Buddha sits on top of your living room bookshelf watching everything in the world. Your mom prays to him every morning in Thai, sometimes if you come downstairs a little later than usual you’ll stumble upon her moment with Buddha. You don’t understand a single word of her whispers. The only Thai words you know are hello, hungry and bath when your mom would occasionally say them to you as a child. A whole language that is half of your identity remains unknown to you. Mom calls her siblings in Thailand often, usually Saturday mornings. You wake up to her voice alive and echoing up the stairs into your room. Her words roll around your ears with no sense of weight. You went to Thailand once when you were three but all that’s left is faint traces in your memory. The last hazy vision of your mother’s father before he passed and her side of the family linger in your head. This time you’re ten and you feel like an outsider in every sense. You fumble with chopsticks so your mom has to ask for a fork at every restaurant. You’ll achieve chopstick mediocrity soon enough.
Most of what you read and hear is Thai. Signs around Bangkok look so foreign to you they might as well be written in an alien language. Your mom serves as a translator everywhere you go; even for your Thai family when their broken English isn’t enough to construct what they’re trying to say. You love playing with your younger cousins at family gatherings; you even make up games together without speaking. The use of
The novel, Buddha in the Attic, by Julie Otsuka tells the story of a group of Japanese picture brides and their life in San Francisco leading up to World War II and the Japanese Internment. While describing the women’s lives leading up to internment, Otsuka makes it apparent that there is a lack of reliable information provided about what is happening. In Lloyd Chiasson’s article, Japanese-American Relocation During World War II: A Study of California Editorial Reactions, three California newspapers’ editorials from 1941 and 1942 are analyzed and reveal a bias towards Japanese-Americans. When compared to Otsuka’s novel, Chiasson’s article reveals that the belittling of the Japanese community
Support 1: Thai people will always participate activity in-group. For example, Thais always get together to making merit at the temple. They are always raise money to build Buddha
As a piece of ethnography, the work is competent, but draws little attention to the classic anthropological methodology of participant observation, characterized by long-term engagement with local cultural practices. Instead the claims made are gathered through an analysis of publications and dialogues within the Thailand Buddhist community, mostly centered on a
Buddhism is a religion that focuses more on the individual and the actions of that individual, which was prevalent to me when I made my way into Portland and set foot in a Buddhist temple. The man I met within the walls of this temple was far from my stereotypical thoughts of Buddhist monks. The man I met looked like your plain old, average Joe, American man. Before I delve into the depths of my visit to this inspiring place, I need to sum up the Buddhist religion and why I chose to study this particular group of people.
One might say Thais are too shy to speak another language because it’s not their native language while others say Thais are just afraid of foreigners. (Plaiilek, 2011). This might stem from the fact that Thais are commonly taught that Westerners or people from other countries are a different kind of people, which creates a huge barrier toward private contacts (Klinchang, 2009). Thais often call foreigners “Farang”. (Dalgado, 1919) Thais call dark skin people from other countries as “Kaak” especially Indians and “Jek” for Chinese guys which means strangers. (Sujit Wongthes,
I was always fascinated in the Buddhist religion and this class assignment was a great opportunity for me to take advantage of my curiosity. I decided I would visit a Buddhist center. With the company of my mother, I went to the Diamond Way Buddhist Center in Miami. According to my interview with the Buddhist that instructed the meditation service, every Monday and Friday they have a meditation service for the 16th Karmapa meditation from 8:00pm to 8:30pm. This center is part of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (Anonymous). Upon arriving, I realized that it was in someone’s home. Many Buddhist offer their homes for Buddhist centers and are unpaid for their services. However, they do accept donations. Before entering the house,
My dad was an expert at finding things on maps. Without him I would probably still be looking for it. Adjusting to the sixteen hour time change took up the other half of the day. A heavy rain poured down the whole day, so it was great day to bunker down in the hostel. Day two is when the real fun began. We started our morning with Dim Sum at the most popular restaurant in Hong Kong. With no clue how to order anything we just pointed at items that looked delicious. According Wei, many restaurants have a set menus now and pointing at dishes that roll past you on the cart is a dying tradition (144). Some dishes definitely looked better than they tasted. Lucky for me anything I didn’t like my dad would vacuum up. My dad and I laughed the whole time of my improper way of using chopsticks. In my case I called them stab sticks. I guess our waitress got tired of watching me fail, so she brought me a plastic fork. I wish I knew how to thank her. Wei also explains in her book that you must learn how to use chopsticks as fast as you can. “Restaurants will provide you with a knife and a fork but, unless you suffer from arthritis, it is difficult to explain why a Hong Kong resident cannot handle chopsticks.” (139).Wei and my dad both compared using chopsticks to riding a bike. Once I learned it I will have learned it for life. My dad kept trying to persuade me to try the chicken feet. He finally won me over by saying “when will you ever eat
I was born in Hong Kong and moved alone to Taiwan to live with my grandmother when I was 12. I struggled to learn the language, Mandarin, and to live and learn alongside children from a very different culture. I was like some alien from outer space in Taiwan – generating stares but not acceptance. However, by being open minded about both my potential and the potential of this little island, I succeeded in adapting. I spoke back to the television set to practice Mandarin; I read books and watched videos to learn Taiwan's culture, history, and literature; and I helped my fellow classmates in our
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka provides an interesting perspective to the American experience through the eye of Japanese women around the time of World War 2. The author uses a number of unique writing techniques which originally confused me, but once accustomed created an immersive and intimate reading experience. Otsuka also inserts a number of metaphors and symbols throughout the novel with various possibilities for explanation depending on the opinion of the reader.
