Tag Archives: Buddhism

Veganism for Buddhism according to Lunar Calendar

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 25
Occupation: PhD Candidate
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2020
Primary Language: Vietnamese
Language: English

Main Story: 

The following is transcribed between myself and the informant, from this point forward the informant will be known as TT and I will be MH. 

MH: Are there any food specific traditions you and your family or area would partake in? 

TT: Well, I really am not sure if this is outside of where I grew up or not, but according to  the lunar calendar on the 15th and 30th of each month we would go vegan.

MH: Every month? Is there religious value to that or just something that is done?

TT: Well my family is Buddhist and a lot of Vietnam is Buddhist so I feel it is something most connected to those values. The families my family was friends with would also partake in that. I’m confident it has something to do with being “pure” in the eyes of Buddhism. Even though I no longer live at home with my family and do not align with any religion, I instinctually find myself wanting to eat vegan a couple times a month out of habit. 

Background: 

My friend grew up in South Vietnam and often thinks about the more rigidly held traditions he and his family would partake in back home. He sometimes misses that familial, communal and regional duty to tradition experienced there versus the lack of heavily structured traditions that exist on the grand scale here in the states. 

Context: 

I often find myself eating vegan and I find I feel better, and I was asking my friend – who mainly seems to be extremely meat focused- if he could go vegan and then it launched us into this conversation. 

My Thoughts:

I think there is something to be said about cycling through being vegan. Many people who are not even apart of Buddhist cultures believe that being vegan cleans your body and can also in turn help you mind.

Wonhyo and the Skull Water

Nationality: Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seoul, Korea
Performance Date: 3 April 2020
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Main Piece:

The following was transcribed from a conversation between the interviewer and the informant.

Informant: Korean culture is built on Confucianism and Buddhist teachings are very common. So a lot of proverbs, old sayings, and things like that nature are based on these concepts. A very famous story that’s even relevant today is Wonhyo. Wonhyo was an early Buddhist monk, a scholar, and a philosopher in Shinla dynasty, which is around like during the 600s. The story goes that he was on his way to China for essentially a study abroad. One night on his journey, he found a cave to take shelter in and decided to spend the night there. Inside the cave he found a bucket of water, and because he was thirsty he drank it all and it was delicious- tasted like water. Next morning, we woke up and realized that it was actually a human skull not a bucket, and the water was actually like some remnants from the brain basically. He learned from that incident that everything is up to your own beliefs, because like he believed the water to be good and his body in part made him to believe that, you know, so he decided not to pursue the study abroad and came back to Shinla (Korea).

Interviewer: Can you give me examples of how this story has become modernized? How do people nowadays use it?

Informant: It’s mostly like for comedic, or funny situations. Like for example, I saw this post on Twitter that basically this girl who works at Subway ran out of salt, so whenever a customer would ask for more salt she’d had to shake an empty salt shaker just to front. But apparently one customer complained that there was too much salt in their sandwich. In that situation, Koreans would describe it as the ‘skull salt shaker’, it’s like you add skull in front of the object in question, that makes the joke.

Interviewer: Why and how do you think a story that old stayed relevant even till this day?

Informant: I think with stories like these, the older the better, because they’re so distanced from any time specific things that it makes the story almost universal. And it’s just a relatable morale, everything depends on how you decided to look at it, that’s something that people can think about, no matter what year it is.

Background:

The informant is a student living in Seoul, Korea. She’s finished all her general education (from elementary to high school) in Korea, and now currently goes to a college in Seoul. She describes that the first time she read about the story of Wonhyo was through a history text book in 5th grade. Even though the informant isn’t a practicing Buddhist (she describes herself as atheist, like most Koreans), these beliefs and teachings are widely accepted and used disregard one’s religious beliefs.

Context:

The conversation took place over the phone, while the informant was alone in her college dorm, in a safe and comfortable environment.

My thoughts:

Upon doing some research, I learned that there are a few different versions of the story of Wonhyo. In the Japanese telling, Wonhyo went inside a cave only to learn next morning that it was actually a grave (so the water and skull is absent in this version). In another telling, it’s the combination of the two- he went inside a grave and drank the skull water. No matter which version of the story is the most faithful to what actually happened, the central morale of the tale remains the same.

Chinese Buddhism Myth

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 11, 2019
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Informant: “The story is that Buddha is sitting under a tree and this eagle comes to him. The eagle is not normal eagle but is like a monster. Buddha sees that this eagle is evil and hungry, so he starts to cut flesh off his body and feed it to the monster. The monster is still hungry so Buddha cuts more flesh off of him. Eventually he has no more of his body to give to the evil eagle who is now full. He gave his body to stop the evil eagle from eating other people.”

Collector: “What do you take that to mean?”

Informant: “It is basically stating to be compassionate and always give. In Buddha teaching you should give away your body for other people and to always help other people.

Collector: “Why do you think it is an eagle and not a snake or any other animal?”

Informant: “I’m not sure. *laughs* Maybe like birds that eat old flesh? I don’t know.”

Context: This myth was gathered after a lecture at USC on Buddhism and its derivations in western culture. The informant was from China, attended the lecture, and had learned this myth reading many years ago while still living in China. Her English was broken which perhaps may alter the translation of this myth.

