always busy and place work first. Even the Puritans were Bisy Backsons. “The Puritans practically worked themselves to death in the fields without getting much of anything in return for their tremendous efforts. They were actually starving until the wiser inhabitants of the land showed them a few things…now you plant; now you relax”. I think that it’s necessary to have an equal balance of work and relaxation in order to have a successful and enjoyable life. In my opinion Taoist views can be used as a solution to the problems that are found in American culture and in Americans. Throughout the book, and in the story of Winnie the Pooh, Pooh is always the character that is carefree and is never worried or stressed about life, he just is. This is completely opposite from our culture. However, if everyone followed the Taoist views, it would be harder to get things done if everyone had a carefree and a “go with the flow” attitude. So I think that there are certain times when Taoist views can be used in American culture.

Buddhism Blog

For this blog assignment I decided to search YouTube for commercials that pertained to an American stereotypical depiction of Buddhism. I found this video which is about an American boy who’s in an Asian country and he knocks on a door and a Buddhist monk opens it. In the commercial, everyone is wearing the same outfit and each person resembles each other in appearance. The American boy’s head is shaved and he is dressed like the other monks. As the commercial continues the boy is shown training as though he was preparing for a fight. One of the other monks holds up a board that looks like it’s supposed to be concrete. The boy punches the board and hurts his hand. He is then shown as a young adult and finally completes the challenge and is also able to chop a board in half and is shown doing flips around a group of monks. When the boy is done, he drinks a can of Pepsi and then smashes it on his head, leaving a mark on his forehead that resembles the other men. The young man is then praised and I guess at that point he has reached enlightenment.

            There are many stereotypes found in this commercial. First, each monk resembled each other in appearance. They wore the same colors and each of their heads were shaved. At the end of the commercial when the young man receives “enlightenment “, it is done in a quick manner. He smashes the can on his forehead and boom, he’s accepted into the group.

            In Brad Warner’s book, Zen Wrapped In Karma Dipped In Chocolate, he describes the current status of Buddhism in the West. Warner discusses some of the scams that do take place in the West concerning Buddhism in the chapter, Does Real Buddhism Exist in the West? “One of the worst is the idea that there are ways to speed a person to enlightenment,” (Warner pg 27). He also mentions that under Dogen’s lineage there are two kinds of enlightenment. The first does happen instantaneously and according to Dogen, it is not an experience that someone has, but it is an activity that you can do. Unlike the first kind of enlightenment, the second type takes a lot of time and practice and cannot be completed without years of practice. Enlightenment has to be practiced.  

Worldly Success & Liberation Post

Aim # 2 (Worldly Success)

1. Birdman feat. Lil Wayne & Drake, "Money To Blow", Hip Hop, 2009
2. Chris Brown, "Look At Me Now", Hip Hop, 2011
3. Trey Songz & Drake, "Successful", R&B, 2010
4. DJ. Khaled feat. Diddy, Nicki Minaj, T Pain, Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, Jadakiss & Fat Joe,  "All I Do is Win (Remix)", Hip Hop, 2010
5. 50 Cent, "I Get Money", Hip Hop, 2007

Aim #4 (Liberation)

1. Destiny's Child, "Survivor", R&B, 2001
2. Yolanda Adams, "Victory", Gospel, 2005
3. R. Kelly, "The Storm is Over Now", R&B, 2000
4. Mary J. Blige, "No More Drama", R&B, 2002
5. Mary J. Blige, "Enough Cryin", R&B, 2006

I found this week’s blog assignment to be a lot easier than last week’s. The two aims for this week, Worldly success and Liberation, are both prevalent in today’s society. However, I found more songs that related to worldly success than liberation. The main themes for songs that are popular today are, Love, Sex, Money and Alcohol/Drugs. A person is considered successful if they have achieved some sort of status. For example, a person who lives in a mansion, drives in an expensive car, and has earned millions of dollars is considered “to have made it” and is successful. The Hindu understanding of worldly success is that it brings livelihood with dignity and self respect. Whereas, in the Hip Hop culture especially, you can see that the idea of success is different, and it is also glamorized and desired. R&B star, Trey Songz along with Hip Hop star, Drake, joined together to create the song, “Successful”. In the song, the two artists are singing about the benefits and their desire of being successful. The song begins with Trey Songz singing:

 “The money, cars, the clothes, the hoes, I suppose….Yeuh! I want the money, money and the cars, cars and the clothes, the hoes, I suppose, I just wanna be, I just wanna be, Successful.”

In his eyes as well as in the eyes of other people, this is the type of success that people strive for.

When I think of the word Liberation, the first thing that comes to my mind is free; receiving freedom. This freedom can come from anything, whether a person may be freed from injustice, a job or a bad relationship. The Hindu belief of Liberation is that it is the highest goal of human life through which everything is accomplished. While looking for songs, I was able to find a variety of songs in which different artists sung about being liberated from various things. I think that artists nowadays are expressing their emotions more and therefore songs pertaining to liberation are also popular. A lot of female R&B artists base a lot of their songs on being liberated from painful relationships, because people across the world can relate to those songs. I noticed this especially while looking for songs for this blog assignment. Most of the liberation songs that I could find were sung by women.

Pleasure & Community Service Aims

Aim #1 (Pleasure)

1. Janet Jackson, "Pleasure Principle," R&B, 1986
2. Beyonce, "Get Me Bodied (Extended Version)," R&B, 2007
3. Bruno Mars, "Just The Way You Are," Pop, 2010
4. Destiny's Child, "Cater To You," R&B, 2005
5. Trey Songz, "Last Time," R&B, 2008

Aim #2 (Community Service)

1. Lionel Richie, Tina Turner & Various Artists, "We Are The World," R&B, 1985
2. Michael Jackson, "Heal The World," Pop, 1991
3. Michael Jackson, "Earth Song," Pop, 1995
4. John Mayer, "Waiting On the World To Change," Pop, 2006
5. Michael Jackson, "Man in the Mirror," Pop, 1987

As I scrolled through the different songs in my I Tunes account and on YouTube, I realized the fact that most of the songs that my peers and I listen to are related more to pleasure than to community service and songs that make a difference in the world. Nowadays, I mainly listen to R&B, Hip Hop and Pop music and in those genres of music, most of the artists are primarily singing about love, sex, and money, which I believe is what most people want to hear. Even on television, a majority of television shows and advertisements are geared towards selling sex, because “Sex sells” and companies and artists realize this. It seems as though most people today are not interested in listening to or creating a song that will not benefit them, but instead will raise awareness towards the needs of other people. Artists such as Michael Jackson, John Mayer and Bono have dedicated songs that are devoted to making a difference for those that are in need of their basic necessities. While doing this assignment, I was surprised to read some of the comments on YouTube that are posted underneath the songs that are related to pleasure. When I watched the video for Trey Songz’s “Last Time,” I noticed that one viewer wrote, “I love the way he says ‘Let’s just make love’ man its making me crazy”! The song had affected this particular person and it provided her with a sense of pleasure. When I watched the music video for “Man in the Mirror”, by Michael Jackson, I read a comment that struck me because the comment stated how people should think about others and help to save the world instead of thinking solely about celebrity. The Hindu understanding of pleasure is much different from the way American Pop culture portrays it. This Hindu aim is to seek pleasure intelligently and it follows the basic laws of morality. In American Pop culture, pleasure does not follow the basic laws of morality; instead it follows the desires of those that seek it whether those desires are moral or not. I believe that the Hindu aim of community service is equivalent to that in American pop culture. This aim is intended for people to help others and that is how pop culture represents community service, by coming together and making a difference.