Music and Buddhism

When being introduced to a new culture or religion, sometimes it is introduced through music.  Music is truly a universal language and is something that most individuals can relate to.  Within Buddhism, music is obviously not something to listen to for pleasure, but music is used for chants and sutras.  The Mahayana tradition, however, was the only tradition to add instrumentation such as drums or flutes to these sacred chants. 

            In more modern music throughout Asia, some popular artists are influenced by Buddhist ideas and allow this to be included within their songs.  Artists like Faye Wong; who is popular in places such as Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore considers herself a Buddhist and the singing group I-Gemz in Malaysia actually released an album title Cradled in Buddha’s Arms; this titular song turns out to be a praise song for the original Buddha, although some critics state that artists like this have no true grasp on traditional Buddhist music. 

            Buddhism itself is becoming more and more relevant in Western Cultures where pop music plays a large role in mainstream society.  Most musicians who are also Buddhist are a part of the Nichiren tradition of Buddhism.  A movement with 12 million members who follow the Nichiren tradition is the Soka Gakkai International.  One notable follower of this movement is Tina Turner.  She like some of the author’s we have come across in this class considers herself both a Christian and Buddhist.  Heavily Buddhist music has not made it into the mainstream of pop music, but music has become a way of teaching Buddhist ideas and culture. 

Buddhism and Food

         I've often wondered what a typical Buddhist diet consisted of so I decided to research it. I learned that Buddha himself suggested that the monks avoid eating humans, elephants, horses, dogs, snakes, lions, tigers, boars, and hyenas. However, though Buddha advised against the consumption of the kinds of meat listed priorly, there is not said to be any set Buddhist dietary laws. The Buddhist diet differs within each school of Buddhism. The Theravada and Mahayana schools of Buddhism typically refuse to eat meat and fish. Buddhists from China and Vietnam are known to avoid what they consider to be the Five Pungent Spices including garlic, onion, and leek. These Buddhists believe that these foods will increase one's anger and sexual desire. Tibetan buddhists will never consume fish and typically avoid eating fowl. The reason Buddhists avoid different kinds of meat is because it is believed that different kinds of meat can cause different emotions to occur within the individual. For instance, fish is believed to cause aggression, foul is believed to cause desires, and red meat is believed to give birth to ignorance. Many Buddhists choose to be vegetarians on the basis of the first precept which is often interpreted as "do not harm." Additionally, Buddhism is rooted in the notion of reincarnation and the belief that animals can be reborn as humans and vice versa which prevents Buddhists from eating animals.
         Buddha wanted his followers to think about five things while eating, these are known as the "Five contemplations while eating".  Buddhists should only eat if these qualifications can be met. These qualifications include:
1) One considers if one deserves the food.
2) If one's mind is not greedy
3) If the food is a necessity and a healing agent for the body
4) And if the food is eaten for the purpose of part of reaching enlightenment.

Sites Used:
http://www.faithandfood.com/Buddhism.php
http://faithinfood.org/spirituality-food/buddhism/

Modern Buddhism in the West

While I was researching this topic, I came across a Time Magazine article from 1997.  The article reminded me of how Buddhism surged in popularity during that time.  The Beastie Boys held their Tibetan Freedom Concerts, The Dali Lama won a Nobel Prize for Peace and Brad Pitt starred in Seven Years in Tibet.  Richard Gere and Tina Turner were well known practicing Buddhists and Tibetan Flags were everywhere.  That wasn't the first introduction of Buddhism to Western society, but it was a popular theme for a while and I think that many of my immediate thoughts about Buddhism prior to this class stemmed from those celebrity headlines.

I read a few different articles about how Western practitioners have adapted traditional Buddhist teachings to suit Western ideals.  Much like the protestant reformation aimed to bring christians to believe in equality over hierarchy and introspection over ritual, certain Buddhist practices have been more popular in Western society than others.  For those who brought Buddhism back with them from days of colonization, they claimed to want to return to an authentic Buddhism based on original texts rather than monastic chanting.  They dismissed idolatry in favor of meditation.

In America, Engaged Buddhism found favor over traditional Buddhist practice of withdrawal from worldly passions.  Some contributors think that Buddhism suits the American "do-it-yourself" mentality.  Meditation allows those who practice to take the time to look inside themselves and find a deeper meaning to everything around them.  From what I read, there are those who fear American adaptations are harmful to the traditional teachings of The Buddha.  Of course, there are an equal number who argue in favor of anything that offers a little calm and clarity in an otherwise hectic world.  I think that they are both correct in that not everyone is able or willing to give themselves over to monastic life, adopting certain practices are beneficial but they are not Buddhism in the traditional sense without the sacrifice of self that is the central theme of Buddha's teachings.



Van Biema, David, McDowell, Jeanne. "Buddhism in America. (cover story)." Time 150, no 15 (October 13, 1997): 72. Military & Government Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed June 30, 2014).

Steinfels, Peter. "Beliefs: The development of modern Buddhism is traced to a mix of Eastern and Western influences." New York Times. October 26, 2002.

Buddhism and Abortion

2nd Blog Post

I chose to research the Buddhism view on abortion because I thought it might be a complicated issue considering the cycle of samsara.  My researched showed that there is no universal view of abortion in Buddhism.  Traditional Buddhists seem to reject abortion and view it as the destruction of a life, however, modern Buddhists seem to feel all over the map about it. 

One of the central, if not the central, idea of Buddhism is understanding the effects of your actions and having responsibility for those consequences.  An abortion is an action that causes a very real consequence.  All over the world, whether an abortion is murder is stills something people are fighting over.

According to the BBC,

“According to the teachings of Buddha, five conditions must be present to constitute an act of killing.

