The Weeping Demon and Shinto

             For this assignment, I decided to watch “The Weeping Demon” part of “Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams”. The theme of purity, or the pollution of it, is the biggest theme in this segment of the movie that relates to Shinto. In the story, Japan has apparently been destroyed by a nuclear holocaust, destroying almost all life and polluting what is left. Since one of the major beliefs in Shinto is that Japan and the Japanese all came from some divine origin, it makes sense that they would be considered pure, or at least more pure than the rest of the world. When they were destroyed by nukes and then infected by the fallout, the purity of the Japanese was polluted. Many of the people that are left have been turned into demons. I assume this is because they are the ones that engineered the nuclear war that destroyed everything, which would explain why the demon knows what happened and why, while the regular guy is clueless. The demons are being punished just like the kami who destroyed the sacred rice field.

            Which leads me to my next point, which is that punishment is the next biggest theme of the story. In Shinto, if one commits a sin, one is punished for it, just like in many other religions. There are different specific sins for followers of Shinto, though. For example, the gravest sins are against sacred objects or places. The islands that make up Japan itself are probably considered sacred, not to mention that is where pretty much all of the shrines are. So by getting into this nuclear war and turning Japan into this toxic wasteland, the survivors are being punished. Murder is also a major sin, of course, and I’m sure they are being punished for that as well. The way the war was conducted probably doesn’t fit along with the code of Bushido, as I’m sure launching nukes from afar isn’t considered honorable.

            The pollution of the purity of Japan and the punishment for it are what tie this part of “Dreams” to the Shinto religion.

Buddhism Assignment 1

Image from: http://thehappyhospitalist.blogspot.com/2009/11/growing-bonsai-tree-from-do-not.html

            There are actually two stereotypes within this image, which is a still from one of the Karate Kid movies. The first is that of the Zen Buddhist who tends to his bonsai tree. Bonsai trees require a lot of time and attention to detail in order to sculpt into the shape the sculptor envisions. This fits nicely into something Brad Warner mentioned, “Everything you have, whether it’s money or stuff, is an obligation. It is as much your duty to care for and nurture any object you own as it would be if that object were your child”(22). In the Karate Kid movies (the originals anyway, I don’t know about the new one) Mr. Miyagi is always trimming his bonsai trees. Not that Mr. Miyagi is really a Zen Buddhist, but you have to admit that his teachings to “Daniel-san” definitely have a peaceful, almost Zen quality to them. The first thing I personally think of when I see a bonsai tree (after Karate Kid, of course) is Buddhism, since in many movies, TV shows, etc, Buddhists usually seem to be either meditating in some temple, or trimming their bonsai trees. This is not just a stereotype, however; according to www.bonsaigardener.org, it was Zen Buddhists who first introduced the bonsai tree to the Japanese. The Japanese then introduced the art form to the rest of the world, but it seems to have originated with Buddhists.

            The second stereotype is that of the monk who is a master at martial arts. Again, I don’t think that Mr. Miyagi was actually a Buddhist, but it wouldn’t surprise me much if that is what his character was based on. I believe another example of this was the movie “Bulletproof Monk” with Chow Yun-Fat, in which Yun-Fat is a monk who also happens to be an undefeatable martial arts master. I highly doubt that there are many Buddhists who know any martial arts. Something I read in the introduction of Brad Warner’s book instantly reminded me of the training Mr. Miyagi gives to Daniel-san, though: “Zen is essentially a ‘back to basics’ view of Buddhism that emerged  in China maybe a thousand years or so after Buddha died”(pg.X). Mr. Miyagi’s teachings are very much a “back to basics” form of karate, as he makes Daniel-san perform tasks such as waxing his car and painting his fence in order to learn blocking from muscle-memory. This, plus Mr. Miyagi’s Zen-like attitude, very much reminded me of the stereotype of the fighting monk.

Assignment 2: Success and Moksha

"Carreer Opportunities" by the Clash, punk rock, 1977.
"Lifestyle of the Rich and the Famous" by Good Charlotte, rock, 2003.
"Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes, rock, 2003.
"The Memory Remains" by Metallica, metal, 2006.
"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" by the Smashing Pumpkins, rock, 1995.

