Akira Kurosawa’s film “Dreams” has a section referred to as “The Peach Orchard” in which the Shinto notion of nature being alive and the presence of the Kami are both relevant. A boy is lured out to the peach orchard by a little girl who turns out to be a spirit of a peach tree. When the boy arrives at the orchard, he meets the other spirits of the peach trees. These spirits were angry because his family had cut down all the trees in the orchard. He said he cried when the trees were cut down, but one spirit accused him of crying only because he liked to eat peaches. The boy then explained that he could buy a peach, but he could not buy a whole orchard in bloom. The peach tree spirits deem him a good boy and then let him see their trees in bloom one last time.
There is a Shinto belief in the spiritual power of nature and the protective energies of the forces of Earth. “Everything is spiritual and therefore there is a continuity between humanity, nature and the spirits/gods.” (Notes) This could be a flower, or the changing of the seasons, or the blowing of the wind. There are divine forces of nature, representing the beauty and power of life in all of its forms, called Kami.“Anything that is powerful or amazing in nature is Kami, but not all nature is Kami.” (Notes) All Kami have two souls, one good and one aggressive. In the section of film, the spirits of the peach trees were the Kami and they were acting on their aggressive soul at first, until they learned the boy valued them for their beauty, and then acted on their good soul by showing him one last bloom. It was important for them to hear that the boy saw the beauty in the blooming peach blossoms and not just the selfish desire to eat the peaches. This last bloom was a symbol of the power of nature, and how nature and the Kami can reward those who respect them.
My initial assumption going into this book was that I was not going to like it. I didn’t read Winnie the Pooh growing up, so I have no childhood attachment to the stories told, nor did I have even the slightest bit of knowledge about Taoism. However, I was surprised; I actually liked the book. Hoff used such an easy, and even cute, way of explaining Taoism. The stories, being the first time I’ve heard them, were so simple, but made so much sense. Taoism now seems like life’s common sense that I forgot I knew. It was refreshing to see how Pooh could just go with the flow, without stress, or worry, and nature aligned with him. I also really liked the ‘Cottleston Pie’ concept that things are simply just the way they are. Sometimes I have a problem just accepting everything for what it is and not wanting to fix or change it. I constantly “try to fit square pegs into round holes.” (p.20) My general self/sanity could really benefit from remembering that “The Way of Self-Reliance starts with recognizing who we are, what we've got to work with, and what works best for us.” (p.28)
My need for constant ‘doing’ is probably why I wasn’t offended by Hoff’s critique of American culture as Bisy Backsons. I am a Bisy Backson and wish that I wasn’t! Last week, I saw a small group of young people (hippies?) on the side of the road begging for money to buy and old school bus to use to travel the country. I looked at them with jealousy and pity at the same time. I wished I was that free and unattached, but also feared that their lives would never amount to anything. This is how I felt reading about the Bisy Backsons. I was torn between which way I should live. Do you stop and smell the flowers as the world passes you by, or do you work hard and achieve your dreams? I liked his mention of ‘the reward’ at the end of a Bisy Backson’s work. But then, after considering his other arguments, the reward seems silly when you consider the forcing, and worry required to achieve it.
I feel like some of the teachings of Taosim, if practiced, could produce some sort of solution to the problems in American culture. I know that I am in the majority when I admit that I am a Bisy Backson. The concept of Wu Wei could influence people in America to slow down, and “operate on the principle of minimal effort.” (p.2) This laid back lifestyle would probably cut down on things like road rage, or impatience that is so common in America. I really liked Hoff’s metaphor; “The efficiency of Wu Wei is like that of water flowing over and around the rocks in its path—not the mechanical, straight-line approach that usually ends up short-circuiting natural laws, but one that evolves from an inner sensitivity to the natural rhythm of things.” (p.2)
The video above is a Pepsi commercial where a young boy trains to be a Shaolin Buddhist, which is a combination of Shaolin Kung Fu and Mahayana Buddhism. He is taken in by the monastery and taught by a sensei. When he reaches an adult age, he is shown performing Kung Fu in front of the other monks. When he finishes, they all enjoy a can of Pepsi. It is then that the young man reaches his “enlightenment” and realizes the other “enlightened” monks have the mark of the Pepsi can on their forehead. He crushes the can to his forehead, which is followed by an approving cheer from his fellow monks.
There are a few stereotypes here. The first is that westerners typically think that there is a sensei, or a master of knowledge, for any form of asian art, martial arts, religion, ect. However, Warner points out that sensei just simply means “teacher” and that the use of the word is “unknown in Japan”. Teachers, politicians, doctors, or any person of respect can be called a sensei. This is surprising to me, as I grew up watching Ninja Turtles and assumed the term sensei was only reserved for the person of a master status of something Asian, hard to do, and really cool. Warner kind of called me out on this. He mentioned “the absurd idea of the Eastern spiritual master as superhuman”. And he goes on to enlighten me of “how Zen teaching and Zen practice are very much human activities performed by real people in the midst of real life problems”.Knowing this, I can now see this stereotype of the all-knowing “zen master” played up in western culture.