·      The thing killed must be a living being

·      You, the killer, must know or be aware that it is a living being

·      You must have the intention to kill it

·      There must be an effort to kill

·      The Being must be killed as a result”

-BBC

            This metric makes it seem like abortion is killing, except the first two bullet points make it still up for debate.  Is a blastocyst or a fetus “a living being”?  And, if the person destroying the fetus doesn’t believe it is “a living being”, then is it not an act of killing?

There is also the very real issue that comedian Bo Burnham called, “the probable problem of a pro-life abortion” in his song “New Math”.  Abortions are performed in order to save a woman’s life every day.  The BBC article says that in these cases, it is the intentions with which the act is done that matter.  “If the decision is taken compassionately, ... the moral harm done will be reduced with the good intentions involved”  (BBC).

Interestingly, the Dalai Lama has spoken about abortions performed when it is discovered that the fetus will have severe developmental disabilities. 

“If the unborn child will be retarded or if the birth will create serious problems for the parent, these are cases where there can be an exception.  I think abortion should be approved or disapproved according to each circumstance.”

                        - Dalai Lama, New York Times, November 28, 1993

I think this statement is really interesting.  He starts out by basically saying he thinks that it is fine to abort mentally handicapped children – something that many would have moral problems with regardless of religion.  But he then backs off a bit saying it should be a case-by-case decision.  This is a very diplomatic answer – he basically leave the issue open for interpretation.

            The BBC article brought up an issue I didn’t even think of  - abortion is viewed as bad karma for the woman and abortionist, obviously, but apparently it is also viewed as bad karma for the fetus as well.  This is because an abortion means the ‘soul’ is immediately sent back to the cycle of death and life without the chance to accumulate good karma.

            Something that came up in multiple articles I read was Japan’s relationship with Buddhism and abortion.  Abortion is extremely common there, and so a tradition has developed of making offerings to Jizo, god of lost travellers and children, during a memorial service for the aborted fetus that incorporates Buddhist as well as Shinto and local traditions.  This practice is rejected by most Buddhist organizations because the practice has no basis in Buddhist texts.  It is also problematic because some temples will exploit women who have had an abortion by charging them money for these services and instilling fear that if they don’t use the services they could be victims of retribution from the fetus’ soul.

            I  am glad I did this research because it turned out to be a more complicated issue than I initially thought.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/buddhistethics/abortion.shtml

Monks Be Pippin' in Style

Blog post (2)
      I have been searching for the entire day about buddhist, buddhism, and monks. When I given hope on interesting topics I found this video: http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/06/buddhist-monks-having-a-louis-vuitton-scandal.html
        Apparently these young monks were being video taped inside a private jet, with expensive sunglasses and a  Louis Vuitton carry on. At first I thought it was humourous, here even a monk can not escape material things of the modern world.
      But, with further research this monk in the front seat of the video is a fugitive. His name is Wirapol Sukpho a Thailand monk on the run for several charges like rape, online fraud, manslaughter, embezzlement, and many other crimes dealing with drugs as well.
      After reading the article by NY Daily News I couldn't believe what I was reading. Apparently before the video, he was leaving a meditation retreat. What is really sick about Sukpho is how he still commits to being said monk. It's disrespect to buddhism. There is no possible way that other monks or practicing buddhists would agree with his lifestyle.
      Another sickening fact from this story is "Last year, about 300 of Thailand's 61,416 full-time monks were reprimanded and in several cases disrobed for violating their vows, according to the Office of National Buddhism."
       What is causing these monks to violate their vows? What led Sukpho to turn against his vows?

Dalai Lama Video

I watched an interview of Dalai Lama with Jim Glassman about the relationships between Tibet and The People’s Republic of China.

I was born and raised in China. As a result, my perception about Tibet has always been from the Chinese perspective. Since grade schools, I was taught over and over again that Tibet is a part of China. My brain was trained in such way that Tibet is not only a place full of religious mysteries led by Dalai Lama, but also a dangerous area where violence are used to achieve it’s political ambitions. 

By coming to America and studying Buddhism in American higher education, I start to understand the other side, the Tibetan side. My perception of Dalai Lama was wrong simply because the word “ambition” and Buddhist just don’t go together. Like Dalai Lama said clearly in the video, what Tibet wants is a democratic government in which they enjoy some political freedom from the PRC. 

In the video, Dalai Lama is very knowledgeable about the history of different kinds of societies and political systems. He seems to understand the importance of democracy and human rights in the 21st century. As of the constant conflict with China, Dalai Lama is trying to approach it with the peace within the Buddhism beliefs and the help from the external sources such as the United States and other western countries. 

The Karmapa's TED talk

I watched the TED talk of Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, a well respected religious leader in Tibetan Buddhism that devotes his life in the teaching of Buddhism. Through research, I understood that Karmapa is seen as the second highest ranking spiritual leader in the Tibetan Buddhism tradition after the Dalai Lama.

During the TED talk, the Karmapa tells the story of how he was chosen and taken away from his parents and homeland. The religious life was not as “fun” as he expected; instead, he had to work hard to adjust to the new life and practice with his heart. The Karmapa acknowledges the advancement of technology in today’s world. However, he worries that the development is slowly becoming the burden to people’s fundamental lifestyle. He uses the analogy that it is as if we are climbing higher and higher on the tree while undermining the root of the tree. 

The Karmapa says, “sometimes we develop grand concepts of what happiness might look like for us, but if we pay attention, we can see that there are little symbols of happiness in every breath that we take.” I believe that in order to pick up those “little symbols of happiness” requires a mindful person. I agree with the Karmapa that in this day and age where everything happens in a lighting speed, we really need to slow down and be mindful of what we are doing and increase people’s interactions on a mind-to-mind and heart-to-heart level.