Collector Analysis: The mythology around the Buddha is complex and varied. There are many stories that this myth mimics like the story of Buddha throwing his body off to hungry lions for similar reasons as this myth. Although there are many different types of Buddhism, it is common belief that the poisons in humanity revolve around clinging/desire, rage, and ignorance. Each of these poisons are related to animals. The clinging relates to a bird, rage relates to a snake, and ignorance relates to a boar. This story which shows Buddha releasing his body to the evil eagle perhaps parallels to birds representing the poison of clinging. It may show that people should not cling to their bodies vainly, and to give it to the benefit of others.

Buddha Reaches Enlightenment

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: Spring 2019
Primary Language: English

Piece:
C is the interviewed party.
J is the interviewer.

C: “So this is a story about the Buddha. So the Buddha was doing this stuff, and like he reached enlightenment, right? And then he gets up and he’s like, ‘whoa, I’m enlightened,’ right, and he runs into this farmer and the farmers like, ‘wow, you look so radiant, you look like amazing, what is going on?’ And Buddha is like, ‘im enlightened, my dude, I just reached enlightenment.’ [The farmer says] ‘no you didn’t, that ridiculous. How did you — why would you say such a thing?’ And the Buddha is like, ‘that’s weird, can’t he see how radiant I am? Can’t he see that I’m enlightened?’ so the Buddha keeps walking on, you know, in his enlightened state and he runs into a wealthy merchant on a horse, and the merchant is like, ‘ wow you look so radiant. You look amazing. What happened to you? You look so at peace.’ And the Buddha says, ‘I’ve reached enlightenment.’ And [the merchant] is like, ‘get out of here, man. Who are you? What are you talking about?’ So the Buddha keeps trucking along, thinking, ‘no one believes that I’m enlightened. What’s going on?’ Finally, he runs into this old man, and the man is like, ‘you look so radiant. You look at peace, what’s going on?’ Buddha doesn’t say anything. He just asks the man, ‘do you need some help?’ And the man says he could use some help carrying his food. And so the Buddha helps this man take care of his stuff and spends time with this old man. Finally, the old man says to the Buddha, ‘you are enlightened, you’ve reached enlightenment.’ And that man became one of the first people to spread Buddhism because the whole thing is about showing and not telling”

J: “So this was a thing you were told?”

C: “Uh yeah. I was told this.”
J: “Was this like a family story or-”
C: “No. I learned this when I was a monk.”

Analysis:

This story exemplifies a common trope of many stories in many cultures, called ‘the rule of threes’. This rule identified a common theme among stories, wherein change occurs on the third attempt or the number three is significant. In this example, the Buddha approaches three people; the first two are dismissive to his attempts to tell them of his enlightened state, so he changes his approach for the third, who accepts him fully as enlightened.

While those outside of the Buddhist faith may not believe this story at all, and those within may see it more as a way to teach a theme or idea instead of a direct account of history, the story still presents a common trope of religions and faiths. The third man Buddha encounters believes he is enlightened because he is not focused on proving it; the Buddha merely helps the man and acts in a humble, enlightened way, which causes the man to come to his own conclusion that the Buddha has reached enlightenment.

Context:

The interviewed party is a 21-year-old male student at the University of Southern California. Before moving to Los Angeles, he spent large portions of his life in both New York City and Thailand, where his family is from and some still reside.

This interview was conducted over a series of days in person inside the common area of the interviewer’s home. The responses were recorded in order to accurately dictate dialogue.

Reincarnation

Nationality: Japanese, Mexican, American
Age: 23
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/19/18
Primary Language: English

My informant is a twenty-three year old man who is half-Japanese, half-Mexican. He grew up more with Japanese culture, and was very eager to share the folklore he knew from this culture. The following is from when I interviewed him in the USC Village.

 

Peter: “My grandparents aren’t devout buddhists, but my grandparents would use reincarnation to get me to behave as a child. They would tell me that if I’m a good person– a kind person– I’ll get a good second life… But if I’m mean or treat people poorly, I’ll come back as a cockroach! [He chuckles at his own ephaptic shout of ‘cockroach’] Now that I think of it, my grandparents would also bring up karma in this way.”

 

Me: “Karma?”

 

Peter: “Yeah, like, you are rewarded when you do things for people. People often do things for you in return. Or if you do something good, something good will happen to so. Same for the bad.”

 

Me: “Has Karma or Reincarnation influenced your life in other ways, or has it affected your own philosophy?”

 

Peter: “Well, some of my professors gave me letters of recommendations for USC. So… I rewarded them with gifts to thank them for what they did. As far as karma goes, I think it sticks with me — whenever someone goes out of their way for me, I make sure to make up for it in the future. It really makes me appreciate and value the people who do good things for me.”

 

Analysis:

I think this is an example of a folk belief/superstition being passed down to a generation that has repurposed the belief to fit his modern surroundings. My informant is not buddhist, but he has found the beliefs of karma and reincarnation useful to shaping his own view of the world. He chooses to reward those to help him because he wants to make everything equal the same way karma is said to make things equal.