One of the best things about getting lost is you'll never know what you'll find. In the case of today I was fortunate to discover the Dajia Wunchang Shrine. The Shrine was donated by a wealthy man in Dajia and it was originally both a shrine and a school built in the late 1800's, being eventually made a historical cite in 1985 by Dajia's local government. The location was on a corner next to a hamburger joint a new friend I made here is opening...so the location is inconspicious. This was one of the many ways it differed from Zhenlan Temple.
Another difference was how uncrowded and peaceful it was. At Zhenlan it was too overwhelming to even say a prayer, much less buy incense...but here, incense was based on how much you chose to donate and there were only a few family present performing the rituals for the new year. It was here I got three incense and said my prayer as well. For virtue, fortune and luck...
It was my first time being in a place where I could reflect on my time here so far and the possibilities of the year to come with all its trials and possibilities. Suffice to say, I plan on returning here again. It was the first and only place I stopped to stay at after Zhenlan Temple, though I did discover many more places I plan on visiting.
The day ended with success and I found where I was soon after the Shrine. Here is to the coming year and the final days of this Lunar New Years.
Some of the best adventures are the impromptu ones, especially when they are to such fantastic places as this Shrine near a cemetery in Fengyuan. I've always been fascinated by cemeteries, like churches and Temples that are old there is so much history to them. You have generations of lives in a single place.
My friend and coworker brought us here (myself and my other friend and colleague Adam) because I told him about the blog. He described the ceremonies that happen here, it is here where there are Tomb Sweeping ceremonies and many of the celebrations tied to the dead and honoring the ancestors.
It is this connection to the past that I wish was more prevalent in the west. I don't think that European traditions are very good at remembering the past or paying tribute to the ancestors in such a way that we remember where we came from. For many of us in the USA are pasts are lost in the changing of last names, knowledge that wasn't recorded or things that were lost. It is traditions like Tomb Sweeping and honoring of the past ancestors that I would like to carry on to whatever family I have in the future.
This is a location that I plan on updating once I learn more about, since I can't find it anywhere online, even though you can see it from Fengyuan. It is high up on the mountain, though only reachable by a single road that as of a few months ago was blocked by a mudslide. I think that added to the adventure of being there. It was a mystical place and hidden treasure in an already quite amazing city. Our friend had showed around Fengyuan and I was very quick to fall in love with it.
While there we talked about Taiwan and how we were getting used to being here (and enjoying our time here while teaching) as well as talking about home, the natural world and our experiences. It was a powerful experience.
We also got to experience the silence. Night and the mind, one of the most peaceful places to be. A quiet, empty shrine with the stars in the sky and the lights in the cities below...these are the moments that add the magic and make life beautiful.
The next area we would discover is a place we would find by accident. White Egret Park is park off the old road (Where the Confucian Temple is and where we were going to later). This area is a special place away from the tourists. It's the area where many of the older folks come to dance, do Tai Chi, play cards and play and sing music.
The area is pretty big and Randy and I weren't able to see all of it. But what we did see was the Gratitude Pagoda (a Pagoda is a tower at this Pagoda there was an area covered in red charms and ribbons for luck where an older man was playing a Jinghu (a single stringed traditional Chinese instrument). It was beautiful, like most of the area itself.
The park is peaceful, but also has a stark contrast, especially when one reaches the Buddhist Temple on the grounds.
First the the thing that was jarring. Right next to this old Buddhist Temple was a area for kids to win prizes and go on rides. It was like any small amusement park in the States.
The old people sat outside the Temple and some of the couples walked through into the different areas where there were the names of the did with some small rooms with Guan Yin in (one where she was bald, another where she had a red cape) in these rooms where the names of those who had passed along the walls. This place had tiny areas of peace where a person could connect with those who had passed on.
The final area of the Temple was a large area was an area of gold with three Buddhas bowing. This was the main ritual area and here I was able to be completely alone in great contrast to Linggue Temple where there were always folks at every area looking for donations. I donated here as I remembered and honored those who had died last year.
s been a long time since I've visited a Chinese Buddhist Temple, an entire year actually (last time it was in Hangzhou when I was studying abroad). There three things that stood out in my visit yesterday.
First was how incredibly peaceful it was...outside was the bustle of shopping, people going to the doctor and countless other things they had to do in their lives. I felt at peace at Linggue Temple, more so than I've felt anywhere else in China since teaching. The Temple truly is a beautiful place. There are the golden statues (Which will be a part of the next post), open squares, halls where monks are chanting, and an area where incense is burned to honor the dead. It allows community while slowing everything down. It's easy to be present in the moment and find peace and balance.
