Today's Picture: 012

[akujunkan]

Is of

the Butsuden of Myoshinji, which is the head temple of the Myoshin school of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. That's Shakamuni Buddha you see chilling there in the background.

(Although, should I really go back to posting pictures of SRS CULTURE? Thus far, you guys seemed to have liked the scrubby the best^^)



That will be all.

Comments

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

i dunno. buddha just isn't squeezably cute, but hey, i like looking at all the pix. :)

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, not the Japanese version, anyway. He seems pretty chubby and happy in many of the Chinese temples I've visited.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

I like the cul-chur but I li ke the day-to-day things too. Makes it easier to think about your life over there.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

There will probably be more day-to-day stuff the longer I keep this up. Since the idea is to post one pic I've taken during the day, and since I tend to do the same culture stuff over and over, I'm gonna run out of things to photograph pretty soon^^

[bloody-american.livejournal.com]

(I dunno. I've liked everything you've posted so far, especially that one with the people buying the soybeans 'cause I'm weird like that. :3

In other words: JUST KEEP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING, BB.)

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Oh, cheers. I dug the soybean pic too, because that's something even Idon't get to see every day.

PHE4R N0T. POSTING WILL CONTINUE.

[metal-dog5.livejournal.com]

I like 'em all, but wish I could click 'em and check out the finer details on some. In summary: YAY PICS ^___^

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but resizing images with html tags plays hell on bandwidth and is also not likely to work the same with all browsers. But if there's any in particular you'd like to see more closely, I could always AIM them to you...

[wombatdeamor.livejournal.com]

I dig the temples and stuff...especially since I'm taking a course on the religions of the east. Makes studying easier. Plus, I think I want to become Buddhist.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

No kidding (on both counts). In that case, I can rec some books to you, if you like.

Also, if your class ever covers any temples in Kyoto, I could always go out and take pictures for you so you can see what they look like. Just let me know!

[wombatdeamor.livejournal.com]

I would like some recs on the Buddhism thing, as I begin. I'm gonna wait until the latter half of the semester to really start reading up on it, since that is when we cover it in class. I'm gonna read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence and The Tao of Pooh as a lighthearted introduction, but I'll probably need more down the line. I'll always enjoy seeing pics though, so I'll let you know.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Right on. Well, right away I'd recommend staying away from anything by D.T. Suzuki, who made his career writing about how Whitey doesn't have the genetic ability to understand Zen--no joke.

My all time favorite is Zen For Beginners (http://www.librarything.com/work/183023/book/35335642); I think WCPL has a copy. Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen (http://www.librarything.com/work/45029/book/11536420) is a very close second. His Sit Down and Shut Up (http://www.librarything.com/work/2855482/book/15300894) is a much deeper look at Soto Zen, although I don't recommend reading it as an introduction, so check out the other books first.

Jiho Sargent's Asking About Zen (http://www.librarything.com/work/613123/book/9884867) is really good. She answers 108 common questions about Zen that don't get covered in a lot of the standard books.

David Chadwick's Thank You And OK! (http://www.librarything.com/work/28017/book/23747365) is fucking fabulous, both as an introduction to Zen and the best (IMO) description of what life in Japan is like for Whitey. Chas has had my copy for the past four years or so, but if you guys run into her, you have my permission to borrow it back!

I've got some other recs, but I'd be surprised if at least a few of them don't show up in your syllabus, so I'll leave off there. Youc an also check out my Buddhism tag on LT and ask me about any of those books too:-)

[wombatdeamor.livejournal.com]

our course is a survey class, so the only direct thing I'm reading is the The Good Heart by His Holiness The Dali Lama. I think that's about the only Buddhist reading, other than the contents of the textbook.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Okay, well that's an important fact right there, because Tibetan Buddhism is completely different branch of Buddhism, very distinct from Zen. (FWIW "shingon" is the term for Japan's version of Tibetan-style Buddhism.)

Also FWIW, Theravada is the main branch of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, and Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo) and its varients are probably the most popular contemporary forms of Buddhism in Japan.

[wombatdeamor.livejournal.com]

These are very important distinctions that I want to look into. I want to try to get a feel for the different truths. I'm not going to join a temple or anything, just trying to make my life better. Would you say Zen is easier to find books on? I'm probably putting the cart before the horse in that we're just about to start studying it and I don't have enough information to make a cogent decision.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'd say Japanese Zen and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism would be equally represented. (Although you have to be careful, because crap trying to pass itself off as Zen/Vajrayana is even more widely represented.)

Pure Land Buddhism (and its variants) are probably the most difficult to find books on, although I know there's an active Nichiren temple in Chicago somewhere.