Showing posts with label animism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animism. Show all posts

Friday, 11 July 2014

Obon means ghosts and remembering the dead

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Japanese-city.com; NHBT

I went into the sanctuary and could feel the ancestors around me (rpv-team/flickr).

What is Obon?
Animist, Buddhist, Pagan, and Catholic Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles may have the Day of the Dead (just after all ironic, nominal Christians celebrate Halloween).

But Japanese Buddhist and Shinto practitioners have much the same thing in this month's Obon Festival, which is being celebrated concurrently with the unrelated Lotus Festival and commencement of the annual Rains Retreat just a few miles apart.

Obon is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during Obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives.
 
Traditionally, lanterns are hung in front of houses to guide the ancestors' spirits, Obon dances (bon odori) are performed, graves are visited, and food offerings are made at house altars and temples. 
 
At the end of Obon, floating lanterns are put into rivers, lakes and seas in order to guide the spirits back into their world. The customs followed vary strongly from region to region.

Obon is observed from the 13th to the 15th day of the 7th month of the year, which is July according to the solar calendar. However, since the 7th month of the year roughly coincides with August rather than July according to the formerly used lunar calendar, Obon is still observed in mid August in many regions of Japan, while it is observed in mid July in other regions. 
 
The Obon week in mid August is one of Japan's three major holiday seasons, accompanied by intensive domestic and international travel activities and increased accommodation rates. In recent years, travel activity in mid August.
  • Event Location: Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
  • 815 First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
  • Obon Festival + Bon Odori Schedule: http://bit.ly/bLkTf
Japanese Obon Festival and Bon Odori Schedule
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    Wednesday, 28 May 2014

    Modern Native throat singer, "Animism" (video)

    Crystal Quintero, Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Tanya Tagaq (Q/CBC)
    The Buddha had blue eyes? It's not so rare in Central Asia extending south from Gandhara/Afghanistan north to Kalmykia/Russia to the Far East of Buddhist Siberia, North Asia
    A little bird told me, and it wasn't twitter. We are all interconnected (No Strangers)

    Q's Jian Ghomeshi speaks with Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq about her new album, "Animism," and how she went from being a self-taught throat singing vocalist, honing her skills in the shower, to collaborating with the likes of the Kronos Quartet and Björk. Indeed, it was her lack of formal training that attracted Björk to her, says Tagaq, adding that the Icelandic artist didn't think she was "supposed to" sound a certain way. That's a perspective Tagaq shares.
    • CBC Music: First play of Tanya Tagaq's Animism (free)
    • Inuk Tagaq reclaiming Nanook of the North
      Animism? (from Latin animus, -i "animator, soul, life") is the worldview that all entities (animals, plants, inanimate objects and phenomena) possess a spiritual essence. In the anthropology of religion it is used as a term for the underlying belief system or cosmology of some indigenous tribal peoples, especially prior to the infiltration of colonialism and organized "religion." Although each culture has its own mythologies and rituals, the term "animism" is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives -- so fundamental and taken-for-granted that most animistic indigenous people have no word in their languages that corresponds to "animism" (or even "religion"). More
    http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2014/5/First-Play-Tanya-Tagaq-Animism

    Shaman medicine (thefederationoflight.com)
    "I like to live in a world that's not supposed to be. Or it's just there already as it is. It doesn't have to be anything, you know, because we put a lot of constraints on ourselves everyday in this crazy society," she says, adding that she gives "zero sh*ts about what people" think about her -- even as a trendy rave dancer -- but instead respects herself, her instincts, and her emotions. "And I every day do what I can to be a good person.... That's why breath is so important; it's the common denominator."  More

    Grupo SERES de SONHO - Buddhismo Tibetano
    (GSS) "Tantric Choir": Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist lamas of Gyuto chant in the Mongolian style of Bön "medicine men," shamans, and nomadic reindeer herders.
    Standing by her #Sealfie: Manitoba's Tanya Tagaq addresses the controversial anti-Ellen campaign. Despite the considerable backlash after posting a photo of her daughter beside a dead seal, she supports native hunting and "being a part of what you [kill to] eat" (CBC.ca).
    KARMA IS A B-TCH: When the "hunter" becomes the hunted, guilty of killing then mauled for it by another "hunter" in the samsaric wheel of survival. (LOL? Schadenfreude?) Don't kill.
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    Friday, 25 April 2014

    Buddhist/Bon Sherpas of Mt. Everest (audio)

    Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; David Leveille (The World, pri.org)
    The mighty Himavanta/Himalayas (Raimond Klavins/artmif.lv/artmif/flickr.com)
    Buddhist and Bon family members of the Nepali mountain-guides lost in the Mt. Everest avalanche wait for the bodies of loved ones to arrive at Sherpa Monastery in Kathmandu on April 19, 2014. The avalanche was the deadliest in eight years (Navesh Chitraka/Reuters).