Another stereotype I found was the assumption that enlightenment can be reached in a short amount of time. It only took the boy in the commercial around 10 years of training, and then in one can of Pepsi, he reaches “enlightenment”.Warner points out that there are Zen “scam artists” in our country who sell the idea that “there are ways to speed up enlightenment”. People eat this up, thinking there is a “trade marked technique” (in the commercial, it was by drinking a can of Pepsi) that “will give you an authentic kensho or satori experience in which you will realize your True Nature just like Buddha did under the Bodhi Tree”. When in actuality, Warner talks about enlightenment in two ways. The first way is to do zazen, the enlightenment activity of Buddha. By doing zazen, “enlightenment happens instantaneously, as soon as you sit on your cushion”. The second type happens after years and years of practice of zazen. “At some point these little bits and pieces begin to come together. Gradually a kind of deeper intuitive knowledge starts to form”. He says that enlightenment may come as a single moment or you might have several small moments. Or, even only the notion that something has changed. Either way, “there is no way to get it without years and years of practice”. In the commercial, when the young man reaches his Pepsi-induced enlightenment, although several years had gone by since the start of his training, he is still very young in terms of his total lifespan. This makes it very unlikely that he has acquired the amount of practice needed to reach enlightenment.
Which leads me to another assumption I had about Buddhism. I thought enlightenment was something that hit you all at once; you were lost but then suddenly found. You were unknowing and then all-knowing, and then, for forever. However, Warner points out that enlightenment doesn’t mean that you are fixed forever. He explains that you still have to live your life, with the same problems you had before. Only now, you have a better understanding of life, and you know how do deal with it. He also says that reaching enlightenment doesn’t always mean you’ll “do what you should” and that “enlightenment has to be practiced”.
The songs above are examples of popular music that reflect the Hindu aims of success and liberation. Success is definitely more prevalent in popular music than liberation. This is not surprising, considering how much our culture values material things. I also found that in most songs about success, the aim of pleasure is frequently intertwined. In our culture, success = pleasures. That’s exactly why you see Hugh Hefner at the beginning of the Weezer video with his three hot girlfriends and his big house. Our culture is obsessed with the idea that money creates happiness. With that being said, it’s interesting to note the popular phrase ‘money can’t buy happiness’. Well, which is it? Does monetary success add to the value of your life, or no? I personally feel that people’s lives are what they make of them, and that happiness is a decision. You can either decide to be happy, or not. We tend to forget that there are people in the world who don’t even have access to clean, safe, drinking water, yet we get distraught over not having the latest smart phone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying winning the lottery wouldn’t add to the pleasures of your life. Buying a mansion in Hawaii would certainly make me happy. All I’m saying is that I don’t think money buys happiness; I just think money adds to your established happiness.
And how do you reach happiness? Hinduism would tell you to seek Liberation. They believe that self-realization leads to moksha, breaking the cycle of life, death, and re-birth. Self-realization goes much deeper than material happiness. This means thata divine wisdom or total knowledge of everybody, everything, everywhere and every time in the entire cosmos. This is rewarding for them since God only gives this wisdom to a qualified person who has sought knowledge for it’s own sake. In Western culture, we tend to seek liberation as well, but in a different way. We seek liberation in the form of freedom. In our culture, our music talks about freeing ourselves from the constraints of things like “the man”, persecution of religion, corruption of politics, and even material things. I think the Sufjan Stevens song is a great combination of the Hindu aim of liberation and the Western idea of liberation. He talks about getting rid of his clothes, and other material ‘things’ that we tend to let control us, yet also talks about the ideas of growing, knowing, and re-creation that is the basis for Hindu liberation.
The songs above are examples of popular music that reflect the Hindu aims of pleasure and community service. The aim of pleasure was extremely easy to connect with popular music as the ideas of love and partying dominate our popular culture. The aim of community service was not as prevalent, but not lacking. However, pleasure will always beat out community service simply because community service just isn’t as glamorous as pleasure. Our society puts emphasis on beauty, love, money, and happiness. Musicians know this, and they create music that will sell. On a Friday night, people want to dance to party music, not feel guilty for not donating money to Haiti.
I did notice a trend in songs dedicated to helping people. It’s almost as if it’s a popular subculture for musicians to better their career by releasing a song about an impoverished country. I’m not saying that every ‘heal the world’ song is fake, but that the possibility of a morale boost to an artists’ credibility shouldn’t be overlooked. I used a song by the Black Eyed Peas, who are a great example of this somewhat hypocritical idea. They release the song “Where is the Love”, about helping the world, but then release the song “My Humps”, about being given ridiculously expensive, designer label ‘things’, for simply looking extra fly. If they were as concerned for the less fortunate, or “practiced what they preached’ in “Where is the Love”, they wouldn’t be dumping their money into driving pimped out rides and wearing the latest from Versace. They’re not alone though. Most people, including myself, are like this to some extent. Yeah, community service is great, but it’s never going to be as great as falling in love and owning that sick ride you’ve always wanted.
The Hindu aims are different from the ideas expressed in popular music in a few ways. For pleasure, American culture typically does not follow the key Hindu aspect of moderation. In most cases, music today emphasizes over-indulgence. You hear songs all the time about getting fully intoxicated, like a G6. (i.e.: “when we drink, we do it right, gettin’ slizzard”. ) We differ in the aim of community service as well, only not in a bad way. In Hinduism, there are lists of things you can do based on your class or status. However, in western culture, there’s no suggestion, limit, minimum or forced amount of community service one can do. Anyone is free to do or give, or abstain from, anything they want in the realm of helping others.
