Session 3 - October 27

[Ingrid Herskind]

I this crazy time of the pandemic, I've been thinking a lot about the idea of space. When were are following the "stay at home" model, and your apartment is tiny, it has made me think about clutter and the use of space. I was struck by the story in the reading about the lesson of silence and self-discipline in "The notion of sitting still in front of a Zen garden is not only about self-discipline, but about mental dissociation with everything else, save the few rocks, shrubs or raked sand that lie in front." I wondered if schools would be better served to have outside spaces like a Zen garden to reflect and seek serenity. Connecting this to the final lecture about the importance of nature in the city, I think it is also important to think of including natural spaces on campus for students to have the opportunity to reflect.

[Ingrid Herskind]

While thinking about Buddhism and sacred spaces, I was interested in our discussion about the importance of the tea ceremony. Not only does the tea ceremony fit in with the tradition of ceremony and symbolism, but it also looks to the sacredness of space. In this time of Covid, I have found the act of steeping tea and sitting in a moment with tea to be important. 

I found this artwork below (Original woodblock prints triptych by Yoshu Chikanobu (1838-1912) - 'Tea Ceremony' (Chanoyu no zu) - From the series "Etiquette for Ladies" (Onna reishiki no uchi) - Japan - 1888) interesting as it shows a lot of the elements from our discussion on gender roles and use of indoor and outdoor space. It would be interesting to use this woodblock print and to talk about Japanese art/architecture in the late 1800s.

 

[Alison Douglas]

Thank you for the information.  I've been to the Huntington Libray, but it nice to know that there is another place to go and visit.  Being in a beautiful garden is peaceful.  Since I can't actually got to Asia, I'll have to go to San Diego.

[Shurong Tu]

Before I dont how fengshui works and dont believe fengshui technique very much even I saw use the tool-Bagua.  I found some tips how to improve fengshui at your entry way. We moved to a new house several months ago.  It will be good time for me to learn and change or improve some fengshui with my house. 

[Shurong Tu]

 

 

wabi-sabi is a new word for me and I like its sound. I am learning it and know more about it . I have applied this wabi-sabi philosophy to handle my personal trials and tribulations, I am also trying to use this philosophy to persuade myself to understand and accept others more. 

[Betsy Telle]

I think that this is an idea and concept that we can actually bring to our students during this lockdown time. You mention being stuck in their apartments, many of which are tiny. I think it would be a good idea for us to introduce the ideas of feng-shui and the zen garden to our students, so that while they are stuck inside day after day with the stress of distance learning they can learn to cultivate calm and seek serenity. I also really like your idea of having a zen garden on school campus as a space for students to do this as well.

[Betsy Telle]

When I was in Middle School, we had an assignment in our history class to make our own Zen Garden with pebbles and small rocks in a Shoebox lid. We were provided with the "rules" of the Zen Garden. It was an incredibly difficult assignment that required a lot of thinking and revision. I know that my classmates and I really enjoyed it and it is one of the few projects that I still remember from Middle School. I had never thought about using the project in my own class because I teach Science and not History, but this session has made me think about how the project and Zen Gardens are as much about Design and Engineering as they are about their Religious and Historical contexts.

[Betsy Telle]

During this time of Quarantining and Stay at Home orders, there has been a great increase in the number of people Gardening. I started my first real garden as a result of quarantining. I think that in discussing Zen Gardens, I could have a discussion with my students comparing Americans turning to Gardening right now with the reasons for Zen Gardens. We could also compare and contrast a Zen Garden with a Garden. Even though a Zen Garden does not have any plants there are still a lot of similarities that students might not think of right away.

[Philip Bramble]

I remember the sardonic comment about Mahatma Gandhi: "It takes a great deal of money to keep Bapu living in poverty."  Gandhi might have wanted to live a simple life, but with the scale of his travels and the size of his retinue, it took a lot of money for Gandhi to live as simply as he wanted.  Looks did not necessarily match the reality.

So too is the idea of the tokonoma, the alcove that is carved out of most Japanese rooms.  Traditionally, the space is meant to display one scroll or one floral arrangement -- the better to achieve the goal of Zen concentration.  But if the space is only meant for one objet d'art, and the display should be routinely changed, where do those other artworks go?  In the kuya, the backyard storage shed where no guest will go prying.  This is the building that gets cluttered with all of the accumulated pieces of art so that the tokonoma can look so unadorned and spartan.

[Ying Yu]

I happened to learn Tea culture last year. I have learned that in ancient times, tea was a rare item in Japan. So they valued tea so much that they conducted the tea ceremony late to respect tea. They needed to clean before drink the tea, and they could not talk during the drinking. They also respected people who knew the knowledge of tea. The idea of Japanese Green tea was because they not only want to drink the tea, but also wanted to eat the leaves of the tea. So the made the green tea power from those tea leaves. In ancient China, they also respected people who knew the tea well. The famous people is Yu Lu( 陆羽 )。We call him the the Saint of Tea. But we don't have tea ceremony.

[Ying Yu]

I have been to Suzhou Garden in China, and Japanese Garden in the U.S. Suzhou Garden pay attention to many details, like artificial hills, plants, cravings of the buildings, etc. The whole garden is dedicated—so many rooms with different functions. The inner of the building is darker and colder than the Japanese facilities. The rooms of Japanese buildings are smaller than Suzhou Gardens, but with more sunshine. Based on those pictures, I feel that the spaces for Chinese people is for walking and taking; however, the Japanese rooms' function is more like sitting and thinking. 

[Ying Yu]

After learning this lesson, I would like to teach the idea of Yin Yang to my students. I love to teach them poems. I want to introduce some books of Yin Yang Philosophy to compare with some English books that include philosophy of western culture to teach my students. Such as “ I-ching” and "Huang Di’s Canon of Internal Medicine" , the main idea of those books includes the Yin Yang. Also, I will find some videos for them to help them understand the Yin Yang idea better. So after the basic concept, they need to search online to find more information about Yin Yang. Fengshui will be a good topic for them to explore.

[Ying Yu]

I feel so impressed with the Dwellings in Beijing, especially for the picture of the internal design structures. I think so impressive about children's living place near the front door and far from adults. In Confucious's opinion, children should respect their parents and sacrifice for their parents if needed. So children were not protected so well as nowadays. They also had to greet their parents when they wake up every morning. They needed to learn all the rules from their parents. And the out wall of the dwelling is without any windows, which shows the ancient Chinese focus more on their family members, and they also need to protect themselves from others. I believe the construction idea is similar to the Forbidden City.

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