The second part was how parts of it reminded me of the Nanjing Confucius Temple I went to. There was a tree with red ribbons tied on it for wealth, prosperity and luck, there was the bell that could be rung for luck (without a cost attached unlike the Confucius Temple) and a store that I think supports the temples ability to run. I used to be abhorred to this idea...for example the amount of shops in the Vatican and the large showiness was a turn from me from religion. Now I would say it is less so...it matters whether the money is being towards good and if it is supporting the livelihood of those who live simply and up-keeping the sanctuary of the Temple or Cathedral...I say that's a good cause. If it's ever used to cover up or not used for betterment...then I take issue.
On the subject of the first part of the second paragraph. Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism really are a source of solidness for many of the people who believe in these traditional faiths. The philosophies in many instances are forgotten (except by the monks and scholars), but in it's place is a focus on the people and looking for one another...giving a place for a person to feel safe and honor what they've lost...or to celebrate a marriage or birth. The philosophies can sometimes get so isolating or to universal that they lose sight of the communities or lead to isolation and non-human interaction. Like the Yogi's in the mountains or monks who never leave the monastery.
If you achieve enlightenment and forget the world, did you really achieve it? (How can one live virtue without interacting with others?).
Now, can it's up to me to try to find that balance I found in the Temple always and to live by goodness.
Today was an unexpectedly wonderful today. It began with me heading down to Saint Martin's University for the job the fair they had today with two of my friends I see as brothers. After I missed one of the buses, I stuck around and visited the Abbey with one of my friends who is a brother to me, and discussing religion and purpose.
Saint Martin's University was originally founded by Benedictine Monks in 1895. Over time it became a school for young men, eventually a co-educational college and then a University. The College is named for Saint Marten of Tours who was a Roman Soldier who left (as far as the legend goes) after he had a vision that the beggar he had given his cloak to was Jesus Christ. He would later form Churches all over France and be made a Bishop.
Saint Martin's University is a beautiful place. Even before my friend and I (another friend had headed back by this point) wandered around the University and made our way to the Abbey. Many of the buildings look like they are at least seventy years old and have the feel that I get when I'm in the Quad at the University of Washington...the architecture speaks of prestige and halls of learning. This is a bit beside the point, but these were details I noticed on the way to the Abbey.
The Abbey is medium sized. It's entirely made of wood and has beautiful stain glass within. It's homely with a garden that the Monks tend, prayer books that belong to each monk, and the Chapel were there is enough seating to fit around one hundred students, and then a small area where the Eucharist is kept. It was over that I prayed...
Peace. Peace is what I found as I prayed there (and what I've noticed usually find in most places of reverence to something greater then the self). I expressed anxieties and gratitude about the what is and the unknown of the future and found the peace of the now.
What does it mean to be Jewish? This is a question that has become a hot button point of controversy on campus. It began long before the current conflict with Jews who were Pro-Israel not feeling safe on campus, and who ended up leaving in the process and students and Palestinians who have felt that their voice has not been heard except only in the Evergreen Community. In both instances people have been made into an "Other" and personhood denied in some way. I will explain in what ways later in the blog. First the events that occurred today on February 23rd 2011 and how they came about.
The latest issue was an art project an Jewish Evergreen Student made that was taken in Palestine and labeled, "Hebrew is the language of abuse." It was meant in the context of most Palestinians experience with Hebrew when she was over there. The language of soldiers, war and checkpoints. But it understandably set off a spark. Labeling any language the language of abuse, even in a given context, labeling a people, in this case some Jewish students on campus felt that it was an attack on them, one student even writing a letter to the campus newspaper the Cooper Point Journal mentioning the other students who have left because Anti-Israeli sentiment and that she would be one of them:
http://cooperpointjournal.com/opinion/letter-editor
. Out of this came the event "Shir l'Shalom: Hebrew Songs of Peace." Which was to counter Anti-Israeli sentiment and focus on the common wish for peace by all sides and how the language of Hebrew had peace within it's language. It was hosted by Evergreen Hillel whose goal seemed to be for the intention of unity among all Jews and celebration of Jewish songs of peace. On the program for the songs it quotes the Talmud saying,
"The entire Torah is for the sake of the ways of peace." -Talmud, Gittin 59b.
