Year Of Impossible Goodbyes

When An-Mei was a child, she was taught disciplined shou, a deep respect for her parents, elders, and ancestors. An-Mei’s grandmother, her primary maternal figure, would often tell her parables to cement this traditional Chinese belief early in her life, often concluding with moral-like statements such as, “Your own thoughts are so busy swimming inside that everything else gets pushed out” (43), and “If you are greedy, what is inside you is what makes you always hungry” (43). Not only do these statements reinforce the primary teaching of shou, to have respect for one’s elders, but also instills in An-Mei a fear of thinking and acting for herself. As a result, An-Mei is completely driven by her superego in her early life. In

Despite the many flaws of Year Of Impossible Goodbyes, such as the ending appearing rushed and lacking detail, it shines in the department of character change. The main character, Sookan, goes from a confused, resentful and scared child, to a mature mother figure for her little brother, Inchun, when their mother is taken by the Soviets. I have selected 3 moments in the story that best show Sookan’s transformation, Sookan wishing pine needles would turn to real needles and prick the imperial Japanese soldiers, Sookan sobbing to her mother after her first day of Japanese school , and when, after leaving a Soviet government building, giving Inchun a piece of bread. After her Grandfather’s beloved pine tree was hacked to pieces and taken away by Korean underlings of the Imperial Police, Sookan,holding the few remaining branches of the tree, says the following, ''I wished that all these pine needles would turn into real needles and prick the horrible imperial soldiers.” (Sook, page

Freshman year could definitely be the worst year of High School when it comes to your social life. This is the year where you can expand your friends to more than just people in your grade. This year is also a sad year because it is when you find out who your real friends are. High School is all about gaining new friends and losing what you thought were your friends. When I started my freshman year all I heard when I started was that your real friends will show and you fake friends will vanish. In my case this did not happen. Yes, when I got into Highschool I did grow farther apart to some of my friends, but I would never say that they have vanished from my life or anything like that.

In the memoir of Year Of Impossible Goodbyes, Sookan goes from being timid, to brave. This change is seen in 3 distinct moments. Those moments include when; she lost track of her mom, when she helped the woman and her baby out, and lastly, when she heard soldiers and kept running while not caring if she would be caught. The first moment is when she is timid. It is when she lost her mom at the checkpoint. She doesn't believe that they can survive without her. For example; "I saw them pull mother out of line. Inchun and I stood frozen as we watched" (choi 133). This quote shows that they were surprised and sad that they might not see their mother ever again.

A common emotion towards death in the Buddhist culture is being scared to die. This is because Buddhists all believe in a never ending life cycle called reincarnation. This means that when somebody dies their spirit will be brought back but not in the same form as their former life. It was believed that when Genji passed away he was reincarnated as his son Kaoru who acts just like Genji did and displays the same heroism. Who or what they are in their next life all revolves around karma. If they were a bad person and they were something such as an emperor in their next life they will be reincarnated into a lower status such as being a peasant. If they were a good person, they will earn a better position in their subsequent life. No matter the status of the person in their current existence, they were all petrified of dying because even feeling simple emotions that can seem uncontrollable such as jealously or anger can be enough to be demoted in your next life. The only way to escape this reincarnation cycle was to become “enlightened”. Being enlightened is the ultimate goal when practicing Buddhism as it is the highest level that can be achieved.

Attempting to gain an understanding reason for his existence has plagued man since apes climbed down from the trees and started talking, or a pile of dust was fashioned into the contours of a human that then had breath passed into its nostrils, depending on which belief system one subscribes. One of man’s earlier attempts at figuring everything out, is Buddhism. Buddhism is based on four noble truths; The truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering and the truth of the path to the end of suffering. The father and son characters in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road exhibit all of these truths, whilst literally following a path which can be interpreted as a metaphor for following the path to end suffering

Sookan has greatly matured since the beginning of the book, when we first meet her, she is a young girl who doesn't understand much about what's happening around her, but as we see her go through her journey, and she learns about what is happening around her, we see her end up becoming a courageous young woman who is Inchun’s Nuna and