    .
    Pasang Y. Sherpa (Penn)
    The avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas last week may be a turning point in the history of Mt. Everest (Sagarmatha) expeditions -- a time to reflect on the Western climbing culture and on the risks faced by the mountain's unsung heroes that make that culture possible, the Sherpas.
     
    The World asked Pasang Yangjee Sherpa, an anthropologist and lecturer at Penn State Univ., to answer some questions about Sherpa culture. She didn't have any immediate family or relatives killed in the avalanche but says the tragic accident "is something that is really sad for every Sherpa." We've lightly edited the interview for clarity.

    When you have Sherpa in your name, what does that indicate?
    Beyond Everest in Bhutan (Soultravelers3.com)
    It indicates that we belong to this ethnic group called Sherpas.

    The term Sherpa is often used synonymously with expedition workers, or porters, because historically those were the jobs that Sherpas did. But it kind of takes our attention away from who Sherpas really are and does not differentiate the ethnic group from the job.
     
    Buddhist Himalayas from K2 to Bhutan
    Sherpas currently live in different parts of the world, but the largest communities are in Nepal and the Everest region. And there are large communities of Sherpas living in [metropolitan] Kathmandu and New York City. 

    Why are Sherpas so skilled at mountaineering?
    We have been living in the mountains for a very long time, and that's where we come from, so we know the area. We know how to live and survive and adapt. But we need to understand that Sherpas do not climb mountains for a hobby or as a sport. They do so to earn money for themselves and their families so the families can have a better life.
     
    Buddhist novices of India behind the Himalayas, Ladakh (SylvainBrajeul/flickr.com)
     
    How do Sherpas generally view the Himalayan mountains?
    The devas' resort (kerdowney.com)
     The mountains are not just [inanimate] objects in front of them. The mountains are places where deities [devas and other shapeshifting creatures visible to shamans and mystics] reside.

    So we go to the mountains and we actually pray [do puja to honor them] and make sure the mountain [or the being associated with the mountain] is not upset, and we make sure the mountains are happy to allow Sherpas, or anyone, to climb.

    Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal
    Every time one of the expeditions goes up, the Sherpas do a pujah -- a ritual to appease the deity and to make sure everyone's happy and it's okay for them to climb. But this time, because so many lost their lives, this was seen as a sign by the Sherpas that their god[s are] not happy. They thought it was a good reason to stop climbing [and risking their lives] this year. 

    Does the worst accident in the history of Everest expeditions mark a turning point for Sherpas?
    My friends and I are hoping this will be a turning point. The cycle of people feeling pressured to go to the mountain, then getting injured or dying, then the families grieving -- I think this cycle has to end. We think this incident should be a turning point for everyone. And for the expedition workers, in particular. More
    South East European Film Festival, Los Angeles (seefilmla.org)
    L.A. Asian Film Festival 2014 (asianfilmfestla.org)

    A Himalayan pilgrimage (yatra): A Green Odyssey (padyatra.com)
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      Friday, 6 December 2013

      Selling off sacred Hopi artifacts (audio)

      Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; A Martinez, Leo Duran (Take Two/KPCC/SCPR.org)
      Sacred Hopi Kachina figurines, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, USA (heard.org)
        
      Don't look! Kachinam or "friends" (Laurel Morales)
      The Hopis say Katsina masks, which are embodiments of devas, cannot be sold. These fantastic artifacts invested with life are usually given to a young girl at a public ceremony as a blessing and part of her education.
       
      But in France, a judge will decide today whether 32 Hopi artifacts can go up for sale at an "art" auction. However the Hopi tribe, indigenous Native Americans or First Nations people, say those objects contain the spirits of ancestors, and selling them as commercial art is illegal.
       
      The question "What is Art?" can have an open-ended answer. But what if that art is a really important part of one's own culture? A French judge will decide whether they can go up for sale at an art auction.
       
      Laurel Morales is a reporter for Fronteras (frontiers, borders) based in Flagstaff, Arizona. She explains the details and whether this case may end different than a similar suit earlier this year. LISTEN

      Georgia O'Keefe in New Mexico: ...Katsinam and the Land
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