Sadly the event did come out of a reaction the the art and in the process a few Jews campus felt that their perspective and the point the art was trying to make about how disempowered the Palestinians feel with Israeli military checkpoints through their territories and having Israeli settlers settling where their homes once were located in Gaza and the West Bank. Due to the inequality between Israeli and Palestinian power that the art was trying to illuminate was being drowned out by a call for unity, Jewish students hosted their own event called "From Songs of Peace to Peaceful Action."
The event had three speakers who spoke about what Hebrew meant to them. There were three speakers. One was a woman who is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace:
http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/
The other was a man who has both Israeli and American citizenship, and the third was an older woman who grew up in a Jewish Ghetto in Chicago in the 30's and 40's.
I went to both events and caught the beginning of Shir l'Shalom and the end of "From Songs of Peace to Peaceful Action." The songs sung at Shir l'Shalom are songs of peace and God's love for all people. It was great being there for a while before heading off to my Philosophy of Religion Contract. After I headed to the second event.
I caught the last half hour of the second event when the member of Jewish voice for peace was talking about their needs to be more awareness about what our language means to others. Then questions began. It was a quite for a while and the male speaker spoke saying he saw the "Shir l'Shalom" event as poison since it was ignoring the plight of Palestinians in relationship to Israel.
My thought on that was he was missing something that could be a great way to bring about change...the God of Abraham of Islam and Judaism calls on the people for peace and to "treat others as they wish to be treated" and to "Not raise a sword again." I think these are things can be good for getting rid of the jingoism and militarism being used by certain Imans and Nations causing for Israel's destruction, and for the militarists within the Israeli government and certain Rabbi's who see war as the only way. In both cases personhood of the other is denied. They are somehow less and not a victim, only the one claiming to be a victim can be a victim...it's impossible for the victim to bully and victimizer (which both sides deny being but certain members are or end up being).
At the event I experienced white noise from this. The IDF soldier and his father and those they talked to mostly did Ad hominem attacks on one another. They gave some good knowledge as well, but most of it was ad hominem before actual discussion. There was a member of the IDF and his father who were at the event and brought up the issue of Israeli's security and denied the Palestinians as people, just as the people at the event were denying the fact that in the past Nations and individuals have called for Israel to be "Wiped off the map."
This goes both ways. Members in Israel or who are sympathetic with the Israeli government refuse to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people and continue to create settlements on their land, ignoring past peace treaties they made that respected Gaza and the West Bank as belonging to the Palestinian People.
In the end the lack of virtue being practiced by both sides is ignored. Both sides "other" their opponent and different ways, rather then dealing with how they or their allies are practicing unethical actions. You have desperation to live being practiced by both as no one listens, and those with power choose not to respect those without power. What can be done? First off the settlements need to stop and the Palestinian Territories allowed to develop and not cut off from the rest of the world, and leaders outside of Israel need to respect Israel's right to nationhood, just as Israel should respect and honor the Palestinians right to Nationhood.
I probably haven't covered everything, but the core issue of "othering" and with it ignoring a person or peoples right to exist needs to stop. I think religion can be the greatest move forward on that. Both Holy Books respect the other and at the core are about God's love for all his people. All his people are the world, which includes, Arabs and Jews. It's from that love that the sons of Abraham need to come together and end this. If they don't...one side is going to wipe out the other, or they will wipe out each other.
The Children of Abraham Research Thesis. This project is my goal for my final time here at the Evergreen State College. Over break I read tons of books on Interfaith and how to create successful dialogue between people of different backgrounds who are in conflict with one another. This project is an exploration of faith. What a Christian, Muslim or Jew is differs depending on who you are talking too...but there are common beliefs that all share and each claim Abraham as the father of their faith.
Throughout time we have seen individuals within these groups persecute and kill one another in the name of the God who made a covenant with their forefather. History is littered with atrocities committed in the name of God by all these faiths and today it is still done.
In this project I will be interviewing members of the faiths as well as taking surveys of people who I am unable to schedule interviews with. The questions will deal with how each individual sees faith playing a role in their life, what role that faith informs virtue and what Interfaith (respect and dialogue towards members of different faiths) plays a role in their religion.
Also part of the project is up-keeping the blog. I'll be visiting all the Abrahamic faiths largely, but I will also be visiting other religions as well. So I'll continue to post my faith visits. What discussions I post in here will not be in relationship to the survey questions and will be specifically for the blog. Since the survey is a questionnaire and interview, not a discussion.
This is my final quarter at the Evergreen State College and my goal with this project is to build bridges of understanding and respect between the faiths I'm studying and the people whose stories are told. I am hoping to further Interfaith dialogue, peace and understanding with the completed project. May peace be with you and God bless you all.