"Liberation For..." by Amen, rock, 2004.
"Liberation Frequency" by Refused, punk, 1997.
"Liberation and Execution" by D.O.A., punk rock, 1993.
"Re-Education(Through Labor)" by Rise Against, punk rock, 2009.
"The Clansman" by Iron Maiden, metal, 1998.

The aim of success (wealth, fame, and power) was easily more prevalent than the aim of liberation. I believe this is mostly because there isn’t much of a difference between the American idea of wealth, fame, and power and the Hindu idea. How many definitions of wealth and fame could there possibly be? A majority of the songs that I found regarding this aim were rap songs, but I tried to stay away from those, as I thought they were too obvious. Instead, I found a bunch of rock songs. Most of these songs are about the bands’ own experiences with fame. The exception being the song by the Clash, which is more about a regular person’s difficulty at finding jobs, getting raises, etc. The songs I found for the aim of moksha(liberation) were very far from what the Hindu aim of liberation is. I found it very difficult to find songs that were actually about spiritual liberation without actually using songs that were specifically about moksha. Instead, I used songs from my own iTunes library that about liberation, (in all five cases liberation from oppression) rather than spiritual liberation. This truly highlights America’s priorities: wealth, fame, and power first, moksha later. Even the type of music the bands I have listed for each aim shows this prioritization: most of the songs for the aim of success are more pop-oriented (with the exception of maybe Metallica) than the songs for the aim of liberation, which were mostly less mainstream punk or metal. Pretty much anyone would recognize the riff from “Seven Nation Army” even if you don’t recognize the band or the song name. But how many people have ever heard of the band Refused? I couldn't even find videos for some of my liberation songs. What surprised me the most about this assignment was how little I was able to find about moksha. I looked for a online for about fifteen minutes, and all I could find was some psychedelic music and actual Hindu music about moksha. I thought about posting the moksha songs, but I realized that it would defeat the purpose of the assignment as all the bands were Asian.

Also,just so we're clear, the song “The Clansman” is about the struggle of the Scottish to free themselves from the English. It has nothing to do with the KKK.

Assignment 1: Pleasure and Service

Aim 1: Pleasure

"Group Sex" by the Circle Jerks
"The Art of Partying" by Municipal Waste
"Shimmy" by System Of A Down
"Shots" by LMFAO
"I Just Had Sex" by The Lonely Island

Aim 3: Service

"Faraway Coast" by Dropkick Murphys
"10 Years of Service" by Dropkick Murphys
"Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya" by Dropkick Murphys
"The Fighting 69th" by Dropkick Murphys
"Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" by Toby Keith

                The first Aim, Pleasure, was much more prevalent than the third Aim, Service/Duty. This is probably because most people consider sex, drugs, alcohol, and whatever else gives them pleasure to be much more fun than songs about service and duty. An example of this is when I asked my roommate for suggestions for the first Aim, he was able to find dozens of songs about sex and drinking.  When I asked about the third Aim, he didn’t have much to offer. People would rather hear fun songs than depressing ones. Go figure. What surprised me was how few songs I was able to find that were about service or duty. I’m sure there are many songs about war out there (and those were the songs that I chose for the third Aim). But there weren’t many that I actually liked (not that Toby Keith’s song is my favorite ever). As far as how close these songs are to the real meaning behind the Hindu Aims of life, I think they are close, but don’t quite hit the mark. The Aim of pleasure is fairly obvious, but I think many American songs don’t take it as seriously as the Aim does. For example, the song “I Just Had Sex” by the Lonely Island meant to be a comedic song, whereas the Aim of pleasure is much more serious. The song does fall under the category of pleasure, as it is about sex, so in that regard, American pop culture is very closely related. The Aim of service/duty, however, varies greatly. In Hinduism, there are castes, and each member of the castes are meant to perform their duty within the caste. There are no castes in America, so doing a service or doing one’s duty is a lot more vague. I chose songs about war because I feel that doing one’s duty for one’s country epitomizes the concept of duty. This may not coincide with the Hindu idea of service or duty, though.