Shinto

I watched The Peach Orchard section of Kurosawa’s film Dreams. I found many aspects of Shinto in these two clips. This section was about a little boy who sees a little girl in his house and then follows her outside to the field. He then sees kami which look like humans with white painted faces. They are angry with him and his family for cutting down the peach trees in the field. He starts to cry and tells them that he really loved the peach trees so they forgive him and allow the peach trees to grow once more. At the end, it seems that each kami was an individual tree that was cut down. This demonstrates that the trees are part of nature and therefore are one with the kami. As we learned in class, everything is spiritual and therefore there is continuity between humanity, nature, and the spirits/gods. The kami even say “We are the spirits of the trees, the life of the blossoms. Those vanished trees are weeping in their sorrow.” This proves that they represent the spirit of nature. We were in class that the gravest sins are sins against sacred objects or places. The problem that presents itself in these clips is that the boy’s family cut down a sacred peach tree field. The only difference between this and the story of a kami who destroyed a sacred rice field is that the boy and his family were forgiven unlike the kami who was punished in the myth. This section says that Doll day is a celebration that is for the Peach blossoms arrival and the dolls say that they personify the peach trees and they will no longer go to their house again because the peach trees were cut down. They ask the boy how he and his family are to celebrate doll day if the peach trees are no longer there. This harvest festival is an example of a large Shinto worship festival.

The Tao of Pooh

“Everything has its own Inner Nature. Unlike other forms of life, though, people are easily led away from what’s right for them, because people have Brain, and Brain can be fooled. Inner Nature, when relied on, cannot be fooled. But many people do not look at it or listen to it, and consequently do not understand themselves very much. Having little understanding of themselves, they have little respect for themselves, are therefore easily influenced by others.” (p. 57)

I actually agree with this portion of the book but honestly found most of it unfitting for myself especially the bisy backson chapter.

In the Bisy Backson chapter, Hoff explains “Let’s put it this way: if you want to be healthy, relaxed, and contented, just watch what a Bisy Backson does and then do the opposite.” He is implying that the “American” way of doing things or the “Bisy Backson” way is unhealthy and won’t bring us happiness. Earlier in the chapter, he also talks about how we work all the time even when we play and exercise. I don’t agree with this at all. I believe if you don’t work out then you really will be unhealthy and that is why it’s good to keep fit, so that we can prevent physical problems associated with being overweight. I also believe that everyone is different and has different desires. Some are happy staying busy and having skydiving as a hobby while others enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle in which they never desire to travel.

I feel that we do need to be in touch with our own inner nature so that we can be in control of our lives. We need to know who we are and what will work best for us. Only we know what we should change about ourselves and what would be best to retain about ourselves. The best example I can relate this to is when we’re choosing a career path, we need to pick something that will suit us as individuals for we are all different and offer different characteristics.

I enjoyed reading this book. I thought it offered a great and easy way to learn about Taoism by using such a beloved character like Pooh.

Although I can agree with some of the ideals and beliefs in the book and Taoism, I honestly don’t agree with most of it because in my opinion things don’t happen a “natural way” but rather in the way that you choose. I believe in our own will to make things happen and sometimes dealing with things as you go rather than having some sort of plan doesn’t really work out especially in the society we live in.