Sookan changes throughout the book year of impossible goodbyes in many ways when faced with the following situations. One very important event is when sookans grandpa died from depressing because the Japanese chopped down his special meditating tree and everything else that was special to him. A quote for this statement is "Grandfather died soon after we left him. He died three days after haiwons birthday; three days after his beloved pine tree was chopped down. I felt like a different person. I felt so many new emotions struggling within me. The world seemed empty." Having grandfather die sookan was very sad and upset. Her mother was depressed and full of pallor. She would just ignore her making her even more sad. This was a very big

Sookan has changed in many ways throughout the book in the beginning of the war when she was happy and curious, then when grampa died and being sad, then being happy when the war ended. The first event was at the beginning of the book when the war is starting and things haven't serious yet. It has changed sookan because instead of being really sad in the beginning of the book sookan makes the book feel happy. A quote to support this is "My favorite parts of the lesson were reading acient Chinese poetry" (Choi 5). The second event is when Sookan's grampa dies and the whole family is very sad. It changed sookan because she learned the horrors of war and what it will do to you so she became more conscious about her surroundings. The quote was

Kwan Yin reflects the Mahayana Buddhist concept of bodhisattva, a being of pure compassion. “A ‘bodhisattva’ is a person who delays his or her full enlightenment in order to aid in the liberation of all beings.” Bodhisattva literally translates to “Buddha to be”, and it is only when all

In both texts, Buddhist monks facilitate the transition from wandering earthly spirit to a soul on its karmic journey.

In Shinmon Aoki’s Coffinman, there is a scene in which the mortician visits his dying uncle who is known to be cold and harsh, but in his near death state his “..face.. was so soft and gentle that it virtually glowed”. Here, the mortician notes the glowing quality of his uncle’s face. This indicates that the uncle has excepts his death and is beginning his journey to become a buddha, commonly a euphemism for one’s passing, while being enveloped in the light of Amida Buddha. This passage is significant to our studies because it exemplifies the concept of Inconceivable or Infinite light. Moreover, this concept is defined as “one of the characteristics of Amida, the Buddha of Infinite Light.”

Milarepa’s captivating life story depicts a man willing to commit sins on behalf of his mother’s command to one that decides to leave his family, in order to achieve enlightenment. This autobiography allows him to remain to be a beloved yogin because of his drastic and fulfilling spiritual transformation, thus encouraging Tibetans to seek a similar path to nirvana in their lifetime. However, Milarepa proves that one’s journey to liberation and enlightenment has to be earned and fought for spiritually and psychologically.

This essay will reflect the meaning, as well as the mythological interpretation of a movie titled “Little Buddha.” In the movie, “Little Buddha,” there were Tibetan Buddhist monks from a monastery in Bhutan, led by Lama Norbu, searching for a child, who they believed had been reincarnated, as the Buddhist leader, Lama Dorje. This individual was thought to be in an American child named Jesse. Jesse was believed to be the son of an architect father, named Dean, and a school teacher mother, named Lisa. The family lived in Seattle, Washington. The monks traveled to Seattle to meet the boy, observe his daily routine and habits, learn his personality to determine if he could undergo further testing to prove whether or not he was the reincarnated being of Lama Dorje.

In life every human being will encounter an event that brings them pain and suffering. Buddha who was once known as Siddhartha Gautama life changed in blink of an eye when his father turned his back on him. The path that was chosen for him was one that would soon make everyone think about life in a way that one had not thought of it before. It makes one think deeper and really try to understand themselves as a human. William Drummond wrote, “Earth’s sweetest hoy is but disguised pain.” As human begins we try to think that our lives are never filled with pain and we keep busy in order to put a picture in our head that life is perfect. Buddha makes one go deeper with the four noble truths by explaining why life is associated with pain and desire and what can be done to accomplish the cure for these truths of life. Life is dislocated from an outside standpoint it is dishonest and only allows a human to see the happiness not the difficulties. Distractions in the daily lives of humans distract us from what really lies beneath the surface of life. Buddha goes through a phase of enlightenment that gives him purpose and that purpose is to tell human beings that there is more to life that just what meets the eye. One must think and dig deeper into their soul’s to overcome the obstacles that have got in their way to understand what life is all about.