Absence / Makeup assignment

I was very disappointed to miss the Tuesday, Oct. 14, session on Japanese literature due to a truly awful cold, no doubt passed to me by one of my 14-year-old germ factories. But, when a door closes, a window opens!

My school was fortunate enough to have the Venerable Tenzin Yignyen visit us last week to teach us about Buddhist traditions and to construct a traditional Buddhist sand mandala. Tenzin was born in Tibet, but escaped with his parents to India after China's occcupation of his homeland. At the age of 16, Tenzin joined a monastery, which specialized in the construction of sand mandalas. When he's not travelling, Tenzin teaches at Buddhism at Hobart College.

Tenzin's mandala was about three feet square and meticulously constructed of sand--you can see it at http://www.campbellhall.org. Another of Tenzin's mandalas is shown on is website:

When the mandala was complete, Tenzin destroyed it, as is traditional, representing the impermanence of things and the importance of detachment.

During his visit, Tenzin gave a lecture on Buddhist ideology, focusing on the importance of tolerance, caring about others, avoiding selfishness, and avoiding materialism and waste.

I visited the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. I highly recommend taking a few hours out of your weekend to see this little gem of a museum. It was not very crowded when I went and you really felt a sense of calm and tranquility, especially in the Chinese Garden. The Chinese garden combines nature - beautiful plants, pools and stones – with human sculpture and architecture. The balance of the different elements reminded me of the Taoist poetry, in which a unity is described through all things. The koi pond offered an excellent spot to reflect, and I think this would be a great place to take a small group of students to talk about the different schools of Asian philosophy (Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism). Exhibits are rotating at this museum, so you can never be quite sure what you will discover when you arrive with a group of students unless you do your homework ahead of time, but the art is not limited to China and Japan. There was a great exhibit called “Visions of Enlightenment – The Art of the Buddha” which explore the different projections of reality in Buddhist art. I especially like this because you can compare and contrast art from India, Tibet and even Korea all linked by the same tradition. I highly recommend visiting this museum and considering taking a group of students. They have great ideas for lesson plans for you as well.