The Weeping Demon

     The short video that I decided to watch was The Weeping Demon.  I had no idea what to expect, but the name really caught my attention.  The first few minuntes into the video, my first thought was 'wow, this is kind of creepy'.  But once I finally got to hear some dialogue I was able to understand what was going on.  The man at the beginning is walking through a foggy desert with not many signs of vegetation in sight.  When he encounters the demon, or Kami-which is a spirit, he finds out why the land looks the way that it does.  It's because of mankind, which always seems to be the case.  Nuclear bombs and missles cause fallout, and the fallout destroyed mother nature.  Not only did mother nature become destroyed, but the the radiation caused the flowers to mutate and we see monterous dandelions.  Two of the important themes in Shinto myth are purity and pollution.  The land had obviously become polluted, and was no longer pure.  The demon even states that mankind caused nature to vanish from the earth..  Nature is considered to be sacred, and mankind had managed to destroy it.
     The demon goes on to tell the story about his life as a human, and how he didn't live it very purely.  He would intentionally waste milk, and food to keep prices up.  Wasting what nature gives is not living in harmony with nature.  One of the Shinto Ethics is that emphasis is placed on actions that create harmonious relationships in home and society.  In Shinto, everything is spiritual and because of that there is a continuity between humanity, nature, and spirits/gods.  I believe that this short video depicted this continuity, and maybe if the demon had led a more pure life he wouldn't be a kami who happens to be a suffering demon.

Buddhism Post #1

hungrybuddhabelly.wordpress.com

     The stereotype I decided to right about is one that I can relate with.  Before I ever knew anything about Buddhism I always assumed that a jolly fat man with a pot belly, was an accurate depiction of Buddha.  I think this is a stereotype that many people in the West believe to be true, and that's because we only know what we see.  However, from my learnings of Buddhism, Siddharth Guatama is Buddhas true name, and he was a man in search of enlightenment.  Siddharth started towards his path of enlightenment by fasting.  He did this by only eating six gram of rice as day, and it got so extreme that he almost died and changed from six grams a day to a bowl of rice a day.  This picture of Buddha is obviously not of a man who eats only a bowl of rice per day.  One of the ten precepts is to eat moderately, and this is definitely not a picture of a man who eats in moderation.  Also, one of the things that the 'fat' Buddha signifies is wealth, and in class we learned Siddharth came from wealth but gave it up to go on his path to enlightenment.
     In chapter five of Brad Warners book, he talks about the misconception of Buddhism in the West.  He doesn't talk specifically about the 'fat' Buddha vs. Siddharth, but he does however talk about how people in the West are so quick to get things miscontrued.  The examples he gives of this are how people are quick to spend there money on a 'quick path' to enlightenment scheme, but that there is no 'quick path' to enlightenment.  "Buddhist practice is difficult and takes a lot of time, effort, and energy.  I know no one likes hearing that.  But tough titty if you don't.  There are no shortcuts" (p. 31).  For anyone who knows the story of Siddharth and his search for enlightenment you see that it was anything but easy.  He gave up a lot to achieve enlightenment, it's definitely something that money can't buy.

Success and Liberation Assignment

                                                            Success Songs:
                                 T.I. I'm a King Hip Hop (2008)
                                 B.G. ft. Cash Money Millionaires "Bling Bling" Hip Hop (1999)
                                 Cash Millionaires ft. Lil Wayne "Undisputed" Hip Hop (2001)
                                 Kanye West "Power" Hip Hop (2010)
                                                  Gwen Stefani ft. Slim Thug "Luxorious" Pop (2005)

Liberation Songs:

Orianthi "According to You" Pop (2010)

Kristinia DeBarge "Goodbye" Pop (2010)

Keyshia Cole ft. Nicki Minaj "I Ain't Thru" R & B (2010)

Michael Jackson "They Don't Care About Us" Pop (1996)

              Lil Wayne "Single" Hip Hop (2010)

             

            

In doing this assignment I definitely found songs about success to be more prevelant.  It was also definitely seen the most in Hip Hop with talk about money, cars, clothes, and girls.  I think that one reason for this is because after many of these artists who claim to come from poverty obtain a record deal, they find getting a record label as a type of liberation for them, therefore they're going to make songs talking about their success after liberation from poverty.  I also noticed that, and I don't know if this is the same for everybody else but, while searching for songs that dealt with liberation it was much easier to find songs that dealt with life after a relationship.  I think it's easy for people to relate too, because lots of people feel liberated after a relationship has ended, and they seek to change something about themselves, whether it's cutting or dying your hair, or buying a new outfit.  I believe that the Western view of success and the Hindu view of success are the same.  This is because they both believe success to be limited and competitive.  We see that all the time in pop culture when artists have hit singles one moment and fall out of the limelight the next moment, and spend their money faster than its coming in, becoming in great debt.  I believe that the Western view of Liberation differs from the Hindu view of  and liberation.  And I believe that, because with my experience with searching for songs about becoming liberated I came across so many that dealt with the ending of relationships, and it's because it's something that everyone in our society can relate to.

Pleasure and Community Service Assignment

Top 5 Pleasure Songs:

1) Bone Thugs N Harmony, "Weed Song", Rap, 2000

2) Lloyd, "Lay it Down", R &B, 2010

3) Lloyd ft. The Dream, "I Need Love", R & B, 2009

4) Rihanna, "S & M", Pop, 2010

5) Eminem, "Drug Ballad", Rap, 2000

Top Video For Pleasure:

                                           

                                                       

                                             Top  5 Community Service Songs:

1) Michael Jackson, "We Are The World", Pop, 1985

2) Michael Jackson, "Man in the Mirror", Pop, 1988

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

4) Bone Thugs N Harmony, "Change the World", Rap, 2000

5) Tupac, "Changes", Rap, 1998

Top Video for Community Service:

                           

     I felt that the aim that was most prevelant was the pleasure aim, which didn't surprise me at all.  Pleausre is something that most people in our society like to indulge in.  Even in bookstores there are tons of kama sutra books (not that I go searching for them), and plenty of people will buy them without even knowing the true meaning behind it.  Much of what we do in our society is something that will please us, from eating sweets, to listening to a good song on the radio, to going out drinking with friends.  While doing this assignment I found that it was much easier searching for songs about love, drugs, and alcohol, than it was to find songs about helping others.  I feel that this is because artists like to make songs that their listeners can relate to, and not to say that nobody cares about helping people, but everyone can relate to doing something that is pleasurable to them.  I chose Bone Thugs N Harmony's "Weed Song" as my top song for pleausre because it's a song about getting high, which is something that is pleasurable to some but only lasts for a certain amount of time, and that's what pleasure is, it's temporary.  In the song they say that if everyone would smoked, their minds would be at ease, thus making the world better.  It makes since because if everyone is happy there'd be less conflict.  The way that these songs talk of pleasure differs from the Hindu perspective of pleasure because it is more modern.  Also, Hindus seek pleasure for religious purposes and do so virtously.  Whereas in modern day Western society we do things such as drugs and alcohol because we feel like it, because we want to have fun.  For Hindus, pleausre is a goal they seek to achieve in life, as opposed to modern day society where pleasure is just something to pass the time.  The Community Service aim is different than modern day societies view of community service because Hindus seek to fulfill the duties that are assigned to that persons caste.  Obviously, in Western culture people are not born into a set caste.