Meditation is very difficult to describe and can only truly be explained once experienced. It is the practice of mental concentration leading ultimately through a sequence of stages to the final goal of spiritual freedom, nirvana. The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to free ourselves from the delusion and thereby put an end to both ignorance and craving. The Buddhists describe the culminating trance-like state as transient; final Nirvana requires the insight of wisdom. The exercises that are meant to develop wisdom involve meditation on the true nature of reality or the conditioned and unconditioned elements that make up all phenomena. The goal of meditation is to develop a concept in the mind.
But I have learned to forgive and accept. I now grow on the seeds of my scars. I build gateways over boundaries, so language barriers and fear may not inhibit me. I channel resilience over intoxicating delusions, so I will persevere rather than hide. I avoided my grandparents with fear of misspeaking. Fear of embarrassment. I valued my dignity above all and neglected my family and culture. I now learn Cantonese and dance in Chinese club because my culture is beautiful. My heritage is my identity. My pride. I will embrace it shamelessly. Loss is inevitable, so I cherish, love, and hold dear the people in my life. So I speak, mistakes and all. Nothing is more crucial than communication, for anything is better than holding back and regretting. I seek deeply for memories, nurturing little details, like when we shared marmalade, or when we played his untuned piano, or when she let me water plastic houseplants, or when I spent hours handwriting Chinese characters I didn’t even understand for their Christmas card. I have gone from giving nothing to giving everything I can. I am nuoh nuoh–the most endearing name I could have ever asked for. Anyone can be a typical character, but who can be fat jelly? Jelly is sweet, comforting, and plump with love. It is original, bubbly, and flexible. It is
To understand Thai culture, belief and value, it is important to understand the language use in Thai society. According to sociolinguistic point of view, Thailand is considered the "Diglossia Society", where there are variety of languages use to serve a specialized function and are used for particular purpose. The purpose of the different language is to serve the different types of people. The standard Thai language is used with normal domain or normal people. Another language is used for " High Function" or with the higher status domains such as with the monk and with the King and the Royal family. This kind of language is called " Kam Racha Sap" /
The lifestyles of the Thai teenagers have changed a lot in the past 40-50 years. For me, the technology between in the past (1960’s) and now (as of 2017) is very distinct in its own way due to the technological advances during the time. For this reason, I will introduce some of the aspects that changed during 1960s to now such as communications, transportations and music.
Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini, Nepal during the 4th to 6th century B.C. He was born to the King Sakya Sudhodana, who ruled at Kapilavastu in Ancient India, and Queen Maya. After seven days of giving birth to Siddhartha his mother died however, a holy man was to have said that one of two great things would come of the newborn; he would grow up to become a great king or military leader or he would be a great spiritual leader. After the passing of his mother, Buddha grew up in a rich household and lived an extravagant life. According to their beliefs, he married at the age of sixteen to a girl named Yasodhara, which they had a child together. During this time, his father had ordered that he were to live a life of isolation in
Buddhism arose in northern India in the 6th century BCE. The historical founder of Buddhism, Siddharta Gautama (c.560-480 BCE) was born in a village called Lumbini into a warrior tribe called the Sakyas (from where he derived the title Sakyamuni, meaning 'Sage of the Sakyas'). According to tradition Gautama's father, Suddhodana was the king of a small principality based on the town of Kapilavastu. His mother, Queen Maya, died seven days after Gautama's birth. Following the death of Maya, Suddhodana married Maya's sister, Prajapati, by whom Gautama was brought up in great luxury and sheltered from the harshness of